Research Associate

Job title:

Research Associate

Company

University of Edinburgh

Job description

Job Description:The School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh invites applications for a Research Associate position in conversational and interactive AI and related areas spanning natural language processing, machine learning, and information retrieval. The aim is to make significant advances in large language models with applications to generative information retrieval and search-centric agents. The ideal candidate has in-depth knowledge of state-of-the-art neural language model architectures and reinforcement learning.The Opportunity:The postdoctoral researcher will be supervised by Jeff Dalton and funded by a UKRI Turing AI Acceleration Fellowship in collaboration with the Alan Turing Institute on “Neural Conversational Information Seeking Assistants.” You will join the GRILL Lab ( ) which is part of the Edinburgh NLP group ( ), one of the largest and most active AI research groups in the world (see ). There are many collaborative opportunities, both within the group as well as across the School of Informatics (which includes faculty working on machine learning, computer vision, speech processing, and social computing).This post is fixed term (12 months) and full-time (35 hours per week); with regular on-campus working.The salary for this post is UE07 £40,247 to £47,874 per annum.Your skills and attributes for success:– Ph.D. degree (or about to obtain one)
– A strong background in AI, preferably: informational retrieval and/or natural language processing
– Publications at top venues in IR, ML, or/and NLP
– Strong programming skills
– Experience with modern deep learning frameworks, preferably related to language model architectures
– Strong communication, presentation, and writing skills, and excellent command of EnglishClick to view a copy of the full (opens new browser tab)Application InformationPlease ensure you include the following documents in your application:– CV– Cover letterFor informal enquiries, please contact:Feedback is only provided to interviewed candidates.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

(opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefitsChampioning equality, diversity and inclusionThe University of Edinburgh 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).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.Key dates to noteThe closing date for applications is 4 February 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.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 University of Edinburgh. 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.

Expected salary

£40247 – 47874 per year

Location

Edinburgh – Midlothian

Job date

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 03:24:37 GMT

To help us track our recruitment effort, please indicate in your email/cover letter where (globalvacancies.org) you saw this job posting.