项目介绍

2024年10月17日

About the job

We have a vacancy for a joint NTNU-CERN PhD position in Generative Deep Learning for calorimeter simulation at the Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, NTNU, as well as at the Experimental Physics – Software Development for Experiments (EP-SFT) group at CERN.

Through a collaboration agreement between CERN and NorCC (Norwegian Centre for CERN-related Research), this position is one of a number of jointly-funded NTNU-CERN PhD vacancies in the field of the technological sciences. The successful candidate will spend 18 months at NTNU in Gjøvik followed by 18 months at the EP-SFT group at CERN, while remaining active in the PhD Programme at NTNU for the full 36 months. The candidate will be supervised by a main supervisor from NTNU together with co-supervisors from EP-SFT. For the position of PhD Candidate, the goal is the completion of doctoral education at NTNU and CERN, including an obtained doctoral degree from NTNU.

Deep learning is currently used, or planned to be used, in almost all aspects of CERN experiments, including online selection or triggering, track and calorimeter reconstruction, physics analyses, and simulation. For simulation in particular, a special focus has lately been on the fast simulation of calorimeter showers. Generating events for these detector sub-systems is expected to take up a significant fraction of the computational efforts in future experiments as well as in upgrades of current CERN experiments, and novel, fast approaches are needed to provide the community with enough simulated data, needed for physics analysis. 

The goal of this project is to implement novel generative models such as Normalizing Flows and Diffusion Models based on transformers for calorimeter simulations and compare their physics performance and the computing evaluation time to more traditional deep learning generative approaches and the traditional Geant4-based simulation. Another important objective is to integrate and validate these new novel models in the fast simulation of existing LHC detectors, such as ATLAS and LHCb, so they can be used in simulation event production. 

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree. 

Your immediate leader is the Head of the Department. 

Duties of the position

• setting up a simulated calorimeter detector geometry for a future CERN experiment (e.g. the FCC) and generating particle showers using Geant4, which is to be used as a baseline
• implementing and testing novel generative deep learning algorithms for simulation, comparing accuracy and speed to more traditional deep learning algorithms as well as to the Geant4 baseline
• studying the performance and adaptability of the models when training on different geometries (for LHC and future experiments) and integrating their evaluation in the LHC experiments code
• documenting and releasing the novel generative model for public usage and writing publications in journal papers

Required selection criteria

• you must be a citizen of a CERN member state or associated member state as listed in Careers at CERN (smartrecruiters.com)
• you must have a professionally relevant background in physics, computer science, or a related field such as computational materials science or technology
• your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master’s level
• you must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master’s degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU’s grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• you must meet the requirements for admission to the Doctoral Programme at the Faculty of Engineering at NTNU.
• good written and oral English language skills

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• scientific publications are an advantage
• experience in research project works
• good knowledge and experience in the use of simulation software

Personal characteristics

• team player
• inventive and creative
• proactive and initiative taker 
• self-driven
• achieving results

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Salary and conditions

General

The PhD candidacy begins with a contract of employment at NTNU for a duration of 18 months, followed by a contract of association and corresponding stipend at CERN for a duration of 18 months. You will remain active in the PhD Programme at NTNU for the full 36 months. Your NTNU supervisor will assist you with your applications to the NTNU and the CERN PhD Programme. A travel allowance is available when travel between NTNU and CERN is deemed appropriate by your supervisors.

Contract of employment at NTNU

During the 18-month period at NTNU, you will have a contract of employment as a PhD candidate (code 1017). PhD Candidates are normally paid NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Engineering within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution on a daily basis.

Contract of association at CERN:

During the 18-month period at CERN, you will have a contract of association and will be a member of the CERN Doctoral Students Programme, the conditions of which, including details of the monthly stipend, are described in CERN Doctoral Student Programme | SmartRecruiters. You will not be employed by NTNU during this time.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English. 

Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include: 

• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor’s and master’s degrees (original official documents with English translation)
• your research plan (or research proposal) for the position (maximum one page)
• Academic works – published or unpublished – that you would like to be considered in the assessment
• Name and contact information of three referees

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor’s and master’s education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

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The city of Gjøvik has a population of 30 000 and is a town known for its rich music and cultural life. The beautiful nature surrounding the city is ideal for an active outdoor life! The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world.

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As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Prof. Are Strandlie, email are.strandlie@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Linn-Cecilie Felle Brattheim, e-mail: linn.c.felle@ntnu.no

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 11.11.2024