PhD student position in Computer Vision

Updated: 25 days ago
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 23 Apr 2024

5 Apr 2024
Job Information
Organisation/Company

University of Basel
Research Field

Computer science » Other
History » Ancient history
Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)
Country

Switzerland
Application Deadline

23 Apr 2024 - 21:59 (UTC)
Type of Contract

Temporary
Job Status

Full-time
Hours Per Week

38
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

The Department of Ancient Civilizations of the University of Basel invites applications for one PhD student position (100%) in Computer Vision for 3 years on the topic of offline to online conversion of historical handwritings within the SNSF-funded research project 'Egrapsa: Retracing the evolutions of handwritings in Greco-Roman Egypt thanks to digital palaeography'.

Deadline for application: April 23, 2024.
Beginning of the position: September 01, 2024 (ideally).
Work place: Basel (Switzerland)
Salary: approx. 50'000 Swiss francs per year
The interviews are expected to take place beginning of May online via Zoom.

The project

Papyri preserved by the dry climate of Egypt are an unparalleled source of information about the Ancient World. However, their large number, diversity and current dispersion have impeded a comprehensive grasp of their nature and content. In particular, palaeography, the study of handwritings that has the potential to unveil where, when, and by whom a text was written, still relies on experts' assertions that rarely reach consensus. New technological advances in Computer Science, notably in Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing now allow building the big picture of the writing culture of Greco-Roman Egypt and developing scientific analyses of scripts. Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation for five years, the Starting Grant project EGRAPSA (literally “I have written" in Ancient Greek) aims at providing a new theoretical framework to the palaeography of Greek papyri. Starting from sound evidence, it aims at retracing the evolutions of handwritings, generating a model that, in turn, can contribute to organizing the papyrological documentation in a coherent panorama, improving the solidity of dates and writer identifications made on palaeographical grounds. The ground-breaking dimension of the project is to encompass the entire papyrological documentation in its full complexity to measure similarities and explain evolutions by focusing on the reconstruction of the dynamics of writing, thus to literally re-trace handwritings. For further information, see the project website https://d-scribes.philhist.unibas.ch/en/ . 

The PhD student will be fully funded for a period of three years, be registered as a PhD student at the University of Basel, and work under the co-supervision of Prof. Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello (Department of Ancient Civilizations) and of Prof. Ivan Dokmanić (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science ) with support from the Center for Data Analytics (CeDA ). The PhD dissertation project will focus on how to experimentally capture hypothetical ductus (stroke order and direction of writing) reconstructed by experts and to design deep learning pipelines as well as experimental protocols to acquire and compare ductus reconstitutions.
In addition, the PhD student will take part in the team's discussions on the history and evolutions of Greek handwritings across a millennium. She/he will help organize – jointly with the team – a number of workshops and conferences, participate in outreach activities of the project and present her/his research at scientific meetings. 

Applicants should hold a Master's degree in Computer Vision or related fields with grades above average (Master's thesis must be completed by the start of the position), be highly motivated to conduct innovative transdisciplinary research at the intersections of Artificial Intelligence, Kinematics, Digital Humanities and Ancient History, have an excellent command of at least English, and be able to work autonomously within an internationally and institutionally diverse environment.

The project is based in the Department of Ancient Civilizations and conducted in collaboration with the Center for Data Analytics led by Prof. Ivan Dokmanić at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science . The collaborative nature of the project ensures that the successful candidate will be immersed in a stimulating machine learning research environment, with cutting-edge infrastructure for high-performance computing provisioned by sciCORE – the Center for Scientific Computing . The salary and employment conditions will be those of PhD students at the University of Basel.

Application / Contact

We look forward to receiving your complete application. Applicants should submit a motivation letter, a current CV (including a list of publications if applicable), a text sample of a research paper (MA-thesis or other), and a copy of their academic degrees via the online application portal of the University (see button below) until 23 April 2024. Please also indicate the name and address of two possible referees. Applications that are not submitted via the University's online application portal will not be considered. Questions about the position can be addressed to Prof. Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello, SNSF Project leader Egrapsa, University of Basel, Petersgraben 51, CH - 4051 Basel ([email protected] ). 


Requirements
Research Field
Computer science
Years of Research Experience
1 - 4

Research Field
History
Years of Research Experience
1 - 4

Additional Information
Website for additional job details

https://academicpositions.com

Work Location(s)
Number of offers available
1
Company/Institute
University of Basel
Country
Switzerland
City
Basel
Postal Code
CH-4003
Street
Petersplatz 1

Where to apply
Website

https://academicpositions.com/ad/university-of-basel/2024/phd-student-position-…

Contact
City

Basel
Website

https://www.unibas.ch/en.html
Postal Code

CH-4003

STATUS: EXPIRED

Similar Positions