The Institute of Data Science at Maastricht University is seeking applications for a Ph.D. position to develop a neurobiologically-grounded computational model of sound recognition by combining advanced methodologies from information science, artificial intelligence, and cognitive neuroscience. This position is fully supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), which will recruit 2 Ph.D. students to join an existing team of interdisciplinary researchers from two groups, the Institute of Data Science and the Auditory Cognition research section at the Maastricht Brain Imaging Center. The overall aim of the research project is to unravel the neural mechanisms enabling the recognition of everyday sounds and their flexible categorization at multiple levels of semantic abstraction.

For this position, the successful candidate will develop an ontology to characterize a large number of everyday sounds and their taxonomic relation in terms of sound-generating mechanisms and properties of the corresponding sources. They will then create deep neural networks (DNNs) that combine acoustic sound analysis with ontological information over the sound sources and learn to perform sound recognition tasks at different abstraction levels. This research will create neurosymbolic representations of sounds that will be of broad academic interest and relevant for the rapidly expanding societal applications of artificial hearing. In addition, these models will provide computational hypotheses into the mechanisms of acoustic-to-semantic transformations of sounds, which will then be tested in functional neuroimaging experiments conducted by the research group.

Tasks include:

● Work with an interdisciplinary (computer science, psychology, neuroscience) team to discuss research problems

● Develop computational methods for the preparation, analysis, and dissemination of knowledge graphs and ontologies.

● Validate developed methods using synthetic and real-world data

● Communicate the results of the research to stakeholders and target groups

● Write scientific papers for international peer-reviewed conferences and journals

● Present your work at international conferences

● Provide teaching assistance in undergraduate and master’s courses

● Participate in off-site internships

● MSc degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence or equivalent

● Training and/or experience in both theory and practice of big data technologies, machine learning, deep learning, and data mining algorithms.

● Knowledge of (or willingness to learn with support from the team) the theory and technologies related to knowledge graphs and ontologies

● Demonstrable affinity with data modeling, predictive modeling, neuroscience

● Demonstrated ability to work independently as well as in a team

● Excellent oral and written English communication

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

We offer a 4-year full-time appointment as a Ph.D. candidate. The first year will be a probation period, after a positive assessment the position will be extended for another 3 years. The earliest start date is October 1, 2021. Remuneration will be according to standard salary levels for Ph.D. students starting with a salary of €2.434,- with a yearly growth to €3.111,- gross a month, based on a full-time appointment (38 hours/week). On top of this, there is an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance. The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO), supplement with local UM provisions. For more information on terms of employment, please visit our website https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/working-um

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 20,000 students and 4,700 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Institute of Data Science

The Institute of Data Science at Maastricht University (IDS@UM) is a center led by Distinguished Professor Michel Dumontier. The mission of the Institute of Data Science is to foster an interfaculty environment for collaborative innovation in the development and application of data science technologies. IDS consists of a core team of data science experts that cooperate closely with researchers across disciplines such as medicine, life sciences, law, social sciences and humanities, business and economics, knowledge engineering, and smart services.

Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre

This PhD position is in collaboration with prof. Elia Formisano and the Auditory Cognition research unit at the Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (M-BIC). MBIC is a research center founded by the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience of Maastricht University. It offers research facilities that were newly established within the Brains Unlimited project, including high (3 Tesla) and ultra-high (7 and 9.4 Tesla) magnetic fields MR scanners. The research core of M-BIC is formed by the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, one of the four departments through which the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience conducts its research.