Research Associate

Grade UE07: £39,347 - £46,974 Per Annum.

College of Science and Engineering, School of Informatics      

Fixed Term Contract - Available from 1st September 2024 and ends 31st August 2026.

Full Time - 35 Hours Per Week.

The School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh invites applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate as RD&I Fellow in the area of generative AI for enhancing the creative industrial (e.g., games and films) workflows.

The Opportunity:

The post is full-time (35 hours per week) and fixed term for 2 years. It is possible to extend as per performance and further discussion.

The successful candidate will be supervised by Dr. Changjian Li and Dr. Laura Sevilla-Lara (with a dotted line to Prof. Melissa Terras). In collaboration with other researchers at Abertay University, the team will study generative AI methods to design new machine learning systems to enhance the current workflows of the creative industry, from content creation (2D and 3D), exploration to use (animation, simulation). The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to work with world-leading industry partners in gaming, animation and film sectors by discovering new research topics, developing thoughtful integration of generative AI into virtual production and performance pipelines, and accessing real industrial data as a unique advantage.

About the CoSTAR Realtime Lab:

The CoSTAR Realtime Lab will bring together video games development expertise in Dundee’s globally significant InGAME cluster with world-leading applied research and development (R&D) at Abertay, with the University of Edinburgh’s expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

The Realtime Lab will place R&D side-by-side with live commercial production, offering routes to commercialization and markets beyond most small and medium business (SME) networks. It will facilitate industry sector engagement, catalyzing innovation in:

• performance and motion capture
• virtual humans and dynamic procedural performance
• machine learning for production and artificial intelligence for process reproduction
• artificial intelligence for dynamic effects and procedural graphics for visual effects
• advanced scanning technologies for 3D volume acquisition and ML/AI for procedural environment generation
• developing lighting and ray tracing standards to deliver environmental fidelity
• location-based software and hardware integration
• integrated virtual and real-world film and TV production.

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• Ph.D. degree (or nearing completion) (Desirable)
• A strong background in computer graphics and 3D vision, and research expertise in generative AI, e.g., diffusion models, and radiance fields
• Publications at top venues in CG, CV or/and ML (e.g., SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAH Asia, TOG, Eurograhics, CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, ...)
• Strong programming skills (e.g., Python, C++) (Desirable)
• Experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) (Desirable)
• Strong communication, presentation, and writing skills, and excellent command of English
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, to meet deadlines and to report on project progress.

Click to view a copy of the full job description (opens new browser tab)

To apply please include:

• a cover letter (describing how past experience and future plans fit with the advertised position)
• complete CV, including list of publications
• the names and email addresses of two referees.

Contact details for enquiries: Dr Changjian Li, Changjian.li@ed.ac.uk (https://enigma-li.github.io/ ).

As a valued member of our team you can expect:

• A competitive salary of £39,347 - £46,974 Per Annum.  
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. 
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits 

Championing equality, diversity and inclusion

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality. 

Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab)

Key dates to note

The closing date for applications is 24 July 2024.

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone. 

The University is able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role.  If successful, an international applicant requiring sponsorship to work in the UK will need to satisfy the UK Home Office’s English Language requirements and apply for and secure a Skilled Worker Visa.  

As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.