B-0076-25 - Research Grants (Bi) - 14/07/2025 - Decollage - 101088763

Two research positions for two Research Grants (“Bolsas de Investigação“) are open at Instituto de Telecomunicações, in the scope of the Project DECOLLAGE - DEep COgnition Learning for LAnguage Generation. This project is funded by the European Research Council - ERC-2022-CoG 101088763.
The work for this position is in the area of Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning.

**Scientific Area**:
Information and Data Sciences

**Group**:
Pattern and Image Analysis - Lx

**Admission Requirements**:
Research grants are intended:

- for students enrolled in a degree-conferring course to carry out R&D activities with the aim to consolidate their scientific training through the development of research work leading to the attainment of the respective academic degree or completion of the course (integrated or not in R&D projects).
- for students enrolled in courses that do not confer an academic degree but which are integrated in an educational project of a higher education institution and are developed in association or cooperation with one or several R&D units.

In what concerns the admission requirements for this research grant in particular:

- Currently enrolled in a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering;
- Excellent academic and practical background in programming, machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models;

**Work Objectives**:
The activities will be focused mostly on:

- Use of uncertainty and quality estimates for utility-guided controlled generation, combining this control mechanism with the efficient encoding of contextual information and integration of multiple modalities;
- Development of sparse and structured memory models, together with attention descriptive representations towards conscious processing;
- Mathematical models for sparse communication (reconciling discrete and continuous domains), supporting end-to-end differentiability and enabling a shared workspace where multiple modules and agents can communicate.

**Applicable legislation**:
**Place of work**:
The work will be developed at the premises of Instituto de Telecomunicações - Lisboa, under the supervision of Professor Dr. André Martins.

**Duration**:
12 months, with the possibility of renewal (according to the regulations defined by FCT). Start date: October 1st, 2025 or soon thereafter.

**Monthly salary**:
1900€ according to the table of grant amounts awarded directly by Instituto de Telecomunicações.
The payment will be made by bank transfer.

**Selection criteria**:

- C1 (30%)
Curriculum vitae/Academic performance
- C2 (30%)
Previous experience in the aforementioned areas
- C3 (40%)

F = C1 x 30% + C2 x 30% + C3 x 40%

**Jury**:

- Prof. André Filipe Torres Martins, Instituto Superior Técnico (President of the jury)
- Prof. Mario Alexandre Teles de Figueiredo, Instituto Superior Técnico
- Prof. Hugo Humberto Plácido da Silva, Instituto de Telecomunicações Lisboa
- Prof. Chrysoula Zerva, Instituto Superior Técnico (Substitute)

**Communication of the results**:
**Required Documents**:

- Cover letter explaining the interest in the position and relevant background;
- Detailed Curriculum Vitae with transcripts,
- Copy of the relevant certificates (Copy of the Degree Certificate(s), if applicable);
- Proof of enrollment (or proof of acceptance) in a higher education course or declaration of honour confirming that complies with the conditions to enroll in the required/preferable higher education course.
NOTE: The proof of enrollment in a higher education course must be made until the contract is signed.
All the selection process is conducted through the IT web portal. No actions outside this platform are valid.

**Application Period**:
15-07-2025 to 28-07-2025

**Assistance**:
**Published on**:
14-07-2025