PhD Position in Artificial Intelligence - Computer Vision

The i2CAT Foundation is looking for a PhD student who is eager to get involved in exciting Research and Innovation projects which are part of the Horizon Europe framework, as well as Catalan and Spanish research programs. 

The suitable candidate will join the Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) research area. This area holds expertise in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning; and applies this knowledge in the verticals of media entertainment, ambient intelligence, mobility, telecommunications, manufacturing, energy, sustainability and cybersecurity.
Our team is an active player in the European research ecosystem. 

The selected candidate will start out working on the following European Horizon projects side by side with our European partners:

XRECO: The objective of this project is to build technology that paves the way for transforming the use of XR media content from being something occasionally involved in media production to being something regularly integrated in the media industry. 
DAI will be involved to create a set of AI-based media transformation services built around the NMR (neural media repositories) to produce novel media and XR experiences, including 3D neural reconstructions, image enhancement, and improve holoportation.
[https://www.linkedin.com/posts/i2cat-foundation_i2cat-participates-as-the-technical-coordinator-activity-6990976420537597953-x3oE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop ]

Didymos: This project focuses on advancing the state of the art of enabling technologies to allow for the creation of large-scale digital twins, synchronized in real-time with the real world.
DAI will participate in the 3D reconstruction, sensor data enhancement, and the semantic scene understanding tasks.

Within the projects, depending on the candidate's strengths and interests, as well as the current requirements of the projects, the phd student will focus on subjects such as:

• 2D, and 3D (Point clouds) data enhancement, compression for 3d reconstruction and volumetric rendering 
• Exploration of deep learning methods (e.g: upsampling methods or view synthesis methods) to enhance data/image quality, clean input data, fill gaps and self occlusions for 2D and 3D data (point clouds)
• Exploration of deep learning methods such as autoencoders to improve the resolution/compression efficiency for 2D and 3D data (point clouds).
• Exploration of new view synthesis and 3D volumetric reconstruction methods

Principal tasks 

• Plan and execute cutting-edge research to advance the state-of-the-art.
• Collaborate with other researchers, and engineers to prototype software solutions.
• Carry out a study of the state-of-the-art on the subject topic. 
• Identify, document and prioritize a set of scientific and technical challenges.
• Propose and implement innovative approaches overcoming identified challenges.
• Develop highly scalable algorithms based on machine learning and neural network methodologies.
• Develop a validation prototype and conduct evaluation of the proposed approaches.
• Analyze, process, and annotate large datasets for use in the training and evaluation of AI systems for use in both research and production tasks.
• Author and publish the developed work in international conferences and journals, and potentially contribute to patents.
• Participate in the project tasks (meetings, deliverables, integration, etc.).

Application

• A curriculum vitae, highlighting research experience and education.
• Optionally (but recommended), the official Transcripts of Records of all undergraduate and graduate studies, if possible with ranking.
• Optionally (but recommended), 1 - 2 recommendation letters.

Who we are:

The i2CAT Foundation is a non-profit research and innovation center that promotes mission-driven R&D activities on advanced Internet architectures, applications, and services. More than 15 years of international research define our expertise in the fields of 5G, IoT, VR, and Immersive Technologies, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, AI, and Digital Social Innovation. The center partners with companies, public administration, academia, and end-users to leverage this knowledge in order to meet real social and business challenges.

The greatest value of i2CAT is the talent of the people who make up our human team. We enjoy a team of people from more than 13 different nationalities and work every day to create and foster a work environment where we all feel comfortable creating, innovating and growing.

Want to know more? Visit our webpage! www.i2cat.net

What will you enjoy?

• Work from our offices or from home, whichever works best for you. We ask for two days in person at the office to coordinate with the rest of the team.
• This is a full-time vacancy
• We have a flexible work schedule respecting your work-life balance
• Reduced working hours on Fridays and in July and August
• Fix + variable salary
• Optional benefits: Travel pass, restaurant vouchers, nursery services support, medical insurance
• Annual leave of 27 working days
• We have fruit in the office to promote a healthy lifestyle
• If you are interested, you can participate in events of your sector.
• You will work with a laptop. You can choose your operative system, Mac, Linux or Windows.
• Company social and team-building events (virtual & in-person)
• You can develop your own and personal training programme with our support
• We will work so that you have a career plan to promote your growth and development

Where will you do it?

At i2CAT we already have an established ‘work-from-home’ policy for some time. You can work from home or from the office, whichever suits you best. We expect that you attend the office two days per week: one to stay connected with your team and another one to engage with other colleagues

If you decide to come to the office, we are located in Zona Universitària, next to the Campus Nord of the UPC, within a multidisciplinary and multicultural environment. It is a very well-connected area (metro, tram, bus) with bars and restaurants around.

Our offices are designed with an open-office concept where everything is light and transparency. We have a variety of workspaces so that you don't have to be at the same table all day.

i2CAT is an organization committed to equal opportunities. That is why we seek to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented, and therefore explicitly encourage female candidates to apply.

I2CAT is an organization committed to creating an environment where we celebrate diversity, and where we provide the dedicated support that our employees need, regardless of their disability.

If what you have read sounds good to you... let’s have a coffee and we will tell you more!

In case you liked it, but it is not your job offer, you may know someone else who fits perfectly and whom you would like to recommend!

The European Commission granted i2CAT with the “HR Excellence in Research” Award in 2018. This award recognizes the Institute’s commitment to develop a Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R), aligning their practices and procedures with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers.