Job opening: PhD position on interpretable and verifiable communication of NLP assistant decisions.¶

Positions are fully funded for four years.

The call is at this link, alongside instructions to apply. Please apply via that link by May 18.

This is a fairly specific project connected (and funded through) the Hybrid Intelligence Centre: we will work on NLP assistants for scientific tasks, with a focus on adapting the assistant’s communication with the human expert, to make sure the expert performs best.

Emailing me: Don’t email me to apply: you must use the website or else I can’t consider you. Do email me with any specific questions — please include [PhD 13973] in the subject line so my filters can catch your email.

The most important part of your application is by far the motivation letter. Please read my advice for writing a motivation letter for me.

In general my research gravitates around structured prediction, latent variable models, sparsity, convex and constrained optimization, and geometry (machine learning on manifolds.) Importantly, You do not have to already be an expert in these ML topics. But if you have ML basics and you are enthusiastic to study one or more of these (or related) topics, together with me, in order to apply them in NLP research, do apply!

The flavor of my research is to integrate structured and discrete representations into the “soft” computation of neural networks. See this captured in my recent papers.

Answers to frequent questions:¶

• The master’s degree (and thesis) requirement is unfortunately firm, and out of my control.
• We are looking for a starting date of Fall 2025. Please specify your availability in the application.
• If you want to do your master’s at the UvA and work with me, emailing me does not help; you must apply to the program. At UvA, master’s students usually are not attached to research labs, but me or my LTL colleagues can advise your thesis project in the second year.
• I don’t at the moment have the ability or the capacity to recruit interns or self-funded PhD students.
• If in doubt about applying I encourage e-mailing me, but please try to keep the e-mail brief and with clearly marked questions, otherwise I might not find time to process it. In particular there is nothing to gain from e-mailing me your application, just apply through the system.

Advising statement¶

I generally recommend talking to other students of a potential PhD advisor; you may find my current and previous advisees on this page.

The PhD is a job, and, at UvA, PhD students are employees, with the workers’ rights that stem from this. I believe your PhD is not your entire life and identity. I encourage and try to actively demonstrate work-life balance, awareness and support of mental health struggles, inclusivity, openness and safety. The PhD is the time to learn how to learn, ask, answer, describe, and teach. I will help and mentor you through it, according to my ability and your requested level.