项目介绍

2025年1月17日

Due to the increasing demand for physical and mental support in healthcare, there is a growing need for multimodal interactive systems such as social robots, chatbots, and intelligent virtual avatars. These systems coach people to live healthy lifestyles and assist in patient care and rehabilitation. With the advancements in Large Language Models, natural language conversations with these systems have become smoother. However, these coaching systems must provide sensitive and personalized advice for vulnerable user groups and be aware of potential adverse effects.

While natural language interaction has significantly improved, the physical interaction capabilities of socially assistive robots still need enhancement. These improvements aim to achieve interactions similar to those with physiotherapists and caregivers, facilitating close social contact to boost rehabilitation adherence and enhance learning and exercise outcomes. Additionally, these systems must interactively adapt their behavior to users’ coaching goals and preferences over time.

The goal is to enrich rehabilitation scenarios and create long-term, LLM-based coaching agents for health and well-being. The specific PhD research topic is open to the candidate’s background and interests.

Your profile

* A Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, or a related field.

* Strong background in at least three areas: Human-computer interaction/Human-Robot Interaction, machine/reinforcement learning, computer vision, NLP, signal processing, conversational agents, system engineering, and robotics.

* Experience with programming languages such as Python, C++, or similar and robotics middleware.

* Enthusiastic and intrinsically motivated to pursue a 4-year long research project.

* Excellent analytical, problem-solving, cultural, and communication skills.

* Experience in conducting and evaluating user studies, both quantitatively and/or qualitatively.

* Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary research team.

* You have a creative mindset and excellent analytical and communication skills in English.

Our offer

* A full-time position for four years, with a qualifier in the first year, and the flexibility to work (partially) from home..

* Your salary and associated conditions are in accordance with the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities (CAO-NU).

* You will receive a gross monthly salary ranging from € 2.901  (first year) to € 3.707,- (fourth year).

* There are excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%, and a solid pension scheme.

* A minimum of 232 leave hours in case of full-time employment based on a formal workweek of 38 hours. A full-time employment in practice means 40 hours a week, therefore resulting in 96 extra leave hours on an annual basis.

* Free access to sports facilities on campus.

* A family-friendly institution that offers parental leave (both paid and unpaid).

* You will have a training programme as part of the Twente Graduate School where you and your supervisors will determine a plan for a suitable education and supervision.

Information and application

Are you interested in this position? Please send your application via the ‘Apply now’ button below before February 8, 2025, and include:

* A cover letter (maximum 2 pages A4), emphasizing your specific interest, qualifications, motivations to apply for this position.

* A Curriculum Vitae, including a list of all courses attended and grades obtained, and, if applicable, a list of publications and references.

* An IELTS-test, Internet TOEFL test (TOEFL-iBT), or a Cambridge CAE-C (CPE). Applicants with a non-Dutch qualification and who have not had secondary and tertiary education in English can only be admitted with an IELTS-test showing a total band score of at least 6.5, internet. TOEFL test (TOEFL-iBT) showing a score of at least 90, or a Cambridge CAE-C (CPE).

For more information regarding this position, you are welcome to contact Sebastian Schneider via s.schneider@utwente.nl.