Postdoc position in Low-latency secure and private federated learning

This position is a great opportunity for you as a postdoc to apply your scientific and technical skills as part of an international team of leading researchers in a research area with great impact for industry and society.

Project description
Next-generation autonomous networks will be characterized by a massive number of Internet-of-Things devices (autonomous vehicles, wearables, drones, sensors) that produce and process data simultaneously. In such networks, data is inherently distributed and can be sensitive. Centralized over-the-cloud learning is not well adapted for this setting: uploading vast amounts of data to the cloud puts enormous pressure on existing communication networks, entails unacceptable long propagation delays, and poses privacy concerns. Federated learning has emerged as the most promising alternative approach to address these problems. The key principle is to enable IoT devices and a central server (located at the cloud or the network edge) to collaboratively learn a shared global prediction model without sharing their local training data with the central server. This project aims to develop theory on and design novel secure and private federated learning schemes.

This position is funded by a joint collaborative effort between the Wallenberg AI, autonomous systems, and software program (WASP), a major national initiative for strategic basic research, education, and faculty recruitment in artificial intelligence, and the largest individual research program in Sweden, and Aalto University in Finland.

The selected candidate, who will be supervised by Prof. Alexandre Graell i Amat at the Department of Electrical Engineering, will integrate an international team within the framework of the WASP-Aalto University initiative (Prof. Camilla Hollanti and Dr. Ragnar Frej-Hollanti at Aalto). Another postdoctoral researcher will be hired at Aalto University.

The hired researcher will join an internationally renowned research team at Chalmers, conducting research spanning many fields and including theoretical machine learning, information and coding theory, and signal processing.

The selected candidate will also enjoy our close collaboration with AI Sweden, the Swedish national center for applied artificial intelligence, and will take advantage of the extensive professional network provided by the PIs, which includes collaborations with some of the top universities and research institutes in the US (e.g., MIT, Duke, Rutgers), Germany (e.g., TUM, German Aerospace Center, KIT), Norway (UiB), and Israel (Technion), as well as industrial research environments (WithSecure, Nokia Bell Labs).

The review of applications will begin on November 15th, 2022, and continue until the position is filled. The application portal will be closed at the latest on December 5th, 2022.

Information about the department
At the Department of Electrical Engineering, we conduct internationally renowned research in information and coding theory, communication theory, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, signal processing, and image analysis. We offer a dynamic and international research environment with about 150 employees from more than 20 countries, and with extensive national and international research collaborations with academia, industry and society. The department provides more than 70 courses. 

Major responsibilities
In this project, you will lead and perform cutting-edge research on decentralized learning. You are expected to publish high-quality, high-impact papers, work with PhD students and other senior researchers in the team as well as with our collaborators. There are also opportunities for teaching.

Qualifications
To qualify for the position, you must hold a doctoral degree in mathematics, electrical engineering, or computer science awarded no more than three years prior to the application deadline (according to the current agreement with the Swedish Agency for Government Employers).

Applicants must have a strong background in mathematics, information theory, coding theory, or machine learning.

We look for candidates with a strong interest in pursuing theoretical research, who are independent, curious, and creative, and have the ability to work in an international environment and to present their ideas effectively.

Publications in NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, IEEE Transactions or similar. Good programming skills (Python). Excellent English skills (written and oral).

It is positive if you have the ability to supervise PhD students and attract funding.

Contract terms
This postdoc position is a full-time temporary employment. The position is for 2 years, with the possibility to extend it, depending on your performance and the available funding. You will receive a competitive salary (around 41000 SEK/month (gross salary) depending on your experience) with health care, social benefits, and pension.

We offer
Chalmers offers a cultivating and inspiring working environment in the coastal city of Gothenburg. 
Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.

Chalmers aims to actively improve our gender balance. We work broadly with equality projects, for example the GENIE Initiative on gender equality for excellence. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Application procedure
To apply, please go to: https://www.chalmers.se/en/about-chalmers/Working-at-Chalmers/Vacancies/Pages/default.aspx?rmpage=job&rmjob=10965

Application deadline: December 5, 2022