Connectionists: PhD and Postdoc positions in Machine Learning / Reinforcement Learning / Evolutionary Computation

[Sebastian Risi]

Funded Postdoc and PhD positions are available to start as soon as
possible or after agreement.

Application deadline: 15 April 2020, at 23:59 CEST.

The positions are funded by two Independent Research Fund Denmark
(DFF) grants led by Sebastian Risi (INNATE: DFF Sapere Aude grant and
QD2L: DFF thematic grant). Please refer to which project you are
applying to.

Project 1 (INNATE):
The overall aim of this project is to create adaptive machines that
can continually learn from experience and apply previously learned
knowledge to novel situations. Current machine learning systems can
only deal with situations they have been trained for in advance; they
are unable to adapt quickly and during execution to unexpected events.
In the INNATE project, the goal is to devise a new class of algorithms
based on a combination of evolutionary computation and
state-of-the-art reinforcement learning to significantly extend the
usefulness of simulated agents and robots.

Project 2 (QD2L):
Deep neural networks have lately shown impressive performance across a
range of tasks, such as face recognition, speech recognition, or
automatic translation. However, there is increasing evidence that
while these systems work well on the data they are training on, they
do not generalize well to related problems or even different instances
of the same problem. The aim in this project is to devise a novel
approach to making neural networks significantly more robust by
combining deep (reinforcement) learning methods with ideas from
quality diversity search methods.

The successful candidate should have experience in some of the following topics:

- Deep RL / meta-learning / continual learning
- Machine learning
- Neuroevolution / evolutionary algorithms
- Neurobiology / systems neuroscience
- Evolutionary developmental biology

Research environment
The successful candidate will work together with Sebastian Risi (see
sebastianrisi.com) and join the Robotics, Evolution, and Art Lab
(REAL), which is an interdisciplinary research group at the IT
University of Copenhagen (see https://real.itu.dk).

We aim at building a diverse team. All applications are welcome,
especially those from members of underrepresented groups are
encouraged.

Link to apply and more information:
https://candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationInit.aspx?cid=119&ProjectId=181144&DepartmentId=3439&MediaId=5

-- 
Dr. Sebastian Risi
Associate Professor - IT University of Copenhagen / Co-founder - Modl.ai
email: sebastian.risi at gmail.com, web: www.sebastianrisi.com
phone: +45-50250355