EPFL AI Center Postdoctoral Fellowships
Applications are encouraged from researchers at the postdoctoral level with a keen interest in collaborative, interdisciplinary research on AI topics and who typically feel attracted by a career in research.
EPFL AI Center Postdoctoral Fellowships
The EPFL AI Center Postdoctoral Fellowship programme gives outstanding and highly motivated young researchers the chance to collaborate with a broad range of EPFL faculty on furthering the capabilities and applications of AI techniques in a variety of scientific domains. The Fellowship programme focuses on excellence and collaborative research endeavours. Therefore, Fellows will work with several laboratories at EPFL and will be granted ample freedom to develop their own research agenda. This will include contributing to and participating in the various community activities and strategic initiatives associated with the EPFL AI Center.
The EPFL AI Center is the hub for AI research at EPFL, spearheading strategic initiatives and research challenges in AI, hosting large-scale projects in collaboration with diverse partners.
The Fellowship will enable the Postdoctoral researcher to develop an interdisciplinary research agenda in collaboration with at least two EPFL labs headed by EPFL AI Center faculty members.
Key goals of this Fellowship programme are to:
- Advance cutting-edge AI research;
- Promote ethical AI development ensuring fellows critically evaluate issues such as bias, privacy, and fairness in AI research;
- Prepare for the next generation of leaders in AI;
- Spark interdisciplinary collaboration between the EPFL AI Center’s community.
- Candidates must have recently received their doctorate (PhD) in computer science, physics, engineering, applied mathematics, or other relevant fields for artificial intelligence. Candidates in the last year of their PhD studies may also apply.
- Citizens of any nationality may apply for the AI Center Postdoctoral fellowships.
- No age restrictions apply.
- Applicants must have the endorsement of two EPFL Professors associated with the AI Center willing to host and collaborate with them when they submit their Stage 2 application (see below for a description of the application process).
- The Fellowship should be carried out on a full-time basis (100%). Specific exceptions linked to personal reasons (maternity/parental leave, care of family members, etc.) could possibly be considered depending on individual circumstances.
- Applicants may only submit one application.
- This programme is highly competitive, and the primary evaluation criterion is excellence, as measured by academic records and professional accomplishments. Candidates applying for the AI Center Fellowship are expected to have excellent grade transcripts.
Eligible costs include and are limited to:
- The fellowship covers the full salary of the postdoctoral researcher (based on the EPFL salary scale) and is for a period of up to two years max.
- EPFL Human Resources guidelines and practices apply with regard to social security contributions.
- A maximum amount of CHF 5’000 per fellowship year can be granted for research costs, open research data costs, open access publication costs, travel and conferences. These costs need to be justified in the budget and in the financial report.
- The host laboratories commit to making the necessary infrastructure available to the postdoctoral researcher (e.g. office space, laboratory space and equipment, administrative assistant).
Please read carefully the application guidelines.
Explore the Application toolkit.
All required documents must be submitted on the online submission platform.
All documents must be submitted in English.
The submission deadline for Stage 1 (see Selection process) is 29 November 2024 (17:00 CET).
Applicants who are endorsed by the AI Center fellowship committee will be able to proceed to Stage 2. The submission deadline will be 24 January 2025 (17:00 CET).
The selection process includes two stages.
In Stage 1 the submitted applications will be evaluated by the AI Center fellowship committee, based on the following criteria: the fit of the candidate’s research statement with the aims of the fellowship programme, scientific excellence, relevance and practical impact of the project proposal, feasibility, candidate profile.
Only those applicants who are endorsed by the AI Center fellowship committee will be able to proceed to Stage 2.
In Stage 2, each application will be evaluated by the evaluation committee for the programme and composed of 3-5 members/experts in AI related research. External reviews may be solicited for an appropriate evaluation of the proposals, if this is deemed necessary.
Final decisions will be announced around mid-February 2025.
Successful applicants may begin their project after the notice of the award once the fellowship agreement has been signed, but no later than nine months after the receipt of the decision letter. The starting date must fall on the first day of a month, and the earliest starting date is 1 April 2025.