Post-doc: Human-Aware situation assessment for joint action - ISIR (Sorbonne Université / CNRS)



  • Position title: Human-Aware situation assessment for joint action


  • The PIRoS (Perception, Interaction and Robotique Sociales) team of the Institute for Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR) at Sorbonne University (Paris) is looking for a for a highly motivated and ambitious postdoctoral researcher to conduct research on human-robot interaction & machine learning.


  • Description: Communication is a key factor to achieve successful coordination during a joint huma-robot action. Humans and robots communicate and coordinate during the execution of the joint action using multimodal cues such as speech, gaze and gestures. By doing so humans build a mental model of the robot. Mental models enable humans to infer a robot’s intention, anticipate actions, establish a common ground and share goals. However, endowing robots with similar models is challenging.


  • This post-doc position will be focused on the development of new computational models of human-robot communication. These human-aware models will be built by continuously observing human activities and environment and aim to infer human mental states. Human-Centered Machine Learning techniques will be developed to explicitly take into account human specificities in the prediction of multiple mental states such as beliefs, intentions, preferences, competence and rationality. Following a Human-Centered approach, the post-doc position will also consider ethical issues in both modeling (e.g. biases) and experimental (e.g. with human participants) parts of the research work.


  • Human-Aware situation assessment systems will be evaluated in collaborative tasks such as human-robot handovers using both quantitative (e.g., task efficiency) and qualitative metrics (fluency, trust). The candidate will have the opportunity to conduct experiments with various robots (Franka Emika, Pepper, Mobile Manipulators) as well as ISIR’s robots partners.


  • She/He will work in collaboration with PhD students, post-docs and public/private partners of ISIR. In particular, the position is part of the euRobin network, which aims to advance AI tools, software, architectures, and hardware components in a reproducible approach (European Network of Excellence Centres in Robotics (RIA)). This position is for 18 months contract, but there is a possibility to be extended depending on the performance and circumstances.


  • Requirements: The ideal candidate must have a PhD degree and a strong background in machine learning, robotics or cognitive science/neuroscience.


  • The successful candidate should have:


  • Experience in robotics : Good knowledge of Machine Learning Techniques


  • Good knowledge of experimental design and statistics


  • Excellent publication record


  • Strong skills in Python


  • Willing to work in multi-disciplinary and international teams


  • Good communication skills


  • Application: Interested candidates should submit the following by email in a single PDF file to: mohamed.chetouani[@]sorbonne-universite.fr with the subject: Application Post-Doc HRI-ML.


  • Curriculum vitae with 2 references (recommendation letters are also welcome)


  • One-page summary of research background and interests


  • At least three papers (either published, accepted for publication, or pre-prints) demonstrating expertise in one or more of the areas mentioned above


  • Doctoral dissertation abstract and the expected date of graduation (for those who are currently pursuing a Ph.D)


  • Application’s deadline: May 15, 2023.


  • General Information: Contract start date: from July 2023


  • Duration of the contract : 18 months


  • Working hours: 100% of the time


  • Desired experience: 1 to 10 years


  • Desired level of studies: PhD thesis


  • Host laboratory: ISIR (Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique), Campus Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris.


  • Email : mohamed.chetouani(at)sorbonne-universite.fr


  • More information: https://www.isir.upmc.fr/nous-rejoindre/oppotunites/


PhD studentship in information extraction and knowledge representation to optimize the surveillance of plant pathogen vectors. Jouy-en-Josas et Sophia Antipolis.



  • We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate within the framework of the research project "Information acquisition from textual data for early insect vector surveillance inplant health”.


  • The central aim of the thesis project is to develop ontology-based NLP methods to acquire updated and relevant knowledge on epidemic diseases for improved risk management linked to insect vectors.


  • The quality and relevance of the extracted information will be both derived from the collected documents and from the formal representation of the knowledge base. For plant health, the biological interaction between insect vectors, pathogens, and host plants is the primary focus.


  • The studentship will be affiliated with the laboratory MaIAGE [2] at the INRAE research center in Jouy-en-Josas University of Paris-Saclay (Computer Science GS), with PHIM [3] at the INRAE research center in Montpellier, and Wimmics group, I3S and Inria [4]. For more information, please see the full announcement here: https://maiage.inrae.fr/fr/node/2726 (file at the bottom of the page)


  • A successful candidate will have an MSc or equivalent in Artificial Intelligence. Knowledge of natural language processing and Knowledge representation methods will be an advantage. Master studies in a related area, e.g., biology or bio-informatics will be an advantage.


  • High level of academic English or French, both written and spoken;


  • Good programming skills in Python or Java (and preferably experience with deep learning tools)


  • Capacity to work as part of a team in a multidisciplinary framework.


  • Experiences of applied research to Life Science is an asset. We offer a motivating research environment with many opportunities for in-house, national and international collaborations and access to computing resources and state-of-the-art research equipment.


  • Start date: October 2023


  • Location: The student will share his/her time between MaIAGE (Jouy-en-Josas) and Wimmics (Sophia Antipolis) over long periods (1 to 2 years) and will make regular visits to PHIM (Montpellier). Salary: 2300 gross salary per month including social security package (healthcare, pensions, unemployment benefits).


  • Applications will be assessed as they are received and decisions taken on a rolling basis. The closing date is June 30rd 2021 Interested candidates should send their application file to Claire Nédellec ([email protected]), to Nicolas Sauvion ([email protected]), and to Catherine Faron ([email protected]).


  • It should comprise: - a CV (max 5 pages) with transcripts (Master), diplomas, internships


  • a cover letter


  • the names and contact of two referees for reference letters


Postdoctoral Researcher offer at University Paris Saclay - 12 months - Causal Inference for learning and intervening on welding quality prediction



  • We are looking for candidates for a funded postdoc offer over 1 year (available immediately), in causal inference, at the University of Paris-Saclay and, more specifically, in the MICS research laboratories (http://mics.centralesupelec.fr/en/) and Sinclair (https://sinclair-lab.com/).


  • Candidate profile : The ideal candidate is motivated by research application problems in the energy sector, passionate about artificial intelligence, has a solid background in machine or statistical learning, applied math- ematics, computing, modeling, optimization, and has good scientific writing and oral communication skills.


  • A proven experience and taste in computer programming (Python and/or R) and data analysis is required.


  • Candidates should hold a Ph.D. in one of the following areas: Applied Mathematics, Machine learning, Computer Science, or related fields and proven ability to solve research problems, with demonstrable research experience in one or more of them.


  • A Ph.D. in Causality Inference would be appreciated. A strong command of the English language is also required. 3 Funding and location


  • The successful postdoctoral candidate will be affiliated with the Mathematics Interacting with Com- puter Science (MICS) research laboratory of the University Paris-Saclay and work with Sinclair lab (Palaiseau, France), which is the Saclay INdustrial Collaborative Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence Research.


  • He/she will share his/her time work between Sinclair lab, TotalEnergies’ Saclay research center (20%), and MICS lab (80%), which are close to each other (around ten minutes by bus).


  • Application files must be sent to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] as soon as possible and must include:


  • A cover letter or email;


  • A CV, including contact information for two or more referees;


  • A research outcome (Ph.D’s thesis or paper) written by the candidate.


  • Incomplete application files will not be considered.