One or more PhD Stipends/Integrated Stipends in Self-Supervised Learning for Decoding of Complex Signals

This PhD stipend is funded by the Pioneer Centre for Artificial Intelligence’s collaboratory, Signals and Decoding. The Pioneer Centre for AI is located at the University of Copenhagen, with partners at Aarhus University, Aalborg University, The Technical University of Denmark, and the IT University of Copenhagen. There will be a cohort of PhD students starting during the fall of 2023 across the partner universities. PhD students at the Pioneer Centre for AI will have extraordinary access computing resources, to international researchers across many disciplines within computer sciences and other academic areas, as well as courses and events at the centre, and meaningful collaboration with industry, the public sector, and the start-up ecosystem.

Centre website:www.Aicentre.dk

To date, most successful applications of deep learning in signals and decoding are based on supervised learning. However, supervised learning is contingent on the availability of labelled data, i.e., each sample has a semantic annotation. The need for labelled data is a serious limitation to applications at scale and complicates the maintenance of real-life supervised learning systems.

The typical situation is that unlabelled data is abundant, and this has given rise to paradigms such as semi-supervised and self-supervised learning(SSL). Both directions in SSL are based on combining large amounts of unlabelled data with limited labelled data. While semi-supervised learning invokes generative models to learn representations that support learning with few labels, self-supervised learning is based on supervised learning with a supervisory signal derived from the data itself.

The goal of this PhD study is to develop novel semi-supervised and self-supervised methods for modelling signals of various modalities(e.g., speech, audio, vision, text) and analyse the complexity of the developed models. The PhD student during the study is further provided with opportunities to do research at other units and the headquarter of the Pioneer Centre as well as abroad.

The PhD candidate is expected to have:

• background in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Mathematics or equivalent
• Knowledge with machine learning and deep learning
• Hands-on experience with Python and deep learning frameworks
• Experience with signal processing as a plus
• Strong analytical and experimental skills
• High-level of motivation and innovation
• High-level of written and spoken English

You may obtain further information from Professor Zheng-Hua Tan, Department of Electronic Systems, phone:+45 99 40 86 86, email:[email protected] , concerning the scientific aspects of the stipend.

PhD stipends are allocated to individuals who hold a Master's degree. PhD stipends are normally for a period of 3 years.
Integrated PhD stipends are allocated to individuals who has not yet completed a Master’s degree and who wish to begin the PhD study in connection with the Master study. Thus a prerequisite for acceptance is that the candidate is enrolled in a relevant Master’s programme, such as Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Science or similar.

The integrated stipend consists of two parts, A and B. During part A you are enrolled simultaneous in the Master’s programme and in the PhD programme. The stipend consists of two SU-PhD Grants per month(SU=The Danish students’ Grants and Loans Scheme). One SU-PhD grant equals DKK 6.397 kr.(2023 level). SU-PhD Grants are paid for a maximum of two years. When the Master’s degree has been obtained, you will be employed for two years as a PhD fellow according to the present collective agreement. Part B has a maximum duration of two years.

It is a prerequisite for allocation of the stipend that the candidate will be enrolled as a PhD student at the Technical Doctoral School of IT and Design in accordance with the regulations of Ministerial Order No. 1039 of August 27, 2013 on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic Educational Institutions. According to the Ministerial Order, the progress of the PhD student shall be assessed at regular points in time.

Shortlisting will be applied. This means that subsequent to the deadline for applications the head of department supported by the chair of the assessment committee will select candidates for assessment. All applicants will be informed whether they will be assessed or not.

For further information about stipends and salary as well as practical issues concerning the application procedure contact Ms. Lisbeth Diinhoff, The Doctoral School at The Technical Faculty of IT and Design, email:[email protected] , phone:+45 9940 9589.

For more information of The Technical Doctoral School of IT and Design:www.phd.tech.aau.dk

The application is only to be submitted online by using the"Apply online" button below.

AAU wishes to reflect the diversity of society and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background or belief.

Allocation of SU-PhD Grants are according to the Ministerial Order on the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme part 12, section II. This applies only to integrated PhD stipends. Appointment and salary as a PhD fellow are according to the Ministry of Finance Circular of 15 December 2021 on the Collective Agreement for Academics in Denmark, Appendix 5, regarding PhD fellows, and with the current Circular of 11 December 2019 on the employment structure at Danish universities.