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[Verena Wolf via Petrinet <address@concealed>]

The Research Training Group 2853 “Neuroexplicit Models of Language, Vision, 
and Action” is looking for

3 PhD students - September 2024
1 Postdoc - September 2024 or later

Neuroexplicit models combine neural and human-interpretable (“explicit”) 
models in order to overcome the limitations that each model class has 
separately. They include neurosymbolic models, which combine neural and 
symbolic models, but also e.g. combinations of neural and physics-based 
models. In the RTG, we will improve the state of the art in natural language 
processing (“Language”), computer vision (“Vision”), and planning and 
reinforcement learning (“Action”). We will also develop novel machine 
learning techniques for neuroexplicit models (“Foundations”). Our overarching 
aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the cross-cutting design 
principles of effective neuroexplicit models through interdisciplinary 
collaboration.

The RTG is scheduled to grow to a total of 24 PhD students and one postdoc by 
2025; the first six PhD students started in late 2023, and three more have 
accepted our offer to join us in September 2024. Through the inclusion of ~20 
further PhD students and postdocs funded from other sources, it will be one 
of the largest research centers on neuroexplicit or neurosymbolic models in 
the world.

The RTG brings together researchers at Saarland University, the Max Planck 
Institute for Informatics, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, the 
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, and the German Research 
Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). All of these institutions are 
colocated on the same campus in Saarbrücken, Germany.

The positions are funded as follows:

PhD students will be funded for up to four years at the TV-L E13 100% pay 
scale. You should have or be about to complete an MSc degree in computer 
science or a related field and have demonstrated expertise in one of the 
research areas of the RTG, e.g. through an excellent Master’s thesis or 
relevant publications.


The postdoc will initially be funded for three years, with the possibility of 
extension, at the TV-L E13 100% pay scale. As the RTG postdoc, you will 
pursue your own research agenda in the field of neuroexplicit models and work 
with the PhD students to identify and pursue opportunities for collaborative 
research. You should have or be about to complete a PhD in computer science 
or a related field and have demonstrated your expertise in one or more of the 
RTG’s research areas through publications in top venues.

The RTG is part of the Saarland Informatics Campus, one of the leading 
centers for research in computer science, artificial intelligence, and 
natural language processing in Europe. The Saarland Informatics Campus brings 
together 900 researchers and 2500 students from 81 countries. The CISPA 
Helmholtz Center, located on the same campus, is home to an additional 350 
researchers and on track to grow to 800 by 2026. Researchers at SIC and CISPA 
are part of the ELLIS network and have been awarded more than 35 ERC grants.

Each PhD student in the RTG will be jointly supervised by two PhD advisors 
from the list of Principal Investigators below. Each student will freely 
define their own research topic; we encourage the choice of topics that cross 
the traditional boundaries of research fields. Students may be affiliated 
with Saarland University or with one of the participating institutes.

Vera Demberg, Saarland University - Computational Linguistics
Jörg Hoffmann, Saarland University - AI Planning
Dietrich Klakow, Saarland University - Natural Language Processing
Alexander Koller, Saarland University - Computational Linguistics
Bernt Schiele, MPI for Informatics - Computer Vision, Machine Learning
Philipp Slusallek, DFKI and Saarland University - Computer Graphics, 
Artificial Intelligence
Christian Theobalt, MPI for Informatics - Visual Computing, Machine Learning
Mariya Toneva, MPI for Software Systems - Computational Neuroscience, Machine 
Learning
Isabel Valera, Saarland University - Machine Learning
Jilles Vreeken, CISPA - Machine Learning, Causality
Joachim Weickert, Saarland University - Mathematical Data Analysis
Verena Wolf, DFKI and Saarland University - Modeling and Simulation, 
Reinforcement Learning

Ellie Pavlick, Brown University and Google AI, will join us regularly as a 
Mercator Fellow.

Please send your application by 21 June 2024 to address@concealed. 
Include the reference number W2488 for the postdoc position and the reference 
number W2487 for the PhD positions. We aim to conduct job interviews in July. 

For more details on the position, including what materials to submit with 
your application, please see our website: https://www.neuroexplicit.org/jobs/

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