Are you interested in developing conversational systems that support scientific discovery? We are looking for a PhD student who is interested in conducting research into question answering algorithms that are able to gather and synthesize complex answers in the task-based setting of a research platform.

Many recent advances in question answering and conversational search focus on factoid information. In the context of scientific discovery, more complex types answer types may be appropriate, such as reading lists, summaries, experimental designs, depending on the research task that a researcher is addressing. In this position, your challenge will be to develop neural models that can retrieve or generate answers from structured and unstructured resources conditioned on inferred or detected task and intent.

The research will take place within the Discovery Lab. This lab is a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Elsevier. Our philosophy is to drive scientific discovery using machine intelligence. Our goal is to study and develop technology, infrastructure and methods to support the current transformation of science, specifically regarding data-driven activity, where scientists increasingly rely on intelligent tooling for searching and reading scientific literature, to formulate hypotheses, and to interpret data.

In the Discovery Lab, PhD candidates can conduct academic research at the university, and apply their findings with real world data and systems. The lab is a collaboration between researchers with backgrounds in data engineering, information retrieval, knowledge representation, and machine learning. This position has an emphasis on the information retrieval aspects of the lab. We are also embedded within the Amsterdam data science and artificial intelligence ecosystem and value practice-informed and interdisciplinary research and outreach.

We strongly encourage applications coming from a unique perspective. Tell us how your background fits with the aims of the lab. We are also hiring for several other positions in the lab. See our website for other positions available in the lab.

What are you going to do?

You are expected to:

• create, evaluate and describe novel algorithms and architectures for conversational search and complex question answering;
• integrate and evaluate such algorithms in experimental scenarios, with a focus on academic search;
• present research results at national and international conferences, workshops and journals;
• become an active member of the research community and to collaborate with other researchers, both within and outside the Informatics Institute;
• pursue and complete a PhD thesis within the appointed duration of four years;
• assist in teaching activities, such as teaching labs and tutorials or supervising bachelor and master students.

What do we require?

• A Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a closely related field;
• a thorough understanding of both information retrieval and machine learning;
• an interest in algorithm development and in their implications for people impacted by those algorithms;
• solid programming skills and experience in Python and machine learning frameworks;
• the ability to work in multidisciplinary teams;
• a good knowledge of English (written and spoken).

Our offer

 A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial appointment will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years) and 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, depending on relevant experience before the beginning of the employment contract, will be €2,395 to €3,061 (scale P) gross per month, based on a full-time contract (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, or machines that display intelligent behaviour.

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.