Postdoctoral Position in Conversational AI/ NLP/ ML at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

# Short summary:

Postdoctoral Research Associate in advanced machine learning

approaches for spoken dialogue systems/ conversational AI/ NLP at the Interaction Lab, Edinburgh (http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/InteractionLab).

 

# Closing date: 4th January 2018

 

# Apply here: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/jobs/job_SVJDMTI0MDg.htm

 

# Job Details:

Applications are sought for a Research Associate post in the Interaction Lab in the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences.  The Research Assistant will work on the EPSRC project "MaDrIgAL - Multi-Dimensional Interaction Management and Adaptive Learning" (EP/N017536/1) to investigate, develop, and evaluate advanced machine learning approaches for spoken dialogue systems. In particular, we seek a candidate with experience in machine learning approaches to NLP/ Conversational AI/ dialogue systems, and closely related fields.

 

# Location:

The post will be located in the Interaction Lab at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh UK. The successful candidate will join and collaborate with a group of 7 faculty members, 6 postdoctoral researchers and >10 PhD students. Our team is currently competing in the Amazon Alexa Finals (https://developer.amazon.com/alexaprize) and is one of the biggest dialogue groups in  the world. Our postdoctoral alumni have an excellent track record: 2 joint as a faculty, while others took up faculty positions else where, joint prestigious research labs at industry (Microsoft, Baidu), or set up their own start-up companies.

The City of Edinburgh has been ranked second in a global quality of life survey (http://bit.ly/2pIhh37).

 

# Dates: The post is available from February 2018 until May 2019 in the first instance, with opportunities for extension.

 

# Salary: Grade 7 or 8 depending on experience (GBP 31604- 39,992.00).

 

# Key duties and responsibilities:

Detailed research duties are to implement and evaluate methods for response generation and adaptive learning in spoken dialogue systems, and to collect and analyse dialogue data. The successful applicant will also present the research outputs at project meetings and international conferences. The main duties of the post are to perform collaborative research on the above-named EPSRC project, to contribute to research publications, to write and submit research articles, and to participate in EPSRC project research meetings and international conferences.

 

# We are looking for:

* Ph.D. in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field 

* Research experience in advanced machine learning (e.g., deep learning, probabilistic graphical models) and/or NLP.

* Evidence of a strong publication record in the aforementioned areas.

* Excellent programming skills (Python, Java, or C++).

* Good command of English in writing and speaking.

 

# How To Apply:

Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on 4th January 2018 here:

 

# Contact:

For informal queries please contact Prof. Verena Rieser <v.t.rieser@hw.ac.uk>