HEI-Lab Junior Researcher proficient in Signal Processing, Time Series Data Analysis and Machine Learning 2022

• Organisation/Company: Universidade Lusófona´s Research Center for Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab
• Research Field: Computer science, Engineering
• Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)
• Application Deadline: 28/02/2022 23:00 – Europe/London
• Location: Portugal › Lisbon
• Type Of Contract: Temporary
• Job Status: Full-time
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Offer Starting Date: 01/04/2022

Offer Description

COFAC, Cooperativa de Animação e Formação Cultural crl, hereby opens  an international tender to fill 1 vacancy for the position of junior researcher. This international tender shall be conducted pursuant to the Decree nr. 57/2016, and amended by Law 57/2017, of July 19,  and to the Regulatory Decree nr. 11-A/2017, of December 29th.

Description of Position:

HEI-Lab is looking for a Junior Researcher proficient in Signal Processing, Time Series Data Analysis and Machine Learning. The person hired will be responsible for various phases of research and integrated in a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the crossroads of game design, virtual reality, biomedicine, psychology, and artificial intelligence. The core research field will be the construction of systems and experiences that leverage human physiological sensors for the adaptation of virtual content and capable of reporting detailed patient feedback for therapists during and post exposure. 

The majority of applications have a focus in using physiological monitoring technology such as ECG, EDA, EMG and EEG; as such applicants who already have some degree of experience with these technologies will be favored.

Responsibilities:

• Take part of the experimental protocol design to optimize the data collection process and facilitate the processing methodology.
• Clean, process and analyse time-series data, which can include the construction of tools and algorithms that aid this process for future projects.
• Build statistical models through established techniques for the recognition and prediction of common human-based behaviours.
• Become the signal processing “expert” of the research unit, allowing fellow researchers to consult your expertise within the field.  

Benefits

Contract Specifics

Gross monthly wage: 2134.73 euros, with correspondence to level 33 to the single remuneration table, approved by Ordinance nr. 1553-C/2008, of December 31st, and combined with Decree-Law nr. 10/20201, of February 1st, which updated the base remuneration and the value of the basic monthly remuneration of the Public Administration.

Workplace Specifics

Given the circumstances of COVID-19 work will consist of a mix of remote and on-site. Given that a lot of work often includes XR and motion capture devices, some of the work is expected to be conducted on-site, while work capable of being produced remotely will be allowed to do so. The HEI-Lab itself is a research center located at the Lusófona University, Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal. 

Duration:

The activities foreseen in the exercise of that place are those foreseen in the scope of the research project mentioned above. The contract to be carried out is scheduled to start on April 1, 2022, ending on April 30, 2025 or with the conclusion of the research project, safeguarding the resolutive term regime established by the Labor Code.

How to Apply:

The call for applications will be open starting on 7th February2022  and ending on 28th February 2022. Applications must be formalized, mandatorily, by e-mail to micaela.fonseca@ulusofona.pt with ana.mourato@ulusofona.pt CC’d, with “COFAC/ULHT/HEI-LAB/JR/2022” (without quotations) as the email subject and with the following documents attached:

1. Presentation letter referring to the reasons that justified the application; 
2. Curriculum “vitae” mentioning professional experience, accompanied by a list of scientific publications produced and participation in funded projects; 
3. Doctoral certificate;
4. Identification and contacts with the respective “email” addresses – of at least two academic personalities who attest to the displayed curriculum; 
5. work plan for the 3-year period to be developed in the ‘Human-Computer Interaction’ area, compiled by the HEI-Lab I&D Labs (https://hei-lab.ulusofona.pt);
6. Link to their Portfolio Page (e.g. GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket, Personal Website, etc.)
7. Other documents considered relevant by the candidate and which, in his perspective, seem relevant to prove and evaluate the respective

Excluding the elements mentioned above, the non-compliance, by the interested party, of any of the requirements stated in the previous number determines the preliminary rejection of the application.

 False statements made by candidates will be punished under the law. The competition jury, composed of three members, is appointed by the Board of COFAC, crl. 

Under the terms of the preceding article, as well as that established by Article 13 of Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of 29 August, members of the jury are designated: 

1. President – Manuel José Damásio (Executive Director of ILIND); 
2. Member – Pedro Santos Pinto Gamito, Director HEI-LAB; 
3. Member – Maria Micaela Leal da Fonseca, Principal Researcher of HEI-Lab. 

Substitute members: Jorge Oliveira, Deputy Director HEI-Lab

Louis Philippe Simoes Castelo Branco Lopes, HEI-Lab Researcher.

