Are you passionate about foundations and applications of machine learning? We are seeking four PhD candidates and one postdoctoral researcher for the recently established Mercury Machine Learning Lab (MMLL). In this lab, researchers from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) will be working together with data scientists from Booking.com to develop the machine learning foundations for a new generation of recommendation systems. Motivated by real-world problems faced in industry, we will investigate fundamental problems regarding generalization and bias removal in data analysis.

As part of the MMLL initiative, the University of Amsterdam is inviting applications for the following four fully funded PhD positions:

• Position 1: Bridging online and offline evaluation (supervisor: prof.dr. Maarten de Rijke)
• Position 2: Avoiding filter bubbles by correcting for selection bias (supervisor: prof.dr. Joris M. Mooij)
• Position 3: Domain generalization and domain adaptation (supervisor: prof.dr. Joris M. Mooij)
• Position 4: Training NLP Models for Better Generalisation (supervisors: dr. Ivan Titov & dr. Wilker Aziz)

In addition, we invite applications for a postdoctoral researcher to assist with the research and the supervision of the PhD students.

The MMLL initiative also involves three positions (2 PhD positions, 1 postdoc position) that will be supervised by researchers from the TU Delft. More details on the contents of the MMLL research projects are provided on the MMLL webpage.

What are you going to do?

As a PhD student, you will be expected to:

• develop, study and apply machine learning techniques within the context of one of the four research projects, under supervision of the promotor and a data scientist from Booking.com;
• complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years;
• publish research results in top-tier international journals and present at leading conferences;
• collaborate with other MMLL researchers;
• assist in relevant teaching activities.

As the post-doctoral researcher, you will be expected to:

• assist with the research and the supervision of the PhD students;
• publish research results in top-tier international journals and present at leading conferences;
• collaborate with other MMLL researchers;
• assist in relevant teaching activities.

What do we require of you?

For all PhD positions, we require:

• a Master's degree in artificial intelligence, computer science, mathematics, statistics, or closely related area;
• a strong background in AI / machine learning / data science / modern statistics.

Experience with teaching is a plus.

• for PhD position 1: a background in search and recommendation is a big plus.
• for PhD positions 2 and 3: an interest in causality is a plus.
• for PhD position 4: experience with NLP is a plus.

For the Postdoc Position, we require:

• a PhD degree (or equivalent qualification) on a machine learning topic;
• an exceptional scientific track record, documented by publications at first-tier journals and conferences;
• a strong research background in (topics related to) domain adaptation;

For all positions, ideally, you:

• have an appetite for understanding the ML problems relevant to Booking.com, and have the desire to perform in-depth analyses of rich datasets;
• have excellent mathematical skills (in particular in probability theory, statistics, calculus, and linear algebra);
• have excellent programming skills;
• have strong communication, presentation and writing skills;
• show commitment, perseverance and a cooperative attitude;
• enjoy working in a multidisciplinary research environment;
• are highly motivated and creative;
• have an excellent command of English.

Our offer

For the Postdoc Position: A temporary contract for 38 hours a week, preferably starting in late 2021, for the duration of 12 months. After positive evaluation the contract will be extended with 36 months. The Job profile Researcher 4 is applicable.

For the PhD Positions: A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of four years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students. 

The salary, depending on relevant experience before the beginning of the employment contract, will be €2,790 to €4,402 gross per month for the postdoc position and €2,395 to €3,061 for the PhD positions, based on a fulltime contract (38 hours a week). This is exclusive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

Are you curious about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits like our excellent opportunities for study and development? Take a look here.

Are you curious about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits like our excellent opportunities for study and development? Take a look here.

University of Amsterdam

With over 6,000 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.

Faculty of Science – Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics

The Faculty of Science has a student body of around 7,000, as well as 1,600 members of staff working in education, research or support services. Researchers and students at the Faculty of Science are fascinated by every aspect of how the world works, be it elementary particles, the birth of the universe or the functioning of the brain.

The Faculty of Science belongs to the University of Amsterdam (UvA), one of Europe’s most prominent research-led universities. It is a Top-100 university globally and one of Europe’s 15 best universities. With 35,000 students, 6,000 staff and 3,000 PhD candidates, the UvA is also one of the largest general research universities in Europe. A prominent research area at the UvA is Artificial Intelligence. The UvA is part of the AI Technology for People initiative, where it teams up with several other key players within the Amsterdam region. Together they will invest 1 billion euros in the development of responsible AI technologies over the next ten years by setting up research programmes, attracting top scientists and educating students with state-of-the-art knowledge of AI. The UvA was selected by the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) as an Excellence Centre for AI to help keep in Europe talent in machine learning and related AI research fields. The UvA is also involved in 11 labs of the Innovation Centre for AI (ICAI), which promotes public-private partnerships in the general area of AI.

One of these ICAI labs is the newly established Mercury Machine Learning Lab. In this lab, researchers from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) will be working together with Booking.com on various improved recommendation systems. The collaboration provides the unique opportunity to test AI techniques in the real world, allowing new machine learning methods to be safely developed for wide application, for example in mobility, energy or healthcare. The UvA researchers participating in the MMLL have different areas of expertise and are affiliated with various research institutes of the Faculty of Science. Prof. dr. De Rijke specializes in information retrieval and is affiliated with the Informatics Institute. Prof dr. Mooij specializes in causality and is affiliated with the Korteweg-De Vries Institute for Mathematics. Dr. Titov and dr. Aziz both specialize in NLP and are affiliated with the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation. The researchers affiliated with the TU Delft that are involved in the MMLL are dr. Spaan and dr. Oliehoek, who both specialize  on reinforcement learning. In addition to the existing researchers, the Mercury Machine Learning Lab will comprise six PhD candidates and two postdocs who will work on six different projects related to bias and generalisation problems over the course of the next five years. They will spend two days a week in the office of Booking.com in Amsterdam to do research and actively participate in related streams of experimentation to test their hypotheses.

More information about the Mercury Machine Learning Lab and the related projects can be found on the MMLL website.