We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate that wants to develop new Visualization and Visual Analytics methods for the exploration, analysis, and interpretability of multimodal evidence data.

Law enforcement is faced with huge amounts of data from online platforms, digital marketplaces, and communication services. Finding evidence in such large collections of text, images, and other data and bringing it to court is a time-consuming process. Artificial Intelligence tools are a promising way to make this more efficient and effective. But currently, no clear legal regulations for AI tools are in place. In AI4Intelligence we let AI tool development, the use of the tools by investigators, and legal regulations go hand-in-hand so investigations lead to trustworthy evidence that is admissible in court.   

The candidate is expected to research and develop Visualization and Visual Analytics methods to increase model transparency and provide explanations to ensure trustworthy evidence from multimodal data. He/she develops novel Visualization and Visual Analytics tools & techniques:

1. To explain AI model predictions for both the data scientist and non-technical stakeholders; and
2. For multimodal data exploration, hypothesis generation, testing, and link discovery, using a (hyper)graph/network analysis approach.

In this project, the focus is on the Visualization for multimodal data exploration, and the Visualization of novel AI algorithms that are developed by other collaborators in the project.

The project is performed within the Visualization cluster under the supervision of Dr.ir. Stef van den Elzen and Prof.dr. Anna Vilanova. This position is part of the NWO KIC AI4Intelligence project with collaborators from universities (University of Amsterdam, Utrecht University, VU Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences Leiden, University of Applied Sciences The Hague), government (Netherlands National Police, Netherlands Forensic Institute), and industry (Microsoft, TNO, Sustainable Rescue Foundation, SynerScope, CFLW Cyber Strategies, DuckDuck-Goose, ZiuZ Forensics BV, BG.legal). The project brings together scientific scholars from Computer Science (UvA,UU,TU/e), management (UU), and law (VU) which are an essential combination to address the challenges posed. Within computer science three related, but complementary perspectives on data, its analysis, and exploration are present in the consortium. Data-driven Machine Learning (UvA), Knowledge Driven AI (UU), and Visual Analytics (TU/e). The researchers from the different disciplines will all work on two use cases bringing in their own expertise, continuously building upon the achievements of others, and influencing the research of others.

The visualization cluster (https://research.tue.nl/en/organisations/visualization-3) at TU/e has a strong track record in visualization and visual analytics for ML models and high-dimensional data. It has generated several award-winning contributions at major visualization conferences (IEEE VIS, IEEE InfoVis, IEEE VAST, EuroVis);  several successful start-up companies (MagnaView - now UiPath and SynerScope); and a number of techniques that are used on a large scale worldwide.

We are looking for a candidate who meets the following requirements:

• You are enthusiastic about research in Visual Analytics, Multimodal Data, and Explainable AI.
• You have experience with or a strong background in Visualization or Visual Analytics. Preferably you finished a master's in Computer Science, (Applied) Mathematics, or Electrical Engineering.
• Expertise in the field of Explainable AI is a plus but not mandatory.
• You have strong programming skills in object-oriented GUI languages (Qt/C++, Java, Python,..).
• You have good communication skills and are able to work in a multidisciplinary team.
• You are creative, critical, analytical, hardworking, and persistent.
• You have a good command of the English language (knowledge of Dutch is not required).

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.