Jouw functie

While the performance of multimodal foundation models has significantly improved, they lack commonsense reasoning capabilities: they produce contradictory results and contain no mechanisms for abstraction and meaningful collaboration with humans. To address the grand challenge of commonsense reasoning with multimodal foundation models, we will explore methods to enhance their robustness, abstraction, and visual grounding abilities. We will consider a range of cross-modal techniques and neuro-symbolic representations for learning effective abstractions from limited amounts of human-labeled data. Following cognitive principles, we will evaluate these methods on tasks that require commonsense reasoning over space, time, and causality.
This project is funded by the NWO Ai Ned talent project “Human-centric AI with common sense”. The Postdoc will be supervised by Dr. Filip Ilievski (Learning and Reasoning, VU Amsterdam) and Prof. Cees Snoek (Video & Image Sense Lab, Uv A).
Your duties

• To show independence in achieving research goals and willingness to collaborate and supervise Ph D students working on reasoning with multimodal foundation models;
• To invent, evaluate, and describe novel techniques for commonsense reasoning with multimodal foundation models;
• To publish and present this research at international conferences, workshops, and journals;
• To become an active member of the research community and to collaborate with other researchers, both in Amsterdam and internationally;
• To contribute to teaching activities, such as lectures, lab courses, or supervising bachelor and master students;
• To develop your portfolio and vision towards your next career position in academia.

Jouw profiel

• You possess Ph D in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, or a closely related field;
• You can invent and evaluate novel algorithms and present these orally and in writing;
• You have a record of publishing in relevant, high-quality conferences or journals in the above fields;
• You are eager to tackle fundamental challenges in the area of reasoning with multimodal foundation models;
• You can implement and evaluate commonsense reasoning methods with multimodal foundation models, e.g., using Python deep learning toolkits;
• You can work well in teams and communicate effectively in written and spoken English.

As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.
We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.

Wat bieden wij

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• a salary of minimum € 3.345,00 (Scale 10) and maximum € 5.278,00 (Scale 10) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Researcher 4. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
• a position for at least 1 FTE. The appointment will be for three (3) years, preferably starting on the 1st of April 2025. Initial employment is 12 months; after a positive evaluation, the appointment will be extended for 24 months.

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:

• A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• contribution to commuting expenses
• optional model for designing a personalized benefits package

Over ons

Department of Computer Science
The VU Department of Computer Science has approximately 200 staff members, including approximately 110 Ph D students. Lecturers form a critical and essential basis for the functioning of the department, providing foundational education that helps determine the future of our students.
Our research and our students are diverse, covering disciplines such as Social sciences, Humanities, Economics, and Bioinformatics. Currently, we offer programs in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Information Sciences (BSc and MSc), and Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (MSc), with a total of around 1000 new students each year.
Faculty of Science
Researchers and students at VU Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science tackle fundamental and complex scientific problems to help pave the way for a sustainable and healthy future. From forest fires to big data, from obesity to malnutrition, and from molecules to the moon: we cover the full spectrum of the natural sciences. Our teaching and research have a strong experimentally technical, computational and interdisciplinary nature.
We work on new solutions guided by value-driven, interdisciplinary methodologies. We are committed to research, valorisation and training socially engaged citizens of the world who will make valuable contributions to a sustainable, healthy future.
Are you interested in joining the Faculty of Science? You will join undergraduate students, Ph D candidates and researchers at the biggest sciences faculty in the Netherlands. You will combine a professional focus with a broad view of the world. We are proud of our collegial working climate, characterised by committed staff, a pragmatic attitude and engagement in the larger whole. The faculty is home to over 11,000 students enrolled in 40 study programmes. It employs over 1,600 professionals spread across 10 academic departments.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely - a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct
We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.
Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.
We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.
Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.

Interesse

Are you interested in this position and do you believe that your experience will contribute to the further development of our university? In that case, we encourage you to submit your application via the application button and upload your curriculum vitae and cover letter until 15/01/2025.
We strongly encourage women to apply. If two candidates are equally qualified, we will select a female candidate.
Relocation support
For more information regarding moving to Amsterdam, and working at VU Amsterdam, please visit: Relocation support - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (vu.nl)

Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.
Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.