PhD position in deep learning and the neuroscience of language W/M

Company

Idiap is an independent, not-for-profit, research institute accredited and funded by the Swiss Federal Government, the State of Valais, and the City of Martigny.

Idiap offers competitive salaries and working conditions at all levels in a dynamic, multicultural environment. Idiap is an equal opportunity employer. We specifically encourage women and minorities to apply.

Idiap is located in the town of Martigny in Valais, Switzerland, offering exceptional quality of life, exciting recreational activities, including hiking, climbing and skiing, as well as varied cultural activities. It is within close proximity to Lausanne and Geneva. Although Idiap is located in the French part of Switzerland, English is the official working language.

For frequently asked questions (FAQs) about living in Switzerland, please go to https://www.idiap.ch/en/faq

Job description

Idiap Research Institute seeks qualified candidates for a PhD student position at the intersection of machine learning, computational neuroscience, and natural language processing. This researcher will investigate neurologically plausible attention-based deep learning models of language. She or he will work in collaboration with world-class scientists in machine learning, computational neuroscience, computational linguistics, and speech recognition.

The position will be part of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Evolving Language, a Swiss center of excellence studying the past and future of language. The consortium consists of leading scientists with diverse expertise from computational sciences, natural sciences, medicine, the humanities, and social sciences, working towards a broadscale interdisciplinary collaboration.

The successful PhD candidates will join the Natural Language Understanding group at Idiap, under the supervision of Dr. James Henderson, in collaboration with Dr. Itsaso Olasagasti of the Univ. Geneva's Fundamental Neuroscience Dept and Dr. Phil Garner at Idiap. They will also become doctoral students at EPFL conditional on parallel application to, and acceptance by, the EPFL Doctoral School. Appointment for the PhD position is for a maximum of 4 years, provided successful progress, and should lead to a dissertation. Starting date is to be negotiated, but expected to be June-October 2024.

All queries related to the advertised position can be sent to Dr. James Henderson (james.henderson@idiap.ch).

The NCCR and Idiap take gender balance and diversity seriously in our hiring decisions.

Sought profil

The ideal PhD candidates should hold a Masters degree in computer science, computational neuroscience, or related fields. She or he should have a background in machine learning, and experience in natural language processing or computational neuroscience would be a plus. The applicant should also have strong mathematical and programming skills.

Required languages

• English - Level advanced

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