Research Fellow - Deep Reinforcement Learning (104121-1810))

Vacancy Type/Job category
Research Only
Department
Statistics
Salary
£31,406 - £40,927 per annum
Location
University of Warwick - Coventry
Vacancy Overview
2 x Full Time, Fixed Term Contract: 36 months or 31st December 2025 whichever is sooner
We are seeking to appoint two Research Fellows to work in the area of Deep Reinforcement Learning. The post holders will join the Data Science team, based in the Department of Statistics and WMG at the University of Warwick, to support an ambitious AI research programme funded by a UKRI Turing AI Acceleration Fellowship.
One of the main challenges in AI today is that of autonomous sequential decision-making: how can we give AI algorithms the ability to decide what actions to take whilst interacting with an uncertain environment in order to achieve a goal? Remarkable developments in this direction over the last few years have relied on deep reinforcement learning (DRL).
Many real-world applications are characterised by the interplay of multiple decision-makers that operate in the same shared-resources environment and need to accomplish goals cooperatively. The fast-developing area of collaborative multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) has recently emerged to extend DRL to teams of autonomous agents.
Depending on your prior research experience and interests, you will have the freedom to focus a particular research aspect of interest including multi-agent communication, relational learning, and off-line learning. There will also be an opportunity to develop reinforcement learning policies from raw video data using computer vision technologies. Our advances will be motivated by the desire to enable autonomous cooperative systems in real-world applications. The project is well-supported by a number of industry partners. In the manufacturing sector, we have established collaborations with robotics manufacturers (Shadow Robots, Kinova and Inovo), a strategic partnership with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (Robotic Systems for Smart Manufacturing Program) and with the HKUST Robotics Institute, amongst others. In the digital healthcare sector, the project is supported by NHS Trusts providing historical clinical data.
At the University of Warwick we are committed to supporting staff to achieve their potential. We currently hold the Athena SWAN Silver Award and the University of Warwick holds an Institutional Silver Award: a national initiative that recognizes the advancement of gender equality, representation, progression and success for all in academia. We are supportive of staff with caring responsibilities including a generous maternity/paternity/adoption/parental leave policy, and onsite childcare facilities. We will consider applications for employment on a part-time or other flexible working basis, even where a position is advertised as full-time, unless there are operational or other objective reasons why it is not possible to do so.
For an informal conversation about this role, please contact Professor Giovanni Montana ([email protected])
Closing date: 4 weeks from advert live
Job Description
Job Purpose
You will be joining the Data Science team based in the Department of Statistics and WMG at the University of Warwick to undertake AI research on a UKRI-funded research project. You will develop new technologies based on deep artificial neural networks and reinforcement learning to advance the state-of-the-art of collaborative multi-agent systems with the potential to unlock new real-world applications in manufacturing and/or digital healthcare. You will assist the Project Director (Prof Montana), the broader team of AI researchers and software engineers, as well as our industry partners, in the successful execution of the project.
Duties and Responsibilities
Research
1. To develop novel deep reinforcement learning methodologies for multi-agent systems using deep learning techniques.
2. To explore extensions of relational reinforcement learning, learning from video demonstrations and/or off-line reinforcement learning in the context of multi-agent systems.
3. To work in collaboration with our industry partners to identify relevant real-word problems and applications (e.g. in robotics and healthcare).
4. To explore synergies with our academic partners to develop cutting edge learning algorithms and benchmark them with state-of-the-art methodologies.
5. To assist our 3D modellers and engineers in the development of realistic multi-agent environments and tasks to support our research.
6. To establish a sound research base within the two departments (Statistics & WMG) in order to pursue individual and collaborative research of high quality consistent with making a full active research contribution to the Department in line with its research strategy.
7. To secure, in collaboration with colleagues as appropriate, external funding through research grants or contracts to support a developing research agenda.
8. To manage research projects within the University, which includes supervising post-doctoral research assistant, research students, technical and other support staff engaged in research.
9. To consider the value of research achievements within their potential commercial context and where appropriate and with the assistance of Research & Impact Services, take appropriate action to protect such research results by patent application or copyright to the potential benefit of the University.
10. To publish research outcomes in appropriate journals of international standing and to publish and disseminate the result of research and scholarship in other reputable outlets.
11. To identify and explore with the Departments and the University any entrepreneurial opportunities which may arise and to ensure that intellectual property rights are protected for the benefit of the University and the researcher.
12. To attend and present research findings and papers at academic and professional conferences, and to contribute to the external visibility of the department.
13. To contribute to the research plans developed by the Department, including providing such information as may be required by the Department to monitor the progress of each member of staff’s research programme and to support the Department fully in the preparation of material required for the REF or similar activities.
14. To help draft research reports for the Project Director.
Administration and Other Activities
1. To undertake such specific departmental roles and management functions as may be reasonably required by the Head of Department.
2. To attend departmental meetings and to participate (where necessary) in other committees and working groups within the department, the faculty and the University.
3. To participate in relevant professional activities.
4. To engage in continuous professional development.
5. To undertake external commitments, which reflect well and enhance the reputation of the University.
6. To ensure compliance with health and safety in all aspects of work.
The duties and responsibilities outlined are not intended to be an exhaustive list but provide guidance on the main aspects of the job. The post holder will be required to be flexible in their duties.

Person Specification

The Person Specification focuses on the knowledge, skills, experience and qualifications required to undertake the role effectively. This is measured by (a) Application Form, (b) Test/Exercise, (c) Interview, (d) Presentation.

Essential Criteria 1
Honours degree, 2.1 or above in statistics, mathematics, computer science or similar (a)
Essential Criteria 2
Possession of a PhD in a relevant discipline, such as statistical machine learning (a)
Essential Criteria 3
Knowledge of deep artificial neural networks (a, b, c, d)
Essential Criteria 4
Knowledge of reinforcement learning methodologies (a, b, c, d)
Essential Criteria 5
Knowledge of Python and deep learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch) (a, b, c, d)
Essential Criteria 6
Ability to publish excellent work in relevant fields (a, c)
Essential Criteria 7
Good effective communication (oral and written) skills, presentation and training skills (a, c)
Essential Criteria 8
Good interpersonal skills (a, c)
Essential Criteria 9
Ability to work independently and as part of a team on research programmes (a, c, d)
Essential Criteria 10
Ability to initiate, plan organise, implement, and deliver programmes of work to tight deadlines (a, c, d)
Desirable Criteria 1
A broader range of quantitative skills, e.g. in physics and Proven experience in Higher Education (a, c)
Desirable Criteria 2
Ability to initiate, develop and deliver high quality research and to publish in peer reviewed journals (a, c)
Desirable Criteria 3
Competency in Linux and multi-GPU environments (a, c)
Desirable Criteria 4
Ability or potential to generate external funding (grants, contracts etc) to support research projects (a, c)
Desirable Criteria 5
Ability to write research reports and papers in styles accessible to both academic and policy audiences (a, c)
Further Particulars
For further information about the WMG Data Science and AI Group then please visit our website:
Data Science
For further information about the University of Warwick, please read our University Further Particulars .
For further information about the department, please visit the departmental website .

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Other Information
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Closing Date
15 Nov 2021