Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Deep learning for subsurface imaging

About the position

Position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Deep learning for subsurface imaging available at the Department of Informatics.

Position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow available at the Department for Informatics with the research group Digital Signal Processing and Image Analysis  (https://www.mn.uio.no/ifi/english/research/groups/dsb/index.html) as part of  Visual Intelligence  (http://visual-intelligence.no), Norway's leading research centre in deep learning for image analysis.

Starting date as soon as possible.

The fellowship period is three years. Extensions up to a year may be considered with a workload of up to 25 % which is devoted to career promoting work, usual-ly in the form of teaching, supervision duties, and/or research assistance. This is dependent upon the qualification of the applicant and the current needs of the department.

No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oslo.

Place of work is Department of Informatics at Blindern, Oslo.

Project description

Do you want to develop new technology for interpretation of images in the field of geoscience? Improve deep learning methods for multi-modal image data applied to industrial challenges in the energy sector? Advance the use of seismic tiles for extracting information about geological layers? Contribute to a deeper understanding of the composition of the crust of the earth? Explore how to benefit from recent research in foundational neural models that learn from large unlabeled image datasets, also incorporating context from additional data such as wireline logs or well reports.

You are suited for this position if you are highly motivated, have interests in computer vision and neural networks, and want to both contribute to new advances in a field with real world applications.

Your research focus will be on challenges related to computer vision for geophysical image data. You will investigate and develop robust methods for training models, exploring/developing approaches for multimodal data, utilize context beyond pixel level, and efficiently use self-supervision for large unlabeled data sets. You will transfer the methods to innovations in close collaboration with Aker BP and/or Equinor.

The position is in the Digital Signal Processing and Image Analysis (DSB) research group, Section for Machine Learning, Department of Informatics. For more information about the position, see https://www.visual-intelligence.no/about/open-positions  You will be part of Visual Intelligence and the DSB research group. We expect that you will engage in collaborative research with other members of the centre and the research group. You will collaborate with user partners within Visual Intelligence, to contribute to the centre’s seminars, to collaborate across innovations areas within the centre, and to seek collaboration between the research partners within the centre. You will be part of a network of young researchers in deep learning in the Visual Intelligence Graduate School https://www.visualintelligence.no/about/vigs 

The main purpose of a postdoctoral fellowship is to provide the candidates with enhanced skills to pursue a scientific top position within or beyond academia. To promote a strategic career path, all postdoctoral research fellows are required to submit a professional development plan no later than one month after commencement of the postdoctoral period.

What skills are important in this role?

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

• Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a closely related discipline
• Extensive experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow, including the development, training, and fine-tuning of complex models for high-dimensional imaging data
• The doctoral dissertation must have been submitted for evaluation by the application closing date for the current position. Only applicants with an approved doctoral thesis and public defense are eligible for appointment
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English

• Solid experience in terms of publications in machine learning for imaging
• Proven expertise in self-supervision and recent architectures such as vision transformer or foundation models
• Experience in working with subsurface imaging
• Proficiency in leveraging GPUs and distributed training for large-scale datasets is highly desirable
• Good background in image analysis/computer vision
• Experience in teaching will be considered

All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.

What are we looking for in you?

• Solid analytical skills
• Ability to lead and conduct research in a collaborative environment
• Ability to work independently as well as in multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to give and receive constructive scientific criticism. 
  Good communication and collaboration skills
• Positive attitude and the ability to handle hectic periods

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal skills.

We can offer you

• Committed colleagues in a good working environment
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.  
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities
• Postdoctoral development programmes.
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes
• Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK 595 000 - 690 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund

We need different perspectives in our work

UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.

We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues, could you be the next one?

We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).

The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here. 

We hope you will apply for the position with us.

How to apply

• Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
• CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
• Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records
• Letters of recommendation
• A complete list of publications and up to 5 highlighted academic works that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee. The description should highlight peer-reviewed publications and specify why they are selected for this position
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oslo.

If an applicant has applied for and been granted funding for a fulltime research stay abroad while being employed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the employment will be prolonged with the equivalent time as the research stay, but for no longer than of twelve months ( thus extending the employment to a maximum of four years)

No one can be appointed twice as a Postdoctoral fellow financed with funds from The Research Council of Norway (NFR).

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results a.o.