Postdoctoral Researcher for Multimodality Fusion for Emotion Understanding

The North changes the world – we at the University of Oulu work as part of the international science community to produce new scientific information and science-based solutions. We are committed to educate future pioneers to build a more sustainable, intelligent and humane world. Creating new, taking responsibility and succeeding together are values that build a strong foundation for all our actions. We offer a working environment where individuals can cultivate their skills, do meaningful work, and develop professionally. Our university's several specialized research and service units enable extensive and diverse development and career opportunities for experts in various fields.

Related to this position, University of Oulu possesses strong expertise in artificial intelligence, wireless communications engineering, medicine, Humanities, and business, and close cooperation with various research institutes and companies, which has created an internationally significant research and innovation hub that is changing the world and securing our well-being.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Researcher position to join a research project headed by Assistant Professor Xiaobai Li in the Center for Machine Vision and Signal Analysis Research Unit (CMVS, http://www.oulu.fi/cmvs ), to work on Multimodality fusion for emotion understanding. The duration of the position is one year and the starting time for the work is January 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter. A six-month trial period is applied in the position.

Subject field and description of the position

Successful applicants would work in the field of computer vision and machine learning, carrying out the following tasks: 1) to implement different machine learning methods or to develop new methods (including both deep learning and traditional approaches) according to the research tasks planned in the project; 2) to collaborate with other team members working in the same projects or on related topics; 3) to write research papers and technical reports, 4) to be involved and contribute to other academic tasks, such as writing of funding proposals, and organizing workshops and seminars.

About CMVS

CMVS (http://www.oulu.fi/cmvs) provides an inspiring and international research environment. CMVS is renowned world-wide for its scientific breakthroughs in machine vision and signal analysis. Many of its results, including the Local Binary Pattern, face analysis and geometric camera calibration methodologies, are highly cited and have been adopted for different types of problems and applications around the world. The unit is internationally attractive, with one visiting FiDiPro Professor and one Fellow, several visiting scholars and an extensive international collaboration network, enabling a large number of joint publications in leading forums. The main research interests of CMVS are in computer vision and machine learning, affective computing, multimodal image and signal analysis, low-energy computing, and applications in affective human-computer interaction, biometrics, augmented reality, and biomedicine. In physiological signal analysis basic, applied and translational research in biomedical engineering is carried out to tackle key challenges of next generation personalized medicine and wellness solutions. In its field the Research Unit is globally highly ranked with research activities based on international collaborations. The partners of CMVS include three institutes of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Computing Technology, Psychology, and Automation), National University of Singapore, University of Georgia (USA), Imperial College London, Czech Technical University (Prague), University of Maryland (USA), Idiap Research Institute (Switzerland), and EPFL (Switzerland). At the University of Oulu the Research Unit and its leading experts are responsible for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral education in the field.

Required qualifications

• The candidate for the Postdoctoral Researcher position must hold a doctoral degree in computer science or electrical engineering. The doctoral degree must be received no more than 5 years ago, (i.e. after 2017), and before 31.12.2021 (or latest before the job contract starts). 
• The candidate should be able to carry out research works independently, which should be reflected by relevant publications in international top journals such as IEEE Transactions, flagship IEEE conferences or similar top forums.
• Research experiences and publications on video processing and emotion recognition are prefered. At the same time, we appreciate candidates that are able to work across and beyond disciplinary boundaries.
• Fluency in both written and spoken English, as well as good communication and teamwork skills are required.
• Strong programming skills with C/C++/Matlab/python, experiences of implementing deep learning methods are required.

Salary and benefits

The salary of the selected postdoctoral researcher will be in accordance with the Finnish universities salary system for research and teaching personnel level 5-6. In addition, a salary component based on personal work performance will be paid (maximum of 50% of the job-specific component). Starting gross salary will be approx. 3500-4000€ per month (before taxes), depending on qualifications, performance and experience. The employed person will be insured by the university and provided occupational healthcare. Finland is known as a country with a high quality of life and good healthcare system.

Application procedure

Applications, together with all relevant enclosures, must be submitted using the electronic application form by November 30th, 2021at 23:59 (Finnish local time).

The application should be written in English and include the following:

1)     A motivation letter (max. 2 pages) summarizing applicant’s professional experience and expertise and describing why applicant is interested in about this position. Also, information on personal research interests, experience and career plans are valuable to provide here

2)     Curriculum vitae (max. 4 pages) in accordance with the guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity http://www.tenk.fi/en/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae

3)     List of publications based on the guidelines of the Academy of Finland: https://www.aka.fi/en/research-funding/apply-for-funding/how-to-apply-for-funding/az-index-of-application-guidelines2/list-of-publications/  [with ten most important indicated]

4)     Certificates/Diplomas: Scanned copy of the original Master's degree certificate and Bachelor certigicate; scanned copy of transcripts of master and bachelor studies and, when necessary, official translations to Finnish or English. 

5)     Contact information of two relevant persons (e.g. experienced  researchers) who may be asked to give a statement on the candidate.

Only applications containing all relevant appendices and submitted through the online recruitment system will be considered. Top candidates will be invited to an on-site or remote interview. All applicants will be notified when the selection process is completed.

For further information, please contact

Assistant Professor Xiaobai Li

Center for Machine Vision and Signal Analysis Research

Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering

Tel: +358 40 9311 085

Edited 22.10.2021: application period extended