Post-Doctoral Position at EURECOM, Sophia Antipolis, France

Title:      Adaptable speech activated robot-interface for the elderly
Department: Multimedia Communications
URL:        http://www.eurecom.fr/mm.en.htm

Start date: Early summer 2010
Duration:   18 months

Description: EURECOM’s Multimedia Communications Department invites applications for a full-time, 18-month post-doctoral position related to a project recently awarded from the EU Ambient Assisted Living joint research and development funding programme.  The Adaptable Ambient LIving ASsistant (ALIAS) project aims to develop a mobile robot system that interacts with elderly users, monitors and provides cognitive assistance in daily life, and promotes social inclusion by creating connections to people and events in the wider world.  One of ALIAS’s goals involves the development of an adaptable speech interface and is to be developed through this research position.  It requires the development of speaker diarization, localization and speech recognition systems in order to identify and track users, in addition to speech synthesis and recognition to communicate and recognize spoken commands.  All of these technologies will be integrated into a dedicated dialogue manager.

Requirements: The successful candidate will have been awarded a PhD degree in a relevant field of speech processing prior to their joining Eurecom.  You will have a strong research track record with significant publications at leading international conferences and/or in journals. Experience of collaborative research and development projects at the European level is desirable.  You will be highly motivated to undertake challenging, applied research and have excellent English language speaking and writing skills.   French language skills are a bonus.

Applications: Please send to the address below (i) a one page statement of research interests and motivation, (ii) your CV and (iii) contact details for two referees (preferably one from your PhD or most recent research supervisor) before 31st May 2010.

Contact:        Dr Nicholas Evans
Postal address: 2229 Route des Crêtes BP 193,
                F-06904 Sophia Antipolis cedex, France
Email address:  nicholas.evans@eurecom.fr
Web address:    http://www.eurecom.fr/main/institute/job.en.htm
Phone:          +33/0 4 93 00 81 14
Fax:            +33/0 4 93 00 82 00

EURECOM is located in Sophia Antipolis, a vibrant science park on the French Riviera. It is in close proximity with a large number of research units of leading multi-national corporations in the telecommunications, semiconductor and biotechnology sectors, as well as other outstanding research and teaching institutions. A freethinking, multinational population and the unique geographic location provide a quality of life without equal.