Postdoctoral Positions in Algorithmics at the I-CORE ALGO Program – Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Weizmann Institute of Science

We are seeking excellent candidates for postdoctoral positions at the I-CORE ALGO
(Israeli center of research excellence in algorithms) institutes.
The positions are supported by the Israeli Science Foundation (ISF).
The Israeli Center of Research Excellence in Algorithms is part of the I-CORE program,
initiated by the government of Israel and adopted by Israel’s Council of Higher Education,
in order to reinforce Israel’s intellectual capacities and promote synergy among Israel’s leading research centers.

The institutes participating in the center are:
* The Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University
* The Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
* Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Weizmann Institute of Science.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): all variety of algorithms
(optimization, online, streaming, approximation, randomized, geometric and more), cryptography,
security and privacy, algorithmic game theory, quantum computing, networking and distributed computing,
databases, machine learning and computer vision.

* for more information about the I-CORE ALGO please see http://www.icore-algo.org.il/

To apply please send the following to saritc@post.tau.ac.il
* A CV of the applicant including the list of publications.
* A short research statement.
* List of possible references.
* The preferable I-CORE ALGO fellow to work with (if already known) and institution in I-CORE ALGO.
(There is a possibility of more than one fellow and/or institution.)

Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Reference Number: 001250

University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF COMPUTING SCIENCE
Full Time
£31,798 – £35,788

This position has funding until 31 January 2013.

Ref: 001250; Closing date: 23 March 2012.

More information about this job offer can be found at on this link

Job Purpose

To undertake research in Computing Science, be responsible for equipment and to undertake administration as requested by the Principal Investigator. Be Co-Investigator on the EC Brain-Computer Interaction project TOBI. http://www.tobi-project.org/jobs

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential
A1 Good first degree and PhD in relevant subject area or equivalent.
A2 Up to date knowledge of research within own subject area, both practical and theoretical.

Experience

Essential
E1 Typically 3-4 years relevant experience including 1-2 years post doctoral research experience.
E2 Experience of carrying out research in human computer interaction, ideally with experience in Brain Computer Interaction.
E3 Experience of interaction design with uncertain inputs.
E4 Publications in human computer interaction or machine learning (or equivalent).

PhD Studentships – Scottish Universities

The Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (http://www.sicsa.ac.uk) is now inviting applications for international prize studentships from outstanding PhD candidates to Scottish universities. The studentships are open to citizens and residents of any country.

SICSA studentships cover living costs and fees at the UK/EU level and successful candidates may apply for further fee support. We will consider applicants in any area of computer science and informatics but may give preference to students who are working in SICSA theme areas:

• Next-generation Internet

• Multi-modal interaction

• Modelling and abstraction

• Complex systems engineering

Candidates must have or must expect to be awarded a 1st class honours degree or an MSc with Distinction or equivalent GPA scores. Your degree must be in a discipline that is relevant to your proposed field of research.

For more details of how to apply for a SICSA prize studentship, please see the SICSA web pages http://www.sicsa.ac.uk/graduate-academy/prize-studentships.

The deadline for this round of applications is 31st March 2012, although applicants should submit an application to the host institution as early as possible to ensure that their application is processed in time.

Any queries regarding applications for studentships can be directed to admin@sicsa.ac.uk.

RBUCE-UP Project : European Fellowships for Junior and Senior Scientists in the Paris Region at Université d’Evry-Val d’Essonne, France

Deadline : March 21, 2012

Please see the announce in Nature :

http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/jobs/241655-RBUCE-UP-Project-European-Fellowships-for-Junior-and-Senior-Scientists-in-the-Paris-Region-AND-Recruitment-of-International-Scientific-Expert-Evaluators

RBUCE-UP is a European project cofounded by the European Union for the recruitment by Université Paris-Sud, Université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Université d’Evry-Val-d’Essonne, ENS Cachan, Ecole Centrale Paris of 26 talented non French resident researchers for 2 years (incoming mobility).

All host organizations are located in the southern area of the Ile de France (Paris) region and are founding members of UniverSud Paris.

Recruitments are organized through 2 open calls in 2011 and 2012 at UniverSud Paris level.
The second open Call is now open (January 1st to March 31st 2012, registration through the web site until March 21st 2012).

The RBUCE-UP Project follows the European Marie Curie actions principles and thus applies a bottom-up approach, i.e. research fields are chosen freely by applicants.

All scientific disciplines are possible as long as they match the activity of a host laboratory.

Women applicants are welcome and encouraged.
Career breaks shall not affect applicant evaluation.

