Post doctor (2 years) within non-additive measures and optimal transport

Department of Computing Science

To our department, which conducts research at the highest international level and offers several high-quality educational programs, we are now seeking a postdoctoral researcher to work on optimal transport and non-additive measures. The position is full-time for two years, starting on February 1st 2025, or as agreed upon.

The Department of Computing Science has been growing rapidly in recent years, with a focus on creating an inclusive and bottom-up driven research environment.  Our workplace consists of a diverse set of people from different nationalities, backgrounds and fields. As a postdoctoral researcher working with us, you receive the benefits of support in career development, networking, administrative and technical support functions, along with good employment conditions.

More information about the department is available at: https://www.umu.se/en/department-of-computing-science/ 

Project description and working tasks  

Non-additive measures are set functions where the additivity condition is replaced by monotonicity with respect to set inclusion. Outer measures are one of the examples of this type of measures. Non-additive measures are also known as capacities, fuzzy measures, and monotonic games. They are useful to represent interactions between elements and there are applications in mathematical economy, social choice and computer science. 

Our research group (led by Prof. Vicenç Torra) has a long experience in the field of non-additive measures, working on measures for both discrete and continuous domains. Our current research includes theoretical results on non-additive measures and integrals, numerical integration using non-additive measures, Radon-Nikodym-like derivatives, optimal transport problem, and distances for these measures (f-divergence-like and Wasserstein-like), probability distributions based on these measures. We have developed applications for modeling decisions and for data privacy, and developed tools for measure identification. 

The group collaborates with several national and international research groups on these topics (Japan, USA), and has active links with the private and public sectors. For more information see: https://www.umu.se/en/research/groups/nausica-privacy-aware-transparent-decisions-group-/

The postdoctoral position is funded by WASP. Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) is Sweden’s largest individual research program ever, a major national initiative for strategically motivated basic research, education and faculty recruitment. The program addresses research on artificial intelligence and autonomous systems acting in collaboration with humans, adapting to their environment through sensors, information and knowledge, and forming intelligent systems-of-systems.  The vision of WASP is excellent research and competence in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and software for the benefit of Swedish society and industry. For more information see: https://wasp-sweden.org/ 

Qualifications 

To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirements must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the appointment decision.

To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree prior to that may also be eligible. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organisations, military service, or similar circumstances, as well as clinical practice or other forms of appointment/assignment relevant to the subject area. Postdoctoral fellows who are to teach or supervise must have taken relevant courses in teaching and learning in higher education.

In addition to the above qualifications, the candidate should also have:

• A PhD degree or a foreign degree that is deemed equivalent in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, or another subject of relevance for the project. 
• Documented knowledge and proven research experiences in at least one of the areas non-additive measures and integrals, optimal transport, cooperative game theory, or numerical integration is required. 
• A scientific and result-oriented approach to your work.
• A very good command of the English language, both written and spoken. 

Application 

A full application should include: 

• Cover letter describing your research interests and why you are applying for the advertised position. Include a summary of your qualifications, research interests, motivation for applying, and briefly describe the connection between your past research and the position (max 2 pages),
• Curriculum vitae (CV) with publication list, 
• Verified copy of doctoral degree certificate or documentation that clarifies when the degree of doctor is expected to be obtained, 
• Verified copies of other diplomas, list of completed academic courses and grades, 
• Copy of doctoral thesis and up to 5 relevant articles,  
• Other documents that the applicant wishes to claim.
• Contact information to two persons willing to act as references.

The application must be written in English or Swedish. The application is made through our electronic recruitment system. Documents sent electronically must be in Word or PDF format. Log in to the system and apply via the button at the end of this page. The closing date is 25-01-10. Further details are provided by Vicenç Torra, vtorra@cs.umu.se

We look forward to receiving your application!