Full-time

Start your Ph.D. in the promising AI field. Your main goal will be to develop probabilistic models and test them on real biomedical and public health data.

We seek a Ph.D. student with a background in computer science, statistics, or applied mathematics to work on an exciting Horizon Europe project. The research will involve developing new probabilistic graphical models, proving statistical properties thereof, developing techniques to adequately train them with strong accuracy and generalization, and testing them on real biomedical and public health data.

Research context

Structured Graphical Models for Causal Inference is increasingly an important class of Machine Learning techniques, especially in applications of public health and medicine. Using careful well-principled structure in the modeling, conclusions can be reached regarding the cause-effect, rather than simply correlational influence, with far reaching implications for understanding and treatment/policy.

The development, analysis, training, and inference of these models are highly nontrivial and involve an array of tools from statistics and information theory along with optimization and numerical analysis. As part of a Horizon Europe EU-wide project, we are seeking motivated and competent Ph.D. students to pursue research in the associated fields.

Dog-friendly offices located in central Prague.

Supervision

You will work on a project which is coordinated by Jakub Mareček, Ph.D. who has worked in  two start-ups, IBM Research Ireland, and at the University of California LA, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Toronto. As the Head of the Optimization group in the AI Center, he designs and analyses algorithms for optimization and control problems across a range of application domains, including power systems, quantum computing, and robust statistics.

You will be supervised jointly by his close collaborator Vyacheslav Kunurtsev and Ondrej Kuzelka.

Salary and benefits

  • The position is full-time and limited to 3 years, but can be extended in case of mutual interest.
  • The studentship comes with a monthly salary adjusted to approximately match the average salary in Prague, the Czech Republic (which currently stands at approximately EUR 23 000 p.a. before a notably low tax).
  • You are entitled to 6 weeks of paid vacation which you will find useful when exploring the beautiful parts of our country including a number of UNESCO landmarks.
  • Get excited about a travel budget for attractive conferences abroad, regular internal seminars, an unlimited supply of coffee (very appreciated).
  • Our labs are located on the university campus in the historical city center with a view of Prague Castle, so perfect transport accessibility is another obvious advantage.
  • The Czech capital regularly ranks among the five best Eropean cities to live in.
  • What we appreciate the most about our research center is its inspirational and supportive environment. We love to cooperate across teams and benefit from our diverse research network.
Some of the AIC doctoral students and postdocs at our get-together before summer vacation.
Students meeting at the end of a summer semester.

Requirements

  • Master's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or related disciplines.
  • A preference is given to candidates with experience in programming.

How to apply

  • Send your structured CV and· motivation letter to our HR Manager katarina.takusova@fel.cvut.cz or via the form below.
  • We will contact you in approx. two weeks whether you qualify for the position and if we think you would be a good fit for our team.
  • You will then get an interview with our Optimization researchers.
  • If you agree, we will invite you for a visit to give a talk at our internal seminar. You will meet our team, spend a day with us in meetings, have lunch and we will show you around.
  • Shortly after, you will get a final answer and we will decide on a suitable starting date.