Pre-Doc Contract: Machine Learning Software Tools and Language Resources for ASR at GTTS

(http://gtts.ehu.es), University of the Basque Country, Spain

Applications are welcome for one graduate (Pre-Doc) research contract for the study, development, integration and evaluation of machine learning software tools, and the production of language resources for ASR tasks. The contract will be funded by an Excellence Group Grant by the Government of the Basque Country. Initially, the contract is for 3 months but, if performance is satisfactory, it will be extended at least to one year –or even more, depending on the available budget–, with a gross salary of around 30.000 euros/year. The workplace is located in the Faculty of Science and Technology (ZTF/FCT) of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Leioa (Bizkaia), Spain.

PROFILE

We seek graduate (Pre-Doc) candidates with a genuine interest in computer science and speech technology. It will be required knowledge and skills in any (preferably all) of the following topics: machine learning (specifically deep learning), programming in Python, Java and/or C++ and signal processing. A master's degree in scientific and/or technological disciplines (especially computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning and/or signal processing) will be highly valued. All candidates are expected to have excellent analysis and abstraction skills. Experience and interest in dataset construction will be also a plus.

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

The Faculty of Science and Technology (ZTF/FCT) of the University of the Basque Country (https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/ztf-fct) is a very active and highly productive academic centre, with nearly 400 professors, around 350 pre-doc and post-doc researchers and more than 2500 students distributed in 9 degrees.

The research work will be carried out at the Department of Electricity and Electronics of ZTF/FCT in the Leioa Campus of UPV/EHU. The research group hosting the contract (GTTS, http://gtts.ehu.es) has deep expertise in speech processing applications (ASR, speaker recognition, spoken language recognition, spoken term detection, etc.) and language resource design and collection. If the candidate is interested in pursuing a research career, the contract would be compatible with master studies on the topics mentioned above or even a Ph.D. Thesis project within our research group, and further financing options (grants, other projects) could be explored.

The nearby city of Bilbao has become an international destination, with the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum as its main attractor. Still, though sparkling with visitors from worldwide, Bilbao is a peaceful, very enjoyable medium-size city with plenty of services and leisure options, and mild weather, not so rainy as the evergreen hills surrounding the city might suggest.

APPLICATION

Applications including the candidate's CV and a letter of motivation (at most 1 page) explaining their interest in this position and how their education and skills fit the profile should be sent by e-mail –using the subject "GTTS research contract APPLICATION ref. 1/2020"– to Germán Bordel (german.bordel@ehu.eus) by Wednesday, January 29, 2020. The contract will start as soon as the position is filled.