[iva] PhD positions in social robotics at University of Lisbon, Portugal

[Ana Paiva]

***** PhD positions in social robotics****

Instituto Superior Técnico

University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

The University of Lisbon (ULisboa, www.ulisboa.pt <http://www.ulisboa.pt/>) is the largest and one of the most prestigious universities in Portugal, and one of Europe's leading universities. Heir to a university tradition that spans over seven centuries, ULisboa acquired its current status in July 2013, following the merger of the former Technical University of Lisbon and the Classical University of Lisbon. ULisboa brings together various areas of knowledge and has a privileged position for facilitating the contemporary evolution of science, technology, arts and humanities. The quality of teaching, research, innovation and culture of ULisboa is attracting an ever increasing amount of talent from around the world.

As one of the Schools that make up ULisboa, Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST, www.tecnico.ulisboa.pt <http://www.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/>) is the most prestigious engineering school in Portugal, and among the best engineering schools in Europe. The IST universe comprises more than 11.000 students and a faculty with over 1.200 people. IST aims to contribute to the development of society, promoting and sharing excellence in higher education in the fields of Architecture, Engineering, Science and Technology. IST offers Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes, lifelong training and develops Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) activities, which are essential to provide an education based on the top international standards.  PhD candidates will be enrolling the Computer Science PhD program at IST (Instituto Superior Técnico).

Two PhD positions in social robotics is available within the ANIMATAS project (http://animatas.isir.upmc.fr <http://animatas.isir.upmc.fr/>).

 ANIMATAS (MSCA – ITN – 2017 - 765955 2) is a H2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie European Training Network funded by Horizon 2020 (the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation), coordinated by Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France).

 ANIMATAS will establish a leading European Training Network (ETN) devoted to the development of a new generation of creative and critical research leaders and innovators who have a skill-set tailored for the creation of social capabilities necessary for realising step changes in the development of intuitive human-machine interaction (HMI) in educational settings.

 The PhD positions offered at Instituto Superior Técnico will address the topic of Human-robot interaction and computer supported collaboration, in particular:

ESR 10- Let’s Learn by Collaborating with Robots

ESR 14- Socio-affective effects on the degree of human-robot cooperation

For more information about the topics, see description of ESR10 and ESR14 at http://animatas.isir.upmc.fr/ <http://animatas.isir.upmc.fr/>
The successful candidate will participate in the network’s training activities offered by the European academic and industrial participating teams. The PhD student will have the opportunity to work with the partners of the ANIMATAS project, primarily with Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Institut Mines-Telecom (IMT), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), with opportunities for secondments at these institutions and other collaborators in the ANIMATAS.

The student will be part of the Group of Intelligent Agents and Synthetic Characters (GAIPS) of INESC-ID, a research institute affiliated with Instituto Superior Técnico. GAIPS aims to investigate the creation of intelligent agents that act in an autonomous way in complex, dynamic environments. The group is large, with more than 30 members, including 11 Professors. Its research and development is focused on creating cutting edge technology in terms of intelligent agents. As such it covers areas related with multi-agent systems, social robotics, intelligent virtual agents, reinforcement learning in agents, evolutionary game theory, multi- agent collaboration, affective computing, human-robot interaction, social simulation, computer based learning and serious games. Out of its 30 members there are 11 professors (linked to IST) and another 23 postgrad researchers or students. Since its creation in 2000, the group has been involved in many national (11) and international projects (15), in particular it coordinated the Safira Europen project, and participated in the VICTEC, COLDEX, MindRaces, Humaine, Kaleidoscope, E-Circus (in the 6th framework), LIREC SIREN, Ecute and SEMIRA (in the 7th Framework), and LAW-TRAIN and RAGE (in the H2020 program). The group has also been involved in industry related projects, as well as Portuguese funded projects in collaboration with the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) and University of Texas in the US.

The positions are for four years.

= = How to apply = =

 To apply, candidates must submit their CV, a letter of application, two letters of reference and academic credentials to the ANIMATAS recruitment committee, Mohamed Chetouani (network coordinator), Ana Paiva and Arvid Kappas at the address: animatas at listes.upmc.fr <mailto:animatas at listes.upmc.fr> and to the main supervisors of the research project of interest (Ana Paiva, ana.paiva at inesc-id.pt, and Francisco S. Melo, fmelo at inesc-id.pt <mailto:fmelo at inesc-id.pt>). Please specify which project you are applying for (ESR10 or ESR14).

 = = Requirements = =

Qualifications: 

The candidates must have an MSc degree in Computer Science or related areas relevant to the PhD topics. Good programming skills are required. The PhD position is highly interdisciplinary and requires an understanding and/or interest in psychology and social sciences.

Read more about eligibility requirements at this link: http://animatas.isir.upmc.fr <http://animatas.isir.upmc.fr/>
More information about Tecnico and studying in Lisbon can be found here

https://tecnico.ulisboa.pt/en/campus-life/ <https://tecnico.ulisboa.pt/en/campus-life/>
Information about the positions can be provided by 

Prof. Ana Paiva, ana.paiva at inesc-id.pt

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