2021 Call for applications: "Artificial Intelligence for the Sciences" doctoral program

The "Artificial intelligence for the Sciences" doctoral program is hosted by Université PSL with the support of the European program Horizon 2020 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions-COFUND.

This unique, structuring and international project aims to create a research community from multiple PSL laboratories and schools, along with a dozen of private and public partners. AI4theSciences will co-fund for 26 doctoral fellowships on the interfaces of AI or massive data processing.

The future PhD fellows selected for the "Artificial intelligence for the Sciences" project will receive a specific training on their concentration and also benefit from weekly seminars and conferences to develop a set of skills in connection with AI and Machine Learning, writing popular science articles, Open Science, cross-disciplinary skills, etc.
Each doctoral student will benefit from a joint supervision: a supervisor by a PSL expert in the chosen subject, and a co-supervision by a specialist in AI techniques or big data – who may work for laboratory outside PSL or for a private partner located in France or in Europe.

Applications for doctoral dissertation projects are open from November 15, 2021 to February 23, 2022. The selected students will start their doctoral work in September 2022.

Requirements for applicants

• Applicants must hold a master’s degree (or be in the process of obtaining one) or hold a University degree equivalent to a European Master’s (5-year duration) when the call is closed;
• There are no requirements based on nationality or age, but applicants should not have lived or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in France for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the deadline of the call (MSCA Circulation rule), namely between the February 11, 2019 to February 23, 2022.
• Applicants should be available to start the program on schedule in September 2022.

The applicants should provide the following documents:

• Transcripts translated into English of the master’s degree (or equivalent 5-year degree). A copy of the master’s degree or a certificate of achievement will be required later on for the final registration;
• International resume and a cover letter explaining why the student wants to prepare a PhD, why they apply to this offer and their professional project (guidelines will be given to the applicants in order to help them in the writing of their letter);
• Two reference letters written by academics;
• A signed statement on the circulation rules, availability and conflicts of interest (the template available at the end of the guide for applicants).

Selection of applications

The future doctoral students of the program will be selected between from February to April 2022 in two rounds:

• Selection on the basis of the application package from February 24, 2022 to March 11th, 2022 (round 1)
• Interviews with candidates from April 11 to April 20, 2022 (All candidates will be contacted in April 2022)

For further information, please read the Applicant's Handbook.

All applications should be submitted to the cofund's service email: ai-for-the-sciences_team@psl.eu.

12 dissertation projects available for applications: 

• Les 12 projets de thèse ouverts aux candidatures: 

• PhD position 1: PhD position 01 – MSCA COFUND, AI4theSciences (PSL, France) - “EEG classification applied to comatose patients” | EURAXESS (europa.eu)
• PhD position 2: AI for AGG - AI for abnormal or critical grain growth phenomena discrimination and avoidance – Application to Nickel base superalloys (Mines Paris - PSL) 
• PhD position 3: Quantifying Uncertainties in Physics-Informed Machine Learning (Mines Paris - PSL)
• PhD position 4: Transfer learning in biomechanics: High-dimensional transfer learning for personalized biomechanical modeling in surgery planning: application to anterior-cruciate ligament reconstruction (Mines Paris - PSL) 
• PhD position 5: Corporate Honorum, Massive Data Analysis of Careers in the Corporations (Université Paris Dauphine - PSL)
• PhD position 6: AI-based damage nucleation models assessed on big 4D data and micromechanical finite element simulations (Mines Paris - PSL)
• PhD position 7: PhD position 07 – MSCA COFUND, AI4theSciences (PSL, France) - “Creating AI/ML techniques to enhance mechanistic eco-evolutionary computer simulations” | EURAXESS (europa.eu)
• PhD position 8: PhD position 08 – MSCA COFUND, AI4theSciences (PSL, France) - “Development of artificial intelligence approaches to explore phytoplankton biodiversity and productivity in the global ocean” | EURAXESS (europa.eu) (cette offre va être validée dans la journée – le lien est correct)
• PhD position 9: Real-time control of actuators for adaptive optics on the ELT (Mines Paris - PSL)
• PhD position 10: Physics-informed Deep Learning for the Understanding of Mesostructure Effects on the Mechanical Failure of Reinforced Polymers (Mines Paris - PSL) 
• PhD position 11: Whole genome sequencing and deep learning: estimating demographic and adaptive processes in range expansion scenarios (EPHE - PSL)
• PhD position 12: Artificial intelligence at the service of space astrometry: a new way to explore the solar system (Observatoire de Paris - PSL) 
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