[iva] PhD position in social robotics - LLMs & cybersecurity, Uppsala University

[Ginevra Castellano]

PhD position in social robotics, with focus on LLMs and cybersecurity
scenarios

 

 <https://usr-lab.github.io/> Uppsala Social Robotics Lab

Department of Information Technology

Uppsala University

**Deadline: 23 May 2024**

 

Are you interested in working with social robotics and large language models
in cybersecurity applications, with the support of competent and friendly
colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer
that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working
conditions? We welcome you to apply for a doctoral student position at
Uppsala University. 

 

Project description


The project will investigate the use of social robots in cybersecurity
scenarios. 

 

The overall objective is to investigate social robots as both a potential
vehicle of cybersecurity attacks and a mechanism to protect users from them.
First, it will explore the effect of large language models (LLMs)-powered
social robots on user's privacy and safety risks.  Second, it will develop
and evaluate new, user-centred mechanisms that leverage social robots and
human-robot dialogue to successfully deliver the communication of
cybersecurity risks to human users.

 

This is an interdisciplinary project which will be supervised by an
interdisciplinary team with expertise in social robotics and human-robot
interaction (Ginevra Castellano and Katie Winkle), LLMs and deep learning
(Ekta Vats), and privacy and cybersecurity (Boel Nelson).

 

Duties


The successful candidate will work with social robots and LLMs in
cybersecurity scenarios. The candidate is expected to program robots to
develop robot's capabilities and conduct empirical human-robot interaction
studies for data collection and evaluation.

 

The candidate will join the  <https://usr-lab.github.io/> Uppsala Social
Robotics Lab at the Vi3 Division of the Department of Information
Technology, Uppsala University. Our vision is to develop computational
social abilities that allow robots to behave in a socially intelligent way
in natural interaction with humans. The natural testbeds for our research
are socially assistive scenarios where robots provide not only physical, but
also social support to humans, where robotic technologies have the potential
to bring benefits to the society we live in, for example in application
areas such as education and assistive technology, by enhancing the lives of
children and other groups that require specialised support and intervention.
The lab is equipped with a range of different robotic platforms, including
Furhat, Pepper, NAO and Cozmo.

 

The candidate will also be integrated into the
<https://www.it.uu.se/research/arenas/security/graduate_school> Graduate
School in Cybersecurity at the Department of Information Technology. The
Graduate School provides an environment where students and researchers in
cybersecurity and related areas work together, through a core PhD-level
curriculum of joint courses and research activities. Regular seminars are
planned with presentations from the school's participants and by invited
speakers. Active participation in the Graduate School activities is
expected.

 

A Ph.D. student is expected to devote their time to graduate education
mainly. The rest of the duties may involve teaching at the Department,
including also some administration, to at most 20%.

 

Requirements and information on how to apply
<https://www.jobb.uu.se/details/?positionId=724473> at this link.

Deadline for applications: 23 May 2024

 

Starting date: 1 September 2024 or as agreed

 

 

--

Dr. Ginevra Castellano

Professor 

Director, Uppsala Social Robotics Lab

 <https://usr-lab.github.io/> https://usr-lab.github.io/

Department of Information Technology

Uppsala University

Box 337, 751 05 Uppsala, Sweden

 <https://www.katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N14-947> Webpage

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.uni-bielefeld.de/mailman2/unibi/public/iva-list/attachments/20240506/3a77ef2f/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 7301 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.uni-bielefeld.de/mailman2/unibi/public/iva-list/attachments/20240506/3a77ef2f/attachment-0001.p7s>