Postdoctoral researcher in Speech Recognition and Language Modelling

The speech recognition group at Aalto University, Finland, focuses on new machine learning methods in automatic speech recognition (ASR) and language modelling. The group started to develop state-of-the-art unlimited vocabulary ASR systems already in the 1980's and 90’s led by Academician Prof. Kohonen. Since 2000 led by Prof. Mikko Kurimo, the group has done pioneering work in unlimited vocabulary language modelling using unsupervised subword units. One of the top achievements is winning the 3rd Multi-Genre Broadcast ASR challenge, where the top research groups in the field were challenged to build a recognizer for an under-resourced language using machine learning methods. The group has also won several ComParE paralinguistics challenges in 2022 and 2023. Recently, the group prepared and released two new large-scale open speech datasets for training and benchmarking ASR systems: nearly 4000 hrs of transcribed audiovisual data on Parliament sessions 2008-2020 and another nearly 4000 hrs of spontaneous speech from over 250 000 voluntary donations by Finnish speakers: https://www.kielipankki.fi/donate-speech/ and https://www.kielipankki.fi/corpora/fi-parliament-asr/

The speech recognition group led by Prof. Kurimo consists of 2 research fellows, a postdoc and 8 PhD students that bring together expertise from speech and language processing, deep learning and toolkits such as Kaldi, PyTorch and SpeechBrain. We are working on a wide variety of topics, ranging from core ASR and LLMs to their applications. We operate in a well-connected academic environment using excellent GPU and CPU computing facilities (including access to Europe’s fastest supercomputer LUMI) and have well equipped office space at Aalto University Otaniemi campus that is only 10 minutes subway connection away from downtown Helsinki.

We are now looking for a postdoc for 1-3 years to start in early 2024 on any of these projects:

- large-scale ASR for Finnish based on a combination of self-supervised pre-training for transformers, supervised fine-tuning with up to 5000 hours of transcribed speech data on general topics and fine-tuning with a small amount task-specific speech data and language models

- multimodal ASR using various forms of attention to speech, audio and video

- ASR for games in second language learning and assessment

The position requires a relevant doctoral degree in CS or EE, skills for doing excellent research in an (English-speaking) group, and outstanding research experience in at least one of the research themes and programming at one of the toolkits mentioned above. The candidate is expected to perform high-quality research and participate in the supervision of talented MSc and PhD students. The application, CV, list of publications, references and requests for further information should be sent by email to Prof. Mikko Kurimo (mikko.kurimo at aalto.fi). The DL for applications is January 31, but I will process the applications as soon as they come, and may recruit before the DL.

Aalto University is a new university created in 2010 from the merger of the Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics and the University of Art and Design Helsinki. The University’s cornerstones are its strengths in education and research, with 20,000 basic degree and graduate students. In addition to a decent salary, the contract includes occupational health benefits, and Finland has a comprehensive social security system. The Helsinki Metropolitan area forms a world-class information technology hub, attracting leading scientists and researchers in various fields of ICT and related disciplines. Moreover, as the birthplace of Linux, and the home base of Nokia Bell Labs, F-Secure, Rovio, Supercell, Slush (the biggest annual startup event in Europe) and numerous other technologies and innovations, Helsinki is fast becoming one of the leading technology startup hubs in Europe. See more e.g. at http://www.investinfinland.fi/. As a living and working environment, Finland consistently ranks high in quality of life, and Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is regularly ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world. See more at https://finland.fi