Connectionists: PhD positions in representation learning for LLMs at Idiap (Switzerland)
James Henderson
james.henderson at idiap.ch
Sat Feb 28 12:12:45 EST 2026
As part of the ERC Advanced grant BALM, Idiap Research Institute seeks
qualified candidates for two PhD student positions at the intersection
of machine learning and natural language processing, to work with Dr.
James Henderson in the Natural Language Understanding group
<https://www.idiap.ch/en/scientific-research/natural-language-understanding>.
These researchers will investigate representation learning for language,
using our recent information-theoretic extension of transformer
embeddings to help manage an LLM's internal memory. Our nonparametric
variational information bottleneck induces more abstract and
interpretable attention-based representations, which we will leverage
and extend to develop new deep learning architectures and investigate
their interpretability, controllability and applications.
Idiap offers competitive salaries, a beautiful location, a stable and
safe democratic society, and a world-class AI research community. PhD
students are registered at EPFL <http://www.epfl.ch>.
The ideal PhD candidates should hold a Masters degree in computer
science, artificial intelligence, or related fields. She or he should
have a background in machine learning or natural language processing.
The applicants should also have strong mathematical and programming skills.
Please apply on the Idiap careers site
<https://careers.werecruit.io/en/idiap/offres/phd-student-doctoral-researcher-positions-in-deep-learning-for-natural-language-processing-8b21ee>.
All questions related to these positions should be sent to Dr. James
Henderson (james.henderson at idiap.ch). Applications received by 1 April
will be given full consideration.
Sincerely,
- James Henderson
james.henderson at idiap.ch
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