Doctoral scholarship holder, Near-sensor neural networks

 Department: Electronics - ICT

Regime Full-time

Let’s shape the future - University of Antwerp

The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20 000 students; conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international, and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow's world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape. 

The Department of Electronics-ICT in the Faculty of Applied Engineering is looking for a full-time doctoral scholarship holder in the field of near-sensor neural networks.

Position

• You will work actively on the preparation and defence of a PhD thesis on neural networks with on-device adaptation and learning capabilities, using lightweight online learning frameworks.
• Your research methodologies will include analysing, designing, and applying novel machine learning algorithms. You will consider the accuracy, performance, and hardware resource footprint of your algorithms to optimize them for ultra-low power devices. You will validate your research through both experimental benchmarking of your algorithms in simulations, on real HW (micro-controllers or specific HW accelerators) as well as on concrete industrial use cases.
• You will tightly collaborate with IDLab colleagues working on various aspects of resource-efficient and ultra-low power AI.
• You will also participate in the framework of national and European research projects and collaborate on a technical level with research partners from industry. 
• You publish scientific articles related to the research project.  
• You carry out a limited number of teaching and research support tasks for the Electronics-ICT department at the Faculty of Applied Engineering and the IDLab research group. 

Profile

• You hold a Master’s degree in (Applied) Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Informatics, Physics, or equivalent, or you will have obtained it by the time you start working.  
• You can demonstrate excellent study results.
• Your teaching competences are in line with the University of Antwerp’s educational vision.
• Your research qualities are in line with the faculty and university research policies.
• You act with attention to quality, integrity, creativity, and cooperation.
• Machine learning experience is a must. Knowledge of Spiking and/or Binary Neural Networks is a plus.
• You have experience with TensorFlow or PyTorch. TinyML is a plus.
• You have excellent programming skills (Python, C++, C). 
• You have experience with programming for embedded devices (Embedded C). FPGA and HDL (Verilog, VHDL) experience is a plus.
• Having experience with participating in national and/or international research projects is an advantage. 
• You are a team player and have strong communication skills. 
• Your English is fluent, both speaking and writing. 

What we offer

• We offer a doctoral scholarship for a period of two years. Following a positive evaluation, the scholarship can be renewed once for another two-year period.
• The planned start date is 15 October 2022 or as soon as possible after that date.
• Your monthly scholarship amount is calculated according to the scholarship amounts for doctoral scholarship holders on the pay scales for Contract Research Staff (Dutch: Bijzonder Academisch Personeel, BAP).
• You will do most of your work at The Beacon in Antwerp and Campus Groenenborger in a dynamic and stimulating working environment.
• Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here.

Want to apply?

• You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including 18 August 2022 (by midnight Brussels time). Click on the 'Apply' button, complete the online application form and be sure to include the following attachments: a motivation letter, your academic CV.
• The selection committee will review all the applications as soon as possible after the application deadline. As soon as a decision has been made, we will inform you about the next steps in the selection procedure. Please be informed that the job interviews will take place in the first half of September.
• If you have any questions about the online application form, please check the frequently asked questions or send an email to jobs@uantwerpen.be. If you have any questions about the job itself, please contact Philippe Reiter, post-doctoral researcher, Philippe.Reiter@uantwerpen.be.

 The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.

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