Eligibility criteria *

– To have a PhD (or 4 years of full-time research experience after obtaining a master degree or equivalent – to be duly justified)
– To be a non French resident in the sense of Marie Curie actions, i.e.

• Not having spent more than 12 months in France during the last 3 years preceding the closing of the call for applications to which the candidate answers (Short stays, such as holidays, are not taken into account)

• French nationals living abroad are eligible as long as they meet the above criterion.

– At the closing date of the call for applications, to have a commitment letter from a host laboratory participating to the RBUCE-UP project, signed by the director of the host laboratory and countersigned by the Head of host organization.
For Senior Fellowship
– To have a full-time research experience of at least 5 years after obtaining one’s PhD or equivalent
For Junior Fellowship
– To have less than a full-time research experience of 6 years after obtaining one’s PhD – excluding stops

– To be the lead author of a publication in a peer-review scientific journal, or a communication in a scientific congress with a selection committee

Selection process*

*Call from January 1st to March 31st, 2012(registration through the web site until March 21st 2012).

* Evaluation by 3 independent international experts : before Jun 31st, 2012
* Steering Committee meeting : July 2012
* Official reply to candidates : August 2012
* Recruitment by host organizations : between September 2011 and December 2012 (certain disciplines may require prior approval of the research project by the European Union; this may imply delays in the recruitment)

Programme Description

Application deadline 03/31/2012
International mobility required ? Yes
Eligible destination country/ies for fellows France
Eligibility of fellows: country/ies of residence All
Eligibility of fellows: nationality/ies All
Website of Fellowship Programme www.rbuce-up.eu

Fellowship’s Details

Employment contract with social security Yes
Currency Euro
Covers salary Yes
Covers research costs Yes
Maximum duration of fellowship 24

Reannouncing mldata, will count toward your Activity score.

Dear Pascal Researchers,

I’d like to clarify the procedure for uploading data sets to mldata.

We only consider data sets uploaded in the reporting period, that is,
between March 1, 2011 and February 29, 2012 (today).

If you haven’t done so, you have to register data sets on mldata
under the DatasetProvided tab under the Activity tab on the Pascal
member site.

I think it is also clear that we will enforce some form of quality
control, i.e. proper meta data for your data sets (descriptions,
references, etc.) should be provided. Also, we might merge data sets
which belong together but have been uploaded independently for
whatever reason.

Best,

Mikio Braun

UAI 2012 Call for Papers

Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence 2012
Catalina Island, California, USA
14 – 18 August 2012

We are soliciting papers which describe novel methodology, or
non-trivial applications of existing methodology, related to modeling,
inference, learning and decision making under uncertainty. Examples of
relevant application areas include, but are not limited to,
computational biology, computer vision, speech processing,
computational linguistics, information retrieval, medical systems,
multi-agent systems, robotics, and sensor networks. The best way to
get a sense for what kinds of papers are appropriate is to look at
past UAIs. Authors of papers that win best paper awards will be
invited to submit their papers to the Artificial Intelligence Journal,
with special “fast track” status.

Important dates for authors

Friday, March 30, 11:59pm: UAI full paper submission
Friday, May 11: Reviews available.
Friday, May 18, 11:59pm: Author feedback due.
Friday, June 1: Author notification.
Friday, June 15, 11:59pm: Camera ready due.
Times and dates are in universal time (UTC).

Formatting instructions etc are available at
http://www.auai.org/uai2012/cfp.shtml

Call for Participation: 2nd Lisbon Machine Learning School – “Taming the Social Web”

We invite everyone interested in Machine Learning and Natural Language
Processing to attend the 2nd Lisbon Machine Learning School – LxMLS
2012.

Important Dates
—————

* Application Deadline: April 15, 2012
* Decision: May 15, 2012
* Early Registration: June 15, 2012
* Summer School: July 19-25, 2012

Topics and Intended Audience
—————

The school will cover a range of Machine Learning (ML) topics, from
theory to practice, that are important in solving Natural Language
Processing (NLP) problems that arise in the analysis and use of Web
data.

Our target audience is:

* Researchers and graduate students in the fields of NLP and
Computational Linguistics;
* Computer scientists who have interests in statistics and machine learning;
* Industry practitioners who desire a more in depth understanding of
these subjects.

Features of LxMLS:

* No deep previous knowledge of ML or NLP is assumed;
* Recommended reading will be provided in advance;
* Includes a strong practical component;
* A day zero is scheduled to review basic concepts and introduce the
necessary tools for implementation exercises;
* Days will be divided into tutorials and practical sessions (view schedule);
* Both basic and advanced topics will be covered;
* Instructors are leading researchers in machine learning.

List of Confirmed Speakers
—————

* MÁRIO FIGUEIREDO – Instituto Superior Técnico | Portugal
* KOBY CRAMMER – Technion, Israel Institute of Technogly | Israel
* SLAV PETROV – Google Inc. | USA
* NOAH SMITH – Carnegie Mellon University | USA
* XAVIER CARRERAS – Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya | Spain
* MAARTEN DE RIJKE – University of Amsterdam | Netherlands
* JACOB EISENSTEIN – Georgia Tech | USA
* PARTHA TALUKDAR – Carnegie Mellon University | USA
* ANDRÉ MARTINS – Carnegie Mellon University | USA

Please visit our webpage for up to date information: http://lxmls.it.pt/.

To apply, please fill the form in
https://lxmls.wufoo.com/forms/application-form/. Any questions should
be directed to: lxmls-2012@lx.it.pt.

We are looking forward to your participation!
— The organizers of LxMLS’2012.

Open postdoc position on Reinforcement Learning and bandits for BCI

Reinforcement Learning and multi-armed bandits for improved Brain Computer Interfaces

*** Description of the research ***
Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) provide a direct communication channel from the brain to a computer, bypassing traditional interfaces such as keyboard or mouse, and also providing a feedback to the user, through a sensory modality (visual, auditory or haptic). A target application of BCI is to restore mobility or autonomy to severely disabled patients, but more generally BCI opens up many new opportunities for better understanding the brain at work, for enhancing Human Computer Interaction, and for developing new therapies for mental illnesses.

In BCI, new modes of perception and interaction come into play, and a new user must learn to operate a BCI, as infants learn to explore their sensorimotor system: central to BCI operation are the notions of feedback and reward.

The goal of the research is to study the co-adaptation between a user and a BCI system in the course of training and operation. BCI will be considered under a joint perspective: the user’s and the system’s. From the user’s brain activity, features must be extracted, and translated into commands to drive the BCI system.
>From the point of view of the system, it is important to devise adaptive learning strategies, because the brain activity is user dependent and not stable in time. How to adapt the features in the course of BCI operation is a difficult and important topic of research. Reinforcement Learning (RL) and multi-armed bandit theory will be considered in order to address this question.

The postdoc will be funded by the french ANR CoAdapt project. The aim of CoAdapt is to propose new directions for BCI design, by modeling explicitly the co-adaptation taking place between the user and the system. See the description of the project and the consortium there:
https://twiki-sop.inria.fr/twiki/bin/view/Projets/Athena/CoAdapt/WebHome

*** Supervision ***
The research will be conducted under the supervision of Remi Munos and Emmanuel Dauce:
– Rémi Munos (http://chercheurs.lille.inria.fr/~munos/) is a senior INRIA researcher in the project team SEQUEL (Sequential Learning) of INRIA Lille (http://sequel.lille.inria.fr/).
– Emmanuel Daucé (http://emmanuel.dauce.free.fr/) is an associate professor at Centrale Marseille.

*** Background ***
We welcome applicants with a PhD degree in statistics / machine learning, or related fields and with interests in BCI, possibily with background in reinforcement learning or bandit theory.

*** Additional informations ***
The position is research only and is for one year, with possibility of being extended.
The starting date could be from April to December 2012.

To apply please send a CV to remi.munos@inria.fr or emmanuel.dauce@ec-marseille.fr

CFP: First int. workshop on COmbining COnstraint solving with MIning and LEarning

ECAI 2012 workshop on
COmbining COnstraint solving with MIning and LEarning (CoCoMile)
http://cocomile.disi.unitn.it/2012/

Organizers: Remi Coletta (Lirmm, University of Montpellier, FR), Tias Guns
(K.U. Leuven, BE), Barry O’Sullivan (University College Cork, IR), Andrea
Passerini (University of Trento, IT), Guido Tack (Monash University, AU).

=====================
Overview:
=====================

The field of constraint solving has traditionally evolved quite
independently from those of machine learning and data mining. In recent
years, interest has been growing on the connections between these fields,
and the potential advantages of their integration. Integration can work in
two ways, on the one hand, various types of constraint solvers can be
included in machine learning and data mining algorithms, for example to
provide a uniform and effective way to characterize the desired solutions;
on the other hand, machine learning can help in addressing constraint
satisfaction problems, both at the level of search, by improving search or
integrating intelligent meta-heuristics, as well as at the level of
modelling, for example by learning constraints or interactively supporting
a decision maker.

