PhD Candidate on scene understanding and mixed reality – Enschede, Netherlands

As part of the innovative XTREME project, you will delve into the forefront of research in computer vision and photogrammetry.

This position is part of a recently EU-funded XTREME project: Mixed Reality Environment for Immersive Experience of Art and Culture. The overall objective of XTREME is to develop a human-centred and ethically developed digital and industrial mixed reality environment to experience art and music performances and concerts and to improve its social value. The project is a collaboration among 14 partners, including IT University Copenhagen and the University of Twente. You will be based in a team with outstanding academic performance (as reflected by our publications in impactful journals and conferences), a strong industrial network, and a pleasant, collaborative atmosphere. You will be working on visual scene understanding including detecting static and moving objects with multi-camera systems, developing dynamic semantic scene graphs, and developing generative AI methods for blending virtual and real scenes.

You will perform research on your topics, and collaborate with other researchers and experts in the XTREME project to contribute to the development of new techniques and approaches. You will present (both preliminary and mature) results at appropriate meetings and conferences, publish results in scientific workshops, conference proceedings, and journals, contribute to teaching on topics related to your work, and supervise and mentor involved MSc students as needed.

Your profile

• An MSc degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Geoinformatics, Mathematics, or a related field
• A creative mindset and strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Able to do independent research and field data collection
• Experience with at least one of the fields of object detection, scene graph generation, computer vision and deep learning, and willing to delve deeper into these topics
• Good communication skills
• Proficiency in written and spoken English
• A good team spirit

Our offer

• An inspiring multidisciplinary, international and academic environment. The university offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues in which internationalization is an important part of the strategic agenda
• Full-time position for 4 years
• A professional and personal development programme within Twente Graduate School
• Gross monthly salary of € 2,770.- in the first year that increases to € 3,539.- in the fourth year
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.3%
• Excellent support for research and facilities for professional and personal development
• A solid pension scheme
• A total of 41 holiday days per year in case of full-time employment
• Excellent working conditions, an exciting scientific environment, and a green and lively campus.

Information and application

For more information about the position or the XTREME project, you can contact Dr Ville Lehtola (e-mail: v.v.lehtola@utwente.nl), Dr Michael Yang (e-mail: michael.yang@utwente.nl) or Prof George Vosselman (e-mail: george.vosselman@utwente.nl). You are also invited to visit our homepage.

Please submit your applicationbefore 2 October 2023. Your application should include:

• A motivation letter (maximum 2 pages of A4), emphasizing your specific interest, qualifications and motivation to apply for this position
• Curriculum Vitae (including contact information for at least two academic references)
• An academic transcript of BSc and MSc education, including grades and a short description of your last large result (MSc thesis/final project report/EngD thesis)

1st round interviews are scheduled between 16 and 20 October 2023. A possible 2nd round interview will be scheduled when needed.

About the department

The Department of Earth Observation Science (EOS) is engaged in education, research, and capacity building on earth observation, image analysis, and geo-health. The department develops and applies methods for the extraction of large-scale geo-information from, satellite, airborne and terrestrial sensors. The expertise of the department covers spatial statistics, image analysis, machine learning, deep learning, monitoring, and data integration.

About the organisation

The Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) provides international postgraduate education, research and project services in the field of geo-information science and earth observation. Our mission is capacity development, where we apply, share and facilitate the effective use of geo-information and earth observation knowledge and tools for tackling global wicked problems. Our purpose is to enable our many partners around the world to track and trace the impact – and the shifting causes and frontiers – of today’s global challenges. Our vision is of a world in which researchers, educators, and students collaborate across disciplinary and geographic divides with governmental and non-governmental organisations, institutes, businesses, and local populations to surmount today’s complex global challenges and to contribute to sustainable, fair, and digital societies.