Research Associate in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning

Grade: UE07: £39,347 to £46,974 per annum

Location: College of Science and Engineering, School of Informatics

Contract: Fixed-term 36 months

Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week

The Opportunity

The University of Edinburgh's highly esteemed School of Informatics invites applications for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate position specializing in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. The successful candidate will collaborate with Dr. Pasquale Minervini in the Edinburgh NLP Group, benefiting from funding by Huawei via the Huawei-Edinburgh Joint Lab initiative.

This role involves groundbreaking work to enhance the robustness and trustworthiness of Large Language Models (LLMs) in complex reasoning tasks, while improving their explainability and generalization properties. Join a world-leading research community in one of Europe’s largest Computer Science research centers, consistently ranked number one in the UK in terms of research power.

Project Focus

Large Language Models (LLMs) have revolutionized NLP, yet they often produce "hallucinations" – fluent but semantically nonsensical sentences with factual inaccuracies. This project aims to develop strategies for enhancing the factuality and reliability of LLMs in complex tasks, such as Chain-of-Thought reasoning. The position includes funding for international travel to conferences and collaborative research activities.

Your Skills and Attributes for Success

Essential

• PhD (or near completion) in Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Proven ability to conduct independent, high-quality research within an interdisciplinary team.
• Strong track record of publications in top-tier ML and NLP conferences (e.g., ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, ICML, NeurIPS).
• Proficiency in Python and deep learning libraries (e.g., HF Transformers, PyTorch, Jax).
• Exceptional communication skills in English, both oral and written.

Desirable

• Experience with advanced NLP topics (e.g., LLMs, multi-GPU training, parameter-efficient fine-tuning).
• Familiarity with machine learning techniques such as latent variable models, optimization, and reinforcement learning.

For enquiries, contact Dr. Pasquale Minervini at or visit .

What We Offer

• A competitive salary of £39,347 - £46,974 per annum.
• An inclusive, creative, and collaborative work environment.
• Opportunities to engage with a diverse and vibrant international community.
• Comprehensive staff benefits including generous holiday entitlements, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, and family-friendly initiatives. Visit our for more details.

Championing Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

The University of Edinburgh is a proud holder of the Silver Athena SWAN award, committed to gender equality in higher education. We are also members of the Race Equality Charter and Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.

International candidates are welcome, and successful applicants needing sponsorship must meet the UK Home Office’s English Language requirements and apply for a Skilled Worker Visa.

Key Dates

Closing date for applications: 15/07/2024

Please note that unless stated otherwise, the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. The deadline adjusts based on your browser's local time zone if you are applying from outside the UK.

Join us at The University of Edinburgh and help address tomorrow’s greatest challenges with a values-led approach to teaching, research, and innovation.