PhD position in Fundamental Techniques in Table Representation Learning

Goal of the Table Representation Learning (TRL) Lab Approximately 120 zettabytes of data has been collected worldwide but less than 1% is actually used. Structured data as found, for example, in tables, spreadsheets, and relational databases, is prevailing in organizations and typically informs important decisions in governments and humanitarian organizations, healthcare and finance. Yet, while AI has demonstrated a high impact on applications on text and images, proportional progress on tabular data is lacking. With the TRL Lab (Table Representation Learning Lab), we aim to close this gap, by developing AI models and tools for tabular data, to help organizations, of any size, domain, and level of data literacy, get insights from structured data, efficiently, accurately and securely. Goal of this PhD project High-capacity neural models, such as transformers, have been pivotal for establishing general-purpose models for a wide variety of natural language tasks. Despite successful adaptations for structured data, our research has identified shortcomings for fundamental properties of tabular data. This research position will focus on exploring fundamental techniques for tabular-native models. This can involve, for example, studying new TRL model architectures, serialization and tokenization techniques, among others. A strong interest and background in AI and/or NLP are desired. What you will be doing Inform a research agenda on the PhD topic for a timespan of four years. Develop fundamental AI techniques, new TRL models, and systems specific for tabular data. Publish reusable software and data artifacts where relevant. Communicate research outcomes through papers and talks at conferences, workshops, and beyond. Actively collaborate with other researchers in the TRL Lab (students, 4-5 PhDs, postdocs, PI) and external collaborators (e.g. University of Amsterdam, the UN, and Amsterdam UMC). Assist in relevant teaching activities at universities, such as thesis supervision and assisting in courses.

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) is the Dutch national research institute for mathematics and computer science and is part of the Institutes Organisation of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The mission of CWI is to conduct pioneering research in mathematics and computer science, generating new knowledge in these fields and conveying it to trade, industry, and society at large. CWI is an internationally oriented institute, with 160 scientists from approximately 27 countries, an informal atmosphere and short lines of communication. We have an activity committee that organizes after-work activities and an informal women's network. CWI is located at Amsterdam Science Park, which is a major location for scientific research in the Netherlands. Next to CWI, Science Park houses several other national research institutes, many startups and scale-ups, the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), and the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam.