Marie Sklodowska - Curie Doctoral Researcher in Privacy in Embedded AI

Location: Whiteknights Reading UK

Employment type: AR-Research

Division: Computer Science

Hours Per Week: 1.0

Employment Basis/Type: Full-time, fixed-term (3 years)

Job Summary

This post is a Doctoral Researcher in Embedded AI Privacy for three years as part of the ANT Doctoral Network (https://ant-dn.eu/). You will investigate the privacy threats and preserving techniques along the Embedded AI pipeline. You will first conduct a comprehensive analysis of privacy vulnerabilities in state-of-the-art embedded AI models and systems, and develop a deep understanding of the underlying model- and system-level causes for privacy leakage. Based on the vulnerability analysis, you will further design effective and lightweight privacy-preserving solutions under resource constraints on embedded devices. You will also propose a privacy-by-design framework to ensure that privacy protection is fully integrated into the Embedded AI system development pipeline. You will have opportunities to develop these skills at our state-of-art facilities at Reading, but also through secondments (7 months total) with Delft University of Technology, Netherlands to develop lightweight privacy-preserving and security-enhancing methods for Embedded AI, and with Philips in Netherlands to integrate privacy-by-design framework into mobile healthcare applications. You will also work closely with the other 17 Doctoral Researchers within the ANT project and there will be opportunities to present your work at national and international conferences.

The ANT Project

ANT is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network titled ‘ANT: Embedded AI Systems and Applications’. It is funded under the Horizon-MSCA-DN-2023 programme. This project brings together Principal Investigators and collaborators from 22 academic and industry partners from across Europe and the UK. ANT will train 18 Doctoral Researchers and implement an innovative and interdisciplinary research and training programme aimed at addressing the fundamental challenges of Embedded AI and accelerating the development of Embedded AI systems and applications. The ANT doctoral candidates will design high performance distributed Embedded AI algorithms and systems under stringent resource constraints as well as adaptivity, scalability, robustness, privacy, security and explainability requirements. The scientific innovations will be transferred into 4 high-impact applications for autonomous robotics, underwater IoT, mobile healthcare and smart farming.

Eligibility

• The PhD Researcher must be an ‘early-stage researcher’, i.e., at the time of recruitment have not already been awarded a doctoral degree.
• The PhD Researcher is required to undertake physical, transnational mobility (i.e. move from one country to another) to take up this appointment.
• The PhD Researcher must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the UK for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to their recruitment. Compulsory national service and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

Qualifications and skills

• At least a 2.1 grade (or equivalent) in an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in computer science, electrical engineering, telecommunication engineering, applied mathematics, or relevant subjects.
• Proficient in at least one or two of the following skills: machine learning/deep learning, cyber security, embedded systems, data science.
• Good communication skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

The deadline for applications is 11/04/2025.

Interview date is TBC

Contact details for advert

Contact Name: Dr Xiaomin Chen
Contact Job Title: Associate Professor
Contact Email address: xiaomin.chen@reading.ac.uk

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