ESR2: From Grey-box Models to Explainable Models

Open Early Stage Researcher/PhD Position at Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain, for the NL4XAI project

Reference number: NL4XAI- ESR2

PhD research topic: From grey-box models to explainable models

Objectives: To define, design, develop and implement an agnostic-based approach for providing Natural Language explanations of Bayesian Networks reasoning using a linguistic imprecise knowledge representation and reasoning method. Taking as a starting point the interpretation of Bayesian variables, values and probability functions as imprecise quantified statements, the Bayesian reasoning process will be modelled as a quantified syllogism, which can be solved as a mathematical programming problem.

The target is to propose, test and validate models for explaining in Natural Language different reasoning schemes, such as predictive, diagnostic or inter-causal, with an efficient implementation for addressing scalability problems which may occur in large Bayesian Networks. The explanation models will be based both in the agnostic-based approach herein considered as well as in the results of ESR3.

The theoretical contributions of this research will be validated in:

  • academic use cases provided by the state of the art graphic tools for Bayesian Reasoning; and
  • a real use case (“Experiences, offering, demand and classification in semantic-search processes applied to business processes”) defined in one of the inter-sectoral secondments (Indra).

Expected Results: A fully functional web service coming from:

  • Theoretical understanding of the state of the art in approximate reasoning (namely fuzzy quantified syllogism and Bayesian reasoning).
  • Discussion of previous approaches to the Natural Language explanation of Bayesian Networks.
  • Definition and implementation of an agnostic-based methodology for explaining the most relevant types of Bayesian Networks reasoning.
  • Validation of the proposed methodology in use cases where the quality of the generated explanations will be assessed by human users.

Host institution: Centro Singular de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Intelixentes- CiTIUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela- USC (Spain)

PhD Enrollment: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela-USC (Spain)

The USC hosts more than 3,000 PhD students and has been awarded the “HR Excellence in Research” by the EC under the HRS4R process. Currently, the CiTIUS hosts 31 senior researchers, which have been selected by an external scientific advisory board, and a total of about 100 researchers. During the period 2016-2019, CiTIUS researchers have published more than 160 SJR journal papers and got more than 10,5 M€ from competitive R&D funds, being one third of them in collaboration with the industry sector. CiTIUS researchers have also promoted 3 new spin-offs.

Secondments: The ESR will enjoy two secondments at the premises of two project’s members as detailed in the following table.

Supervisors:

Inter-sectoral Secondment Supervisor:

General requirements:

  • Mobility: At the time of recruitment, the researcher must not have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to recruitment date. Time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention is not taken into account.
  • Career: When starting their contract (expected in October 2021), selected researchers should be within the first four years of his/her research careers and not have been awarded a doctoral degree prior to the application.
  • The candidate must be working exclusively for the action.

Specific requirements:

  • Degree: a University Degree and a Master Degree in Computer Science, Telecommunication Engineering, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence or in another related area within the European Higher Education System (minimum 300 ECTS) or an equivalent University Degree that allows to start a PhD Program at the University of Santiago de Compostela.
  • Programming skills: Java, Python
  • Language: Excellent command of English, together with good academic writing and presentation skills.

Desirable skills:

  • Background in theory and applications of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Generation.
  • Background in Web services/Web technologies, approximate reasoning or probabilistic models.
  • Good communication and computational skills.
  • Ability to communicate in Spanish for daily lives.
  • Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
  • Strong motivation to pursue a PhD degree.
  • Strong interest in interdisciplinary scientific work.

Estimated Starting date: 1st October 2021

Contract: Full-time contract

Duration: from the starting date till 30 September 2023, including 2 secondments at other consortium members’ premises (see Secondment section)

Further information:

Possibility of extending the contract until the end of the PhD, subject to availability of funding and to the fulfilment of objectives and quality of the results obtained by the PhD fellow.

Salary: Gross salary of 2346.50 €/month (14 payments per year) if the researcher has no family or 2661.55 €/month (14 payments per year) if the researcher is married (or a relationship with equivalent status to a marriage recognised by the legislation of the country where this relationship was formalised) or has dependent children for the purposes of the MSCA (For more information, click here).

Salary includes medical care coverage and work accident insurance through the Spanish Health Care System, providing access to the Spanish public health care system for candidates, as well as pension and unemployment benefits.

Application Documents:

  • Detailed CV in Europass format (template available in the following link) in English, highlighting the merits that are established as evaluation criteria;
  • Scans of BSc and/or MSc transcripts, with certified translation in English (if the degree qualification is not in English or in the language of the hosting country); 
  • A motivation letter in English, highlighting the consistency between the candidate profile and the chosen ESR position/s for which she/he is applying and describing why you wishes to be an NL4XAI ESR to carry out a PhD;
  • Contact details or recommendation letters of two referees in English or in certified translation;
  • Scanned copy of valid identification document;
  • Proof of excellent command of English (e.g., IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge or equivalent). This is not required in case of native English speakers (i.e., English is your mother tongue).

In addition, you can add any other documents which you find relevant for the applications such as Master thesis, publications or project reports.

Evaluation criteria:

  • Academic background (up to 40 points)
  • Knowledge and specific achievements (up to 35 points)
  • Personal interview, only for candidates achieving a minimum of 55 points (up to 25 points)

Deadline: September 12, 2021, at 23h59 CEST (UCT + 02:00)

Enquiries about research content must be sent to the main PhD supervisor, Prof. Aberto Bugarín, via email: alberto.bugarin.diz@usc.es

Candidates are encouraged to contact the NL4XAI Project Manager (info@nl4xai.eu) for assistance or for any information related to the application process. When contacting, please indicate the position reference in the subject line.


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