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PhD research opportunities in the field of Reinforcement Learning

 1. PhD Student Position in Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning and Planning

The Robot Learning research group is seeking a talented PhD student with strong interest in Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning and Planning.

The Aalto Robot Learning research group operates in the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics. We focus on developing methods for reinforcement learning, robotic manipulation, decision making under partial observability, imitation learning, and decision making in multi-agent systems. The goal of the research group is to help robots understand what they need to learn to perform their assigned tasks, and, thus, make robots capable of operating on their own and pro-actively help humans. To accomplish these goals the research group develops novel decision-making methods and uses these methods to solve unsolved robotic tasks. For more information, please see https://rl.aalto.fi.

The main task of the PhD student will be to develop new machine learning methods for optimizing multi-agent behaviour. The developed methods may be based on one of our focus areas including, but not limited to, reinforcement learning and planning under uncertainty. Example research topics include but are not limited to multi-agent curriculum learning, model-based multi-agent reinforcement learning, and multi-agent planning and control. The developed methods may be evaluated with real robots. The exact direction of the research is chosen depending on your experience and interests. Please relate clearly to some of the research topics in your Letter of Motivation.

Outstanding researchers from the areas of Machine Learning, AI, Robotics, and related areas including Reinforcement Learning, Control Engineering, Computer Vision, Statistics & Optimization, or Mathematics & Physics are welcome to apply. The candidate is expected to conduct independent research and at the same time contribute to the topics listed above. Successful candidates will be furthermore given the opportunity to work with undergraduate and M.Sc. students.

The research group collaborates internationally and nationally with research groups in construction, computer vision, robotics, mobile heavy machines, human-robot interaction, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, multi-agent systems, under-water vehicles, and robot motion planning. There will be ample opportunities for international collaboration.

WE OFFER

The position will be filled for 2 + 2 years (doctoral studies are expected to take 4 years in total). The starting date is in September 2023 or as mutually agreed. The salary will be based on both the job requirements and the employee’s personal performance in accordance with the salary system of Finnish universities. The starting salary for a doctoral student is approximately 2600 EUR/month and increases with thesis progress.

We offer a wide range of staff benefits, such as occupational health care, flexible working hours, excellent sports facilities on campus and several restaurants and cafés on campus with staff discounts. The position is located at the Aalto University Otaniemi campus which can be easily reached by public transport.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit your application through our online recruitment system. To access the recruitment system, please use the “Apply now!” link below.


The closing date for applications is August 27th, 2023 (23:59 EEST (GMT+3)).

Please write your application and all the accompanying documentation in English and attach them in PDF format. Please attach only the following documents to your application:

A letter of motivation describing your research interests and how the research fits to the Robot Learning research group (max. 1 page)

Curriculum vitae (including the contact details of two referees)

A list of publications as a part of the curriculum vitae

PDF copy of your MSc and BSc degree certificates, including transcripts of all MSc and BSc university records (grades and courses) and their English translations (Finnish and Swedish certificates are also accepted)
 

Please note that our recruitment system allows max 5 attachments, so please combine the copies of certificates and transcripts in one PDF, if necessary.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For further information, please contact Assistant Professor Joni Pajarinen, joni.pajarinen@aalto.fi. Additional information in recruitment process related questions, please contact HR Partner Camilla Hanganpää, camilla.hanganpaa@aalto.fi.

2. PhD position in Reinforcement Learning

Job description

The Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI) group is a quickly growing group embedded in the Data and AI (DAI) cluster at the Eindhoven University of Technology (https://dai.win.tue.nl). In the DAI cluster, we aim at developing foundations of AI for the present and the future. This includes the design of new AI methods, development of AI algorithms and tools with a view at expanding the reach of AI and its generalization abilities. In particular, we study foundational issues of robustness, safety, trust, reliability, tractability, scalability, interpretability and explainability of AI. The UAI group is looking for a highly motivated and skilled PhD candidate to work in the area of Reinforcement Learning. The concrete research direction will be determined together with the successful candidate. The research topics include, but are not restricted to:

Reinforcement Learning: Theory and Application
Offline/Off-policy Reinforcement Learning
(Contextual) Multi-Armed Bandits
Fairness-aware Learning via Reinforcement Learning
Decision Making under Uncertainty
Robustness in Reinforcement Learning
Causality and Counterfactual Learning
Generative Models for Model-based Reinforcement Learning

Job requirements

Master's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a relatedfield
Excellent analytical skills
Excellent coding skills (e.g. Python, PyTorch, Tensorflow)
Excellent academic writing and presentation skills
proficiency in English (written and spoken)
Desire to conduct excellent research and publish in high quality conferences andjournals
* Independent thinker and self-responsibility
Ability and desire to collaborate and work in teams
Ability and desire to support teaching and to co-supervise bachelor and master students

Conditions of employment

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale 27 (min. €2,541 max. €3,247).
A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.

Information and application

About us

Eindhoven University of Technology is an internationally top-ranking university in the Netherlands that combines scientific curiosity with a hands-on attitude. Our spirit of collaboration translates into an open culture and a top-five position in collaborating with advanced industries. Fundamental knowledge enables us to design solutions for the highly complex problems of today and tomorrow. 

Information

Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more?
Please contact the hiring manager ass.prof.dr. Maryam Tavakol (m.tavakol[at]tue.nl).

Visit our website for more information about the application process or the conditions of employment. You can also contact HRServices.MCS[at]tue.nl.

Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page.

Application

We invite you to submit a complete application by using the apply button. The application should include a:

  • Research statement, including research experience and interests, and a short outline of the preferred future research direction (max. 1 page). 
  • A CV, including education history, relevant courses and theses, research experience (if available), a list of publications (if available), and teaching experience (if available). 
  • Transcript of records for Bachelor's and Master's degrees. 
  • Electronic copy of (or a link to) Master thesis. 
  • Electronic copy of publications (if available; if more than 3, please submit top 3). If no publications are available, please submit some substitute, e.g. presentations slides of a given presentation. 
  • Contact details of or recommendation letters from 2 referees.
We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.

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