The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is hiring seven PhD students in computer vision and machine learning for the QUVA Lab, a research collaboration between UvA and Qualcomm AI research. We will be working on fundamental aspects of computer vision and machine learning, deep learning models, and algorithms. In particular, we are looking for PhD candidates on the following projects:

• Project A: Video action recognition
• Project B: Multi-task multi-modal learning
• Project C: Video representation and efficiency
• Project D: Hardware-aware learning
• Project E: Federated learning
• Project F: Combinatorial optimization
• Project G: Unsupervised learning for source compression

More details on the individual projects can be found on the QUVA lab website.

What are you going to do?

You are going to carry out AI research and development in one of the seven projects mentioned above, as part of the QUVA lab at the University of Amsterdam. There will also be regular visits to and interactions with researchers at Qualcomm AI Research, who have an office on campus. At the University of Amsterdam, you will be supervised by either prof. Snoek, prof. Welling, and/or dr. Gavves, as well as an assistant professor we are currently hiring.

Your tasks will be to:

• develop new computer vision and/or machine learning methods within the context of one of the seven research projects;
• collaborate with other researchers within the lab and Qualcomm AI Research;
• complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years;
• regularly present internally on your progress and help Qualcomm write patent applications to protect inventions from the lab when requested;
• regularly present intermediate research results at international conferences and workshops and publish them in proceedings and journals;
• assist in relevant teaching activities.

What do we require?

• A Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, or a related field;
• a strong background in computer vision and/or machine learning;
• excellent programming skills, preferably in Python;
• solid mathematics foundations, especially statistics, calculus and linear algebra;
• you are highly motivated and creative;
• strong communication, presentation and writing skills and excellent command of English.

Prior publications in relevant vision and machine learning venues will be advantageous for your application.

Our offer

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.

The salary will be €2,395 to €3,061 (scale P) gross per month, based on a full-time contract of 38 hours a week. This is exclusive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

Are you curious about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits like our excellent opportunities for study and development? Take a look here.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

Faculty of Science - Informatics Institute

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 7,000, as well as 1,600 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

The mission of the Informatics Institute is to perform curiosity-driven and use-inspired fundamental research in Computer Science. The main research themes are Artificial Intelligence, Computational Science and Systems and Network Engineering. Our research involves complex information systems at large, with a focus on collaborative, data driven, computational and intelligent systems, all with a strong interactive component.

The QUVA Lab is embedded in the Video & Image Sense lab and the Amsterdam Machine Learning lab, two groups within the Informatics Institute working on advanced artificial intelligence. Each project will be done in collaboration with experts from Qualcomm AI Research. The lab is part of the Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence, a Netherlands initiative focused on joint technology development between academia, industry and government in the area of artificial intelligence.