Research Associate in Generative Modelling of Human Behaviour

Research Associate in Generative Modelling of Human Behaviour: (Company Name - Subscribers only)

Job Description:

UE07: £40,247.00 – £47,874.00 Per Annum.

CSE / School of Informatics.

Fixed Term Contract – 2 Years.

Full Time – 35 Hours Per Week.

The School of Informatics is seeking a Research Associate in Generative Modelling of Human Behaviour. This post will be part of the Centre for AI for Assistive Autonomy, a mission-driven research centre established using a UKRI Turing AI World Leading Researcher Fellowship awarded to Prof Subramanian Ramamoorthy.

The Opportunity:

The post-holder will be part of a foundations team within the Centre, whose focus will be on fundamental investigations into generative modelling of the full stack of human behaviour, from sensorimotor control to higher level cognitive decision making, to enable the development of person-centred and teachable autonomous systems within domains including assistive technologies for activities of daily living, task level autonomy in surgical robotics and autonomous vehicles.

In addition to the Centre Director (Ramamoorthy), the post holder will have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in a wide range of specialties across the University, including in machine learning and vision (e.g. Fisher, Mac Aodha, Bilen, Sevilla-Lara, Vergari), probabilistic programming (e.g. Narayanaswamy, Kammar, Belle), natural language understanding and interaction (e.g. Lascarides, Lapata, Gal), computational cognitive science and neuroscience (e.g. Lucas, Hennig, Nolan, Rajendran), as well as in robotics and neurotechnology (e.g. Vijayakumar, Nazarpour) and engineering of novel sensing and devices (Prodromakis, Koutsos, Amjadi). Beyond the university, the Centre will pursue collaborations with international teams including at The University of Texas at Austin (Stone), Stanford University (Kochenderfer), University of Bremen (Beetz) and Monash University (Burke).

The Centre will also have a strong industrial partner network, including Fourier Intelligence, Honda Research Europe, Shadow Robot, Sony Europe and other organisations who will be engaged in the Centre’s work at all stages, with the expectation that this network grows over time as the Centre’s work grows and begins to have broader impacts.

The central purpose of the job is to carry out foundational research on machine learning methods for modelling of human behaviour, addressing the following areas in novel and innovative ways:

• Generative modelling with large-scale and multi-modal data, with a particular focus on incorporating cognitive mechanisms to predict individual-level performance
• Modular and compositional representations within frameworks including neuro-symbolic architectures and probabilistic programming tools.
• Techniques for introspective evaluation and continual improvement of models

The candidate is expected to take intellectual ownership of core scientific questions in this space, developing new ideas and driving collaborative projects towards significant publications, leveraging the expertise of the supervision team and other scientific collaborators.

It is also expected that the post holder will contribute to the development of new assets in the form of model libraries and software frameworks. This will form the basis for collaboration with other researchers focussing on developing applications within domain-specific laboratories, and industrial partners aligned with these application areas.

This post is full-time (35 hours per week).

The salary for this post is £40,247 to £47,874 per annum.

Your skills and attributes for success:

• A PhD (or near completion) in AI, with a focus on machine learning methods applicable to robotics and autonomous systems
• An excellent track record of publications in top tier conferences and/or journals in AI, (e.g. IJCAI, AAAI, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR), robotics (e.g. R:SS, CoRL, ICRA) or computer vision (e.g. CVPR, ICCV)
• Excellent proven experience of developing machine learning systems using state of the art frameworks and tools for handling large datasets
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, to meet deadlines, and to report on project progress
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly, orally and in writing.

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For informal enquiries, please contact Prof Ramamoorthy-

Application Information

Please ensure you include the following documents in your application:

– CV

– Cover letter

(amend as necessary)

As a valued member of our team you can expect:

• A competitive salary
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, competitive pension schemes, staff discounts, and family-friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on our

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Championing equality, diversity and inclusion

The (Company Name - Subscribers only) holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.

Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our (opens new browser tab)

Key dates to note

The closing date for applications is 10 January 2025.

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.

The University is able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. If successful, an international applicant requiring sponsorship to work in the UK will need to satisfy the UK Home Office’s English Language requirements and apply for and secure a Skilled Worker Visa.

About Us: As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.

About the Team:

Informatics is the study of how natural and artificial systems store, process and communicate information. Research in Informatics promises to take information technology to a new level, and to place information at the heart of 21st century science, technology and society. The School enjoys collaborations across many disciplines in the University, spanning all three College, and also participates as a strategic partner in the Alan Turing Institute and, with Heriot-Watt University, in the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics.

The School provides a fertile environment for a wide range of studies focused on understanding computation in both artificial and natural systems. It attracts students around the world to study in our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and currently has approximately 1000 undergraduate students, 320 MSc students and 350 PhD students. Informatics is one of seven schools in the College of Science and Engineering, at the (Company Name - Subscribers only). It is recognised for the employability of its graduates (demand exceeds supply), its contributions to entrepreneurship, and the excellence of its research. Since the first Research Assessment Exercise in 1986, Informatics at Edinburgh has consistently been assessed to have more internationally excellent and world-class research than any other submission in Computer Science and Informatics. The latest REF 2014 results have again confirmed that ours is the largest concentration of internationally excellent research in the UK. This contributes to our ranking in the top 15 CS departments world-wide according to the latest Times Higher Education ranking.

We aim to ensure that our culture and systems support flexible and family-friendly working and recognise and value diversity across all our staff and students. The School has an active programme offering support and professional development for all staff; providing mentoring, training, and networking opportunities.