The nominated jury is responsible for examining the applications. Minutes of all the jury meetings will be drawn up containing the description of the subjects discussed, as well as the votes cast by each of the members and the grounds for the decisions taken. Applications admitted to the competition are evaluated taking into account the quality, timeliness and relevance of the scientific (scientific production and research experience) and professional curricula of the interested parties, as well as the respective adequacy to the proposed work plan.

Evaluation method:

The candidate will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• ​​Candidate merit (75%);
• Interview (25%).

The merit of the candidate (MC) will take into account the following criteria:

• Presentation letter and work plan, which must be written in english (40%)
• Scientific track record (40%)
• Professional experience (20%)

Each criterion is scored on a scale from 0 to 20. Applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be automatically excluded from assessment. No applicants will be accepted with an overall weighted score in applicant’s merit of less than 15 out of 20. Should no applicants meet the eligibility criteria or applicant’s merit minimum score the jury reserves the right to not award the contract.

Only candidates with an MC greater than 15 will be admitted to the interview. .If the jury chooses not to interview the candidates, the merit of the candidate will correspond to 100% of the candidates’ evaluation. Candidates not fulfilling the areas of knowledge requirements will be directly excluded

Additional comments

Organization

The HEI-Lab – Digital Human Environment Interaction Lab, Lusófona University is a research lab at the crossroads of Psychology, Design and Digital Games. HEI-Lab conception is rooted on the human-context interaction paradigm that looks into human behavior and its contexts interchangeably. Our mission is to converge Psychology and Design knowledge into a transdisciplinary scientific platform aimed at studying human behavior within this interactive view. Digital technology, shaped after Psychology principles and created by Design and Engineer processes, will be the HEI-LAB signature, offering new psychological research and intervention opportunities. 

Our aim is thus to conduct research on applied Psychology and Design processes through digital systems. These systems (smart environments comprising virtual, augmented and mixed reality apps) will mimic physical and mental environments optimizing the human-context relationship and providing a deeper insight on this interrelation. Such an approach will move from the classical stimulus-organism-response model, to the innovative stimulus-technology-organism-technology- -response model, from which higher scientific and intervention standards can be achieved. The intersection between design, technology, and psychology will then be used to test models of human behavior (focusing on psychological processes underlying various forms of ab/normal behavior and well-being across the lifespan), and create new 3Ts (technological therapeutic/intervention tools) to be applied to the contexts of clinical/health, social/organizational, and justice/forensic psychology.

Offer Requirements

• REQUIRED EDUCATION LEVEL:
  • Computer science: PhD or equivalent
  • Engineering: PhD or equivalent

• REQUIRED LANGUAGES
  • PORTUGUESE: Excellent

Skills/Qualifications

• Main research field: 
  • PhD in Computer Science or Biomedical Engineering or Physics Engineering or a related engineering area.
• Level: PhD Degree 

Skills/Qualifications

The position of doctoral researcher in the competition is effective through an employment contract for an uncertain term, for a period of 3 years. National, foreign and stateless doctorate researchers can apply for the position. Profile: PhD in Computer Science or Biomedical Engineering or Physics Engineering or a related engineering area.

Participation as a researcher in funded R&D Projects. Minimum of 4 scientific articles published as “Author or co-author” in indexed scientific journals with international circulation. International Profile. Be proficient, speaking and writing, in Portuguese and English.

If the qualification has been granted by a foreign higher education institution, it must be recognized by a Portuguese higher education institution, in the terms of article 25 of Law-decree no. 66/2018, of the 16th of August, that approves the legal framework for the recognition of academic degrees and higher education diplomas attributed by foreign higher education institutions and paragraph (e), item 2 of article 4 of Law-decree no. 60/2018 of the 3rd of August, considering any formalities established therein must be fulfilled at the time of the contract signing.

Specific Requirements

Skills:

• Experience with Python (Pandas, Numpy, Matplotlib, etc.)
• Experience with popular Python Machine Learning Libraries (PyTorch, Keras, etc.)
• Expertise in the Processing, Analysis and Visualization of Time-Series
  • Windowing, Feature Extraction, Smoothing, Filtering, etc.
• Statistical and Machine Learning Expertise
  • Supervised and Unsupervised Methodologies

Valuable Bonus Skills

• Previous experience with XR devices and Unity is a plus!
• Previous experience with psychophysiology data collection
• Designed, implemented and collected data from trials with human subjects
• Published author in the field of Machine Learning, Affective Computing or Psychophysiology.

Required Languages

• Language: Portuguese
  • Level:  Excellent
• Language: English
  • Level: Excellent

Please click here to apply.