Doctoral Student in Simulating Small Groups of Social Virtual Characters - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Project description

Third-cycle subject: Computer Science

KTH Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) announces a Ph.D. position in the area of embodied virtual characters, groups and social behaviour simulation. The position represents one of 15 early stage research positions in the EC funded MSCA Innovative Training Network (ITN) CLIPE, Creating Lively Interactive Populated Environments http://clipe-itn.eu.

In the context of the CLIPE project, this specific PhD position brings together multidisciplinary expertise to address new challenges and opportunities in the area of virtual characters. Based on advances in computer animation and machine learning techniques, the successful candidate will investigate multimodal and natural interaction for embodied virtual agents in small group situations, including multimodal generation of appropriate reactive behaviours and expressions mixed with dynamic free-standing conversational formations capable of accounting for inter-personal attitudes within the group and with respect to newcomers.

The PhD student will be associated with the Embodied Social Agents Lab https://www.csc.kth.se/~chpeters/ESAL/ at the Division of Computational Science and Technology https://www.kth.se/cst, and with the Division of Speech, Music and Hearing https://www.kth.se/tmh.

Supervision: The doctoral student will be supervised by Associate Professor Christopher Peters.

What we offer

• The possibility to study in a dynamic and international research environment in collaboration with industries and prominent universities from all over the world.Read more
• A workplace with many employee benefits and monthly salary according to KTH’s Doctoral student salary agreement.
• A postgraduate education at an institution that is active and supportive in matters pertaining to working conditions, gender equality and diversity as well as study environment.
• Work and study in Stockholm, close to nature and the water.
• Help to relocate and be settled in Sweden and at KTH.

Eligibility

To be admitted to postgraduate education (Chapter 7, 39 § Swedish Higher Education Ordinance), the applicant must have basic eligibility in accordance with either of the following:

• passed a degree at advanced level,
• completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits at advanced level, or
• in any other way acquired within or outside the country acquired essentially equivalent knowledge.
• Requirements for English equivalent to English B/6, read more here.

The candidate must also meet the eligibility requirements for the EC MSCA Innovative Training Network (ITN). See the section ‘ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS’ on this page: http://clipe-itn.eu/announcements.html

Selection

In order to succeed as a doctoral student at KTH you need to be goal oriented and persevering in your work. During the selection process, candidates will be assessed upon their ability to:

• independently pursue his or her work
• collaborate with others,
• have a professional approach and
• analyse and work with complex issues.
• English proficiency in reading, writing and speaking, 
• programming, machine learning, and virtual agents/multiagent systems experience. 

After the qualification requirements, great emphasis will be placed on personal qualities and personal suitability.

Target degree: Doctoral degree

Information regarding admission and employment

Only those admitted to postgraduate education may be employed as a doctoral student. The total length of employment may not be longer than what corresponds to full-time doctoral education in four years' time. An employed doctoral student can, to a limited extent (maximum 20%), perform certain tasks within their role, e.g. training and administration. A new position as a doctoral student is for a maximum of one year, and then the employment may be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time.

Union representatives

You will find contact information for union representatives on KTH's website.

Doctoral section (Students’ union on KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

You will find contact information for doctoral section on the section's website.

Application

Apply for the position and admission through KTH's recruitment system. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the advertisement.

Applications must be received at the last closing date at midnight, CET/CEST (Central European Time/entral European Summer Time).

Applications must include the following elements:

• CV including your relevant professional experience and knowledge.
• Application letter with a brief description of why you want to pursue research studies, about what your academic interests are and how they relate to your previous studies and future goals. (Maximum 2 pages long)
• Copies of diplomas and grades from previous university studies and certificates of fulfilled language requirements (see above). Translations into English or Swedish if the original document is not issued in one of these languages.
• Representative publications or technical reports. For longer documents, please provide a summary (abstract) and a web link to the full text.

Other information

Gender equality, diversity and zero tolerance against discrimination and harassment are important aspects of KTH's work with quality as well as core values in our organization.

For information about processing of personal data in the recruitment process please read here.

We firmly decline all contact with staffing and recruitment agencies and job ad salespersons.

Disclaimer: In case of discrepancy between the Swedish original and the English translation of the job announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.