[agents] Postdoc position in AI and multi-agent systems at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Amsterdam

Wed Jun 10 06:14:01 EDT 2020

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Vacancy for a talented Postdoc in AI and multi-agent systems
In the Intelligent and Autonomous Systems research group,
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the national research institute 
for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands
See: https://www.cwi.nl/jobs/vacancies/postdoc-in-ai-and-multi-agent-systems
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Job description
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The world of peer-to-peer trading is changing rapidly. Whereas in the 
past, people would contact their vendors personally over phone or 
e-mail, online peer-to-peer trading platforms now make it possible for 
vendors to match and discover supply and demand in a more effective and 
scalable way. This creates a new opportunity to use artificial 
intelligence techniques and negotiation agents that can support vendors 
in their negotiations and eventually make deals autonomously on their 
behalf. This requires a combination of a state-of-the-art multi-agent 
and machine learning techniques that can support the user in making 
efficient offers and learn the preferences of the user as well as of the 
trading partners.

The aim of the vacant position is to develop fundamental and applicable 
solutions for agent negotiations within a new online trading platform. 
Depending on the interests and expertise of the candidate, the project 
draws on tools and techniques from artificial intelligence, multi-agent 
learning, preference modeling and elicitation, machine learning, 
automated negotiation, decision support systems, and sequential 
multi-agent decision-making under uncertainty. One of the scientific 
challenges in this project will be to formulate long-term negotiation 
strategies that can strike partial deals with multiple partners under 
preference uncertainty, motivated by the challenge of autonomously 
representing a user in repeated one-to-many negotiations.

The research will focus on the following aspects:

1. Developing agent models for one-to-many automated negotiation to help 
negotiate complex trading deals with multiple partners;
2. Establishing new machine learning techniques that are able to 
estimate the opponent’s preference from multiple, short interactions;
3. Developing active preference elicitation models in order to 
accurately represent and support users by a negotiating agent;
4. Designing new negotiation strategies and planning algorithms for 
multi-issue negotiations in an environment with multiple trading parties 
and large product portfolios. The purpose is to develop optimal 
solutions for trading scenarios with high degrees of complexity.

The project is a collaboration between CWI and an ambitious start-up 
company Acumex, which has built the first online negotiation platform 
for complex trading goods. This platform replaces the old trading 
paradigm with a more streamlined cloud-based approach that allows a 
structured approach to peer-to-peer trading processes and real-time 
online negotiations. The vacant position will primarily devise 
algorithms and experiments for online preference and strategy 
elicitation and distributed negotiations in face of uncertainty, and 
will closely collaborate with other project team members for the 
implementation of experimental tests.

The successful applicant will contribute to the research group's 
ambition to develop and mature fundamental principles that find 
applications in practical intelligent and autonomous systems. The 
position is embedded in a diverse team of motivated junior and senior 
researchers with experience and ongoing complementary projects on topics 
such as multi-agent learning, autonomous representation, negotiation, 
smart energy systems, and more. Group alumni have moved on to excellent 
positions in academia and industry, making it a cornerstone in their 
career path.

Requirements
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Candidates are required to have a completed PhD in the area of computer 
science, artificial intelligence, mathematics, or a related field. 
Candidates should have a clear interest in fundamental research, should 
be creative and solid in their research, should have interest in 
multi-agent systems and in the application area of negotiation and 
trading, should be able to cooperate with experts from different 
disciplines, and should be experienced in programming (preferably 
object-oriented, e.g. Java, C#). Needed qualifications for candidates 
include proven research talent and good academic writing and 
presentation skills. Candidates are expected to have an excellent 
command of English.

Terms and conditions
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The terms of employment are in accordance with the Dutch Collective 
Labour Agreement for Research Centres ("CAO-onderzoeksinstellingen"). 
The gross monthly salary for an employee on a full time basis, depending 
on relevant work experience, ranges from € 3,653 to € 4,452. The 
appointment will be for 20 months, with a preferred starting date of 1 
August 2020.
Employees are also entitled to a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross 
annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.33%. CWI offers attractive 
working conditions, including flexible scheduling.

Please visit our website for more information about our terms of 
employment:
www.cwi.nl/terms-of-employment

Application
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Applications can be sent before 22 June 2020 to apply at cwi.nl. Selection 
will start on June 22nd until the position is filled. All applications 
should include:

- a motivation letter, explaining the interest in the proposed research 
fields,
- a detailed CV,
- names and contact details of at least two referees, and
- a list of publications, and a link to the PhD thesis, if available.

For residents outside the EER-area, a Toefl English language test might 
be required.

For more information about the vacancy, please contact dr. Tim Baarslag, 
telephone +31(0)20 592 4019, email: T.Baarslag at cwi.nl, homepage: 
https://homepages.cwi.nl/~baarslag/

For more information about CWI, please visit www.cwi.nl or watch our 
video about working at CWI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCfI7_rLeho

CWI encourages a diverse workforce: we endeavour to develop talent and 
creativity by bringing people from different backgrounds and cultures 
together. We recruit and select based on capabilities and talent. We 
strongly encourage everyone with the appropriate qualifications to apply 
for the vacancy, regardless of age, gender, origin, sexual orientation 
or physical abilities.

About Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica
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Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) is the Dutch national research 
institute for mathematics and computer science and is part of the 
Institutes Organisation of NWO (https://www.nwo.nl/en). The mission of 
CWI is to conduct pioneering research in mathematics and computer 
science, generating new knowledge in these fields and conveying it to 
trade, industry, and society at large.

CWI is an internationally oriented institute, with 160 scientists from 
approximately 27 countries. The facilities are first-rate and include 
excellent IT support, career planning, training, and courses.
CWI is located at Science Park Amsterdam, the home of AMS-IX, that is 
presently developing into a major location of research in the physical 
sciences in The Netherlands, housing the sciences of the University of 
Amsterdam as well as several other national research institutes next to CWI.

Research group
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To find more information about the group, please visit the group page 
https://www.cwi.nl/research/groups/intelligent-autonomous-systems and 
watch their video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjmPrN5iWw0