Connectionists: Fully funded PhD position at the University of Amsterdam in causal discovery with applications in biology

[Joris Mooij]

The Informatics Institute at the University of Amsterdam invites applications for a fully funded position for a PhD student in the area causal discovery with applications in biology. The position is within the Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS) Group, led by Prof. Dr. Max Welling, and will be supervised by Dr. Joris Mooij.

Application closing date:  October 16, 2013
Starting date:             January 1, 2014 (later starting date is possible)
Duration:                  4 years

The research will focus on the development of new theory and efficient algorithms for robust discovery of causal relationships and estimation of causal effects from data, with a strong focus on applications in molecular biology (for example, using gene or protein expression data).

Applicants must have a master's degree in computer science, mathematics, physics, artificial intelligence or a closely related area.

In addition, a successful candidate should have:

* excellent math skills.
* good programming skills in at least one of the following languages: C++, MatLab, R or Python.
* good knowledge of modern machine learning methods (specific knowledge of Bayesian methods, probabilistic graphical modeling or causal discovery methods is a plus).
* excellent oral and written communication skills.
* commitment and a cooperative attitude.

The successful candidate will be based in the Intelligent Systems Lab Amsterdam (ISLA) within the Informatics Institute at the University of Amsterdam. The institute was recently ranked among the top 50 computer science departments in the world by the 2011 QS World University IT Rankings. ISLA consists of 20 members of faculty, 20 post-doctoral researchers, and more than 50 PhD students. Members of the lab are actively pursuing a variety of research initiatives, including machine learning, decision-theoretic planning and learning, causal discovery, multi-agent systems, human-computer-interaction, natural language processing, information retrieval, and computer vision.

Conditions of employment
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Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary will range from €2,083.-- in the first year to €2,664.-- in the last year. There are also secondary benefits, such as 8% holiday allowance per year and the end of year allowance of 8.3%. The Collective Employment Agreement (CAO) of the Dutch Universities is applicable.

Some of the things we have to offer:

* competitive pay and excellent benefits
* extremely friendly working environment
* high-level of interaction
* location near the city center (10 minutes by bicycle) of one of Europe's most beautiful and lively cities
* international environment (10+ nationalities in the group)
* access to high-end computing facilities (cluster with 4,000+ cores)
* brand-new building.

Since Amsterdam is a very international city where almost everybody speaks and understands English, candidates need not be afraid of the language barrier.

Additional information
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For further information, including instructions on submitting an application, see the official job ad at:

http://www.uva.nl/en/about-the-uva/working-at-the-uva/vacancies/item/13-296.html

Informal inquiries can be made by email to Joris Mooij (j.m.mooij at uva.nl).