PhD position in Advancing Explainable AI for Knowledge Extraction

Nieuwe Universiteitsgebouw (NU)

Amsterdam

1 / 1

Faculty of Science

PhD

MSc

Closes on

10-03-2025

Publishing date

23-01-2025

Apply

Are you passionate about artificial intelligence, knowledge representation, and solving real-world challenges in industry?

Your function

Join our team and help develop the next generation of intelligent diagnostic tools to enhance the efficiency, safety, and reliability of advanced intelligent diagnostic systems.

A 4-year full-time PhD position is available at the Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence group (KAI) and the Learning and Reasoning group (L&R) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in close collaboration with Philips, Canon, and TNO under the research project Zorro funded by NWO (Dutch Research Council).

As a PhD student, you will explore how to enhance the capabilities of state-of-the-art methodologies that rely on large language models (e.g. GPT, LLaMA, and BERT models) for knowledge extraction and inference. While these models are powerful, they lack the correctness and explainability guarantees essential for critical applications. Your research will focus on integrating and constraining machine learning extraction techniques with formal constraints, such as those found in the area of knowledge representation and reasoning. You will investigate various approaches, including leveraging knowledge graphs, ontology and embeddings, to improve the accuracy and transparency of these models. Additionally, your work will extend to linking technical documentation with established inference rules, enabling more precise predictions. Towards the end of your PhD, you will have the unique opportunity to validate your findings in a real-world setting with the industrial partners of the Zorro project.

Our PhD students are expected to publish and their work at venues such as general AI conferences (e.g. AAAI, IJCAI, ECAI and UAI), as well as Machine learning venues (e.g. NeurIPS, ICLR, and ICML), NLP conferences (like ACL and EMNLP) and other major domain-specific conferences such as WebConf, ISWC, KR, NeSy, and CIKM.

As a university, we strive to cultivate a welcoming and supportive community for researchers while championing equal opportunities for all. KAI and L&R, two exceptional teams that originated from the KR&R team, embody this spirit. We value diversity in all its forms, recognizing its richness enhances the quality of our teaching, research, and services. By actively seeking talent from diverse backgrounds and experiences, we are committed to creating an inclusive environment where diversity is celebrated as a vital strength.

Your profile

We are looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate passionate about Artificial Intelligence with the following qualifications:

A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a closely related field
Background in Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Semantic Technologies, Nature Language Processing (NLP), and Machine Learning (ML)
Solid programming skills, e.g., in Python or/and Java
Good communication skills in English (verbal and written)
Previous research experience on similar topics is a bonus

The student will be supervised by Dr. Jieying Chen, Dr. Michael Cochez and Dr. Stefan Schlobach.

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.

What do we offer?

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 € 2.901,00 (PhD) and maximum € 3.707,00 (PhD) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile PhD candidate. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
a position for 1 FTE, but you could reduce your working hours to 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 18 months. After a satisfactory evaluation of the initial appointment, the contract will be extended to a total duration of 4 years.

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
certain tax benefits (30% ruling) might apply to international candidates

For information about our excellent fringe benefits of employment see comprehensive | Working At VU

About us

About the department

The VUA Department of Computer Science has approximately 170 members, including 35 tenured staff members and more than 100 PhD students. The tenured staff members form the essential basis for the functioning of the department. A tenured staff member is required to make significant contributions to the research and education programmes, and to spend effort on specific tasks at the department level.

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, PhD 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.

We want to develop talent and creativity by bringing together people from different backgrounds and cultures. We recruit and select based on competencies and talents. We therefore encourage anyone who recognizes themselves in a vacancy, regardless of age, gender, origin, religion, philosophy of life, orientation, disability or chronic illness, to respond. Candidates with a jobs agreement indication (“doelgroepregistratie”) will be given priority if suitable. For these candidates applies:

- A PhD candidate with a registration (“doelgroepregister”) may apply for a minimum of 0.7 fte
- An extra supervisor is available for PhD students with target group registration and their supervisors.

Interested

Are you interested in this position? Please apply via the application button before10 March 2025. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so early submission is encouraged. Your application should include:

A short motivation letter outlining your motivation and suitability for this position (no longer than 1 page).
A CV detailing your education, research experience, and publications (if applicable).
Transcripts of your academic records for both BSc and MSc.
Contact details of two referees.
Any other documents you deem relevant.

Vacancy questions

If you have any questions regarding this vacancy, you may contact:

Name: Jieying Chen
Position: Assistant Professor
E-mail: [email protected]

Name: Michael Cochez
Position: Assistant Professor
E-mail: [email protected]

If you have any questions regarding moving to Amsterdam, and working at VU Amsterdam, you may contact:

E-mail: [email protected]

Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.

Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.