Post-doctoral Research Associate in activity recognition / computational behaviour analysis / machine learning

Job vacancy:
Post-doctoral Research Associate in activity recognition / computational behaviour analysis / machine learning
Where:
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Salary:
£28,695 ? £30,434 (with potential progression to £37,394)
duration:
fixed term contract for up to 42 months
Closing Date:
1 August 2014
Contact:
Dr Thomas Ploetz
Description:
Within a recently awarded multi-disciplinary research project a team of computing scientists and veterinarians is looking into developing an early warning system for the detection of health & welfare problems in groups of farm animals. The project is an international industry-academia collaboration with world leading animal health companies, and internationally leading experts from academia who work in machine learning for activity recognition, and agriculture.
The project is aiming for the automated (camera based) capture & analysis of changes in behaviour & performance of farm animals. As such the research translates into
*group based activity recognition for behaviour analysis with focus on unsupervised change detection*.
We are looking for an outstanding post-doctoral researcher who is an expert in (applied) machine learning for activity recognition and behaviour analysis to join the team. You will develop activity recognition techniques for automatic behaviour analysis in groups of farm animals with the aim of early detection of health- and wellbeing challenges (e.g., disease outbreaks) through recognition of changes in behaviour.
You will have a PhD (or be near completion) related to machine learning with focus on activity recognition / sequential data analysis and an outstanding publication track record in internationally leading venues. Since the research conducted will be a collaboration with the School of Agriculture, Food & Rural Development and industrial partners from the food production sector, ideally you will have experience in working with multi- or interdisciplinary teams.
Good communication skills, and strong software development skills are essential. You will have a strong background in machine learning / activity recognition / computer vision techniques and have significant experience of using rapid prototyping software environments. Furthermore, you will have expert level software engineering skills that allow you to collaborate on effective automation solutions.
The project is an ideal opportunity to work on cutting-edge research in an interdisciplinary team on a challenging problem that is of substantial relevance for a major industry and for the society as a whole.
This post is fixed term for 42 months. For informal enquiries please contact
Dr Thomas Ploetz (Thomas.ploetz-AT-ncl.ac.uk).
Full job description and online application through:
https://www15.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_newcastle02.asp?n...