The Informatics Institute, one of the large research institutes with the Faculty of Science, is inviting applications for a fully funded PhD positions (4 years) in the field of computer vision and in particular automatic object analysis using deep learning. The candidate will be part of the FlexCRAFT programme conducted in close collaboration with industry. The FlexCRAFT programme is developing new robotics for the automated harvesting of tomatoes and the processing and packaging of products. The results of this PhD project will be validated in 3DUniversum (partner of the project). The overall research requires a combination of computer vision and machine learning activities. The research conducted by the University of Amsterdam is mainly in the field of computer vision to develop deep learning methods to automatically perform object recognition. Your research will be performed in close collaboration with the FlexCRAFT consortium.

The graduate will do research within the Computer Vision group of the Informatics Institute headed by Prof.  Theo Gevers. The Computer Vision group conducts research in theories, representation models and computational methods which are essential for (3D) image and video understanding.

The overall aim of the FlexCRAFT programme is to equip robot technology with generic capabilities in active perception, world modelling, planning and control, and gripping and manipulation. The goal of this PhD position is to study methods for 3D reconstruction and object/scene understanding. The aim is to provide vision methods for the semantic segmentation and reconstruction of agro-food products and environments that are meaningful for the robot’s task. The tasks are 3D object/scene reconstruction techniques using deep neural networks (DNN). And image processing and analysis to achieve intrinsic image decomposition and semantic segmentation.

The PhD candidate will be supervised by Prof. Theo Gevers.

The PhD candidate is required to have a master degree in computer science or artificial intelligence with preferably a specialization in computer vision and/or machine leaning. The candidate should have good grades, math and programming skills. The candidate is expected to have good written and oral communication skills in English.

The appointment will be on a temporary basis for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it can be extended for a total duration of 4 years. The appointment should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). An educational plan will be drafted that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. The PhD candidate is also expected to assist in teaching of bachelor and master students.

The gross monthly salary will range from €2,325 (first year) up to a maximum of €2,972 (last year). The salary is based on a full-time appointment (38 hours a week). The total salary includes an additional 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% end-of-year bonus, under the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (Cao). A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

Among other things, we offer:

• competitive pay and good benefits;
• top-50 University worldwide;
• one of the best Deep Learning Ecosystems in the World
• interactive, open-minded and a very international city;
• excellent computing facilities.

English is the working language in the Informatics Institute. As in Amsterdam almost everybody speaks and understands English, candidates need not be afraid of the language barrier.

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.

http://www.uva.nl/en/home

Institute for Informatics (IvI)

The Faculty of Science holds a leading position internationally in its fields of research and participates in a large number of cooperative programs with universities, research institutes and businesses. The faculty has a student body of around 6,500 and 1,500 members of staff, spread over eight research institutes and a number of faculty-wide support services. A considerable part of the research is made possible by external funding from Dutch and international organizations and the private sector. The Faculty of Science offers thirteen Bachelor's degree programs and eighteen Master’s degree programs in the fields of the exact sciences, computer science and information studies, and life and earth sciences.

The Informatics Institute is one of the large research institutes with the faculty, with a focus on complex information systems divided in two broad themes: 'Computational Systems' and 'Intelligent Systems.' The institute has a prominent international standing and is active in a dynamic scientific area, with a strong innovative character and an extensive portfolio of externally funded projects.

http://ivi.uva.nl/?1549882754981