While promising initial results have been achieved in such directions,
many options are unexplored and further research is needed in order to
establish a systematic approach to this integration. The best way to reach
the full potential of such integrations is in a multi-disciplinary way.

The main purpose of this workshop is to provide an open environment where
researchers in machine learning, data mining and constraint solving can
exchange ideas and discuss on promising approaches, crucial issues, open
problems and interesting formalizations of new
tasks.
To encourage this, we will allow three different types of submissions: 1)
original contributions (unpublished work), 2) relevant contributions
recently submitted or published elsewhere (only oral) and 3) vision
statements, works in progress and short overviews.

The following is a non-exclusive list of possible topics:
* data mining/machine learning using constraint solving techniques
* learning with constraints
* constraint-based languages for data mining/machine learning
* preference learning for constraint solving
* automated constraint modeling and solving
* constraint acquisition
* interactive constraint solving
* solver portfolio optimisation
* machine learning in search
* integrating learning and search
* automated parameter optimization / algorithm configuration

In addition to the received contributions, the workshop will include
invited talks from prominent researchers working in the intersection
between constraint technology, machine learning and data mining. The
workshop is planned to end with a broad discussion on the most relevant
open problems and research directions.

=====================
Invited speakers:
=====================

* Siegfried Nijssen (K.U. Leuven, Belgium): Constraint programming and
data mining
* Holger Hoos/Lin Xu (University of British Columbia, Canada): SATzilla:
Portfolio-based Algorithm Selection for SAT
* Francesca Rossi (University of Padova, Italy): Constrainted processing
for preference elicitation

=====================
Submission:
=====================

We accept the following three types of submissions (using ECAI-12
formatting style
http://people.cs.kuleuven.be/~luc.deraedt/ecai2012-style.zip):

* Original novel and unpublished work (max. 6 pages);

* An extended abstract of work-in-progress or position statements about
future directions, possibilities and limitations: (max. 2 pages)

* Manuscripts that have recently been accepted for publication or appeared
within the last 6 months in a peer-reviewed journal or which are currently
under review: (only oral, no page limit or format constraints)

Authors should take care that the submitted works are written at the level
of the general AI audience, and not geared towards data mining or
constraint solving expert specifically.

Submissions will be peer-reviewed by the program committee. All accepted
submissions will be published on our website (informal proceedings) unless
requested otherwise.

=====================
Important Dates:
=====================
* 28 May, 2012: submission deadline
* 28 June, 2012: notification
* 15 July, 2012: camera-ready
* 27-31 August, 2012: ECAI

=====================
Contacts:
=====================
* Remi Coletta * Tias Guns
* Barry O’Sullivan
* Andrea Passerini * Guido Tack

EPSRC/RSS GRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAMME 2012: ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL BAYESIAN INFERENCE

Monday 23rd July 2012 – Friday 27th July 2012
School of Mathematics & Statistics, Newcastle University

This is the first of a new series of residential graduate training courses provided by the Royal Statistical Society with support from EPSRC. The courses are national and are mainly aimed at PhD students in their second and third years, though others may be able to attend. There will be two courses running sequentially:

“Modern Computational Statistics: Alternatives to MCMC”, by Professor Paul Fearnhead (Lancaster University). The course will cover Sequential Monte Carlo methods, Particle MCMC, Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) and automated ABC.

“Designing Markov chain Monte Carlo methods based on Diffusions and Geodesic Flows on Manifolds: The Differential Geometry of MCMC”, by Professor Mark Girolami (University College London). The course will cover Hamiltonian, Langevin and Riemannian Monte Carlo methods and their use in MCMC.

The course registration fee for GTP 2012 is £150. Accommodation and subsistence will be provided free for EPSRC-funded students from Sunday-Friday. Capacity is limited, so places on the course will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

The aim of the GTP is to provide a series of high level and specialist courses in Statistics and Applied Probability to graduate Statisticians. The 2012 GTP follows on from previous successful EPSRC/RSS programmes running from 2002-2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION contact gtp@ncl.ac.uk, or visit http://www.ncl.ac.uk/maths/gtp

TO REGISTER visit http://www.ncl.ac.uk/maths/gtp/registration

You may leave the list at any time by sending the command

SIGNOFF allstat

to listserv@jiscmail.ac.uk, leaving the subject line blank.