Funding reference
Progetto Bandiera PNC-A.1.3 “Digitalizzazione della Pubblica Amministrazione della Provincia Autonoma di Trento” – Ambito 1 – “AI data: Intelligenza artificiale nel sistema della PA”, CUP C49G22001020001
Within Piano Nazionale Complementare al PNRR (PNC) initiative FBK is looking for a research position in the field of Italian Language Models for dialogical interaction in the Public Administration
FBK is a research institution devoted to excellence in research in numerous disciplines and designated to the role of keeping the Autonomous Province of Trento in the mainstream of European and international research. Each research area is assigned to a specific research Center, of which there are eleven totals. Information regarding the research Centers, their activities and production are available at http://www.fbk.eu/research-centers.
FBK is internationally renowned for its research on Artificial Intelligence (AI), thanks to its 30+ years of experience in this field and its contributions in artificial vision, language processing, speech, machine learning, predictive models, automated planning and acting, knowledge representation, formal methods, and intelligent user interfaces.
In the scope of the regional Flagship Project on the "PNC-A.1.3 - Digitalization of the Public Administration of the Autonomous Province of Trento", FBK is leading the activity on “AI Data: Artificial Intelligence in the Public Administration System” (hereafter: PNC-A.1.3 - Prog. Bandiera - AIxPA). The goal is to define and validate a solution able to address in a systematic way the needs of AI by the Public Administration. The project requires to identify and further develop AI methods and techniques, including innovative ones, to integrate them into an AI software platform, and to experiment this solution on relevant use cases identified with the Autonomous Province of Trento.
Workplace Description
The Digital Society Center of FBK (https://digis.fbk.eu/) embraces the vision that digital technology has a pervasive impact on our lives and is reshaping our society. The challenge is to ensure that digital technology becomes a stepping stone to create a more sustainable, inclusive and secure society. In the Digital Society Center, this goal is achieved both by performing advanced research in key areas such as AI, Big Data, IoT, 5G, and by exploiting living labs and partnerships with companies to experiment innovative solutions able to meet key societal challenges. The center is composed by a multidisciplinary team of more than 100 researchers, technologists and managers (including PhD students) organized in 13 research units dedicated to specific research areas in the ICT domain and 2 support units focusing on project management and technology maturation. The Digital Society Center has a vast experience in collaborative research, currently participating in more than 40 European and national projects and coordinating 5 of them.
The research unit LanD (Language and Dialogue Technologies) of the Digital Society Center work on Natural Language Processing for areas such as dialogue, document classification and AI for social good (e.g. hate speech countering and fighting misinformation). It has experience both in developing language models for language generation and text classification. More information is available at https://land.fbk.eu/.
Background information and description of research projects
This position is offered within regional Flagship Project PNC-A.1.3 - Prog. Bandiera - AIxPA. In particular, the activities of the project will aim to investigate technologies for the development of an advanced interaction pipeline based on textual inputs. The main functionality of the system will be the possibility to quickly adapt the interaction domain. The task will focus on the development of Language models in Italian for understanding and generating text within dialogical interactions for the public administration, with the specific aim of navigating information stored in documents or structured DBs.
Job Description
FBK is looking for one researcher in the field of Natural Language Processing for the Language and Dialog Technologies (LanD) Unit of the DigiS center. The candidate will be asked to advance state-of-the-art research in the field of Italian Language Models (LMs) for dialogical interactions and information extraction, with particular emphasis on data collection and the development of neural LMs, specific for the management of dialogues in Italian (understanding and generation), starting from a single state of the art architecture already used for other languages. These LMs will have the function of interfacing natural language with information stored in documents or structured DBs.
The main activities for the role will be:
● Research, design and development of AI-based solutions, datasets and tools that exploit hybrid techniques (e.g., data-driven LMs combined with knowledge-based extractive approaches);
● Disseminate the research achievements via publications in the major journals and conferences in the AI and computational linguistics sectors.
The candidate will have the possibility to work in collaboration with PhD students, other researchers in the LanD and DigiS center, as well as with other partners in the AIxPA project. Additionally they can develop their own specific research directions in accordance with the strategies of the Research Unit and the DigiS Centre. Furthermore, we expect the successful candidate to contribute to maintain a strong role of FBK in the Italian and international targeted research communities.
The activities will be carried out within the scope of PNC-A.1.3 - Prog. Bandiera - AIxPA.
Job requirements
The ideal candidate should have:
- Master Degree in areas related to Computer Science or Computational Linguistics
- PhD Degree in areas related to Computer Science or Computational Linguistics or similar disciplines or previous research experience (at least three years) ;
- Good background in NLP, deep learning and the use/training/fine-tuning of Large Language Models;
- Good programming skills;
- Good publication record in one or more of the following fields: NLP, computational linguistics;
- Capability to work in a project-oriented manner, with a strong commitment to achieve the assigned objectives;
- Languages (CEFR): Fluent Italian (C1) and knowledge of English that will be verified during the interview on a technical or scientific topic and must be equal to or exceed level B2. Definitions of levels can be found at the following link https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions;
- Teamwork approach, good communication and relational skills.
Employment
Type of contract: fixed-term contract
Working hours: full-time (38 h per week)
Start date: January 2024
Duration:31/12/2025
Contract type: CCPL Research Foundation Personnel (https://trasparenza.fbk.eu/ita/Personale/Contrattazione-collettiva/Rinnovo-CCPL-delle-Fondazioni) the current gross annual remuneration is from € 36.256,13 to € 41.475,00 depending on the background of the candidate.
Workplace: Povo, Trento (Italy)
Benefits: flexi-time, company subsidized cafeteria or meal vouchers, internal car park, welcome office support for visa formalities and for research in accommodation, supplementary pension (Resaver, Laborfonds) and health fund (Sanifonds), family-work balance, free training courses, support on bank account opening, discount on public transport, sport, language course fees, counseling and psychological support service. More info at https://www.fbk.eu/en/work-with-us/
Application
Interested candidates are requested to submit their application by completing the online form (https://hr.fbk.eu/en/jobs). Please make sure that your application contains the following attachments (in pdf format):
- detailed CV;
- cover letter indicating why the candidate is suitable for this position.
Application deadline: 4th of December 2023
Selection process and assessment criteria
The Evaluating Committee will be appointed by the HR Director at the end of the application deadline.
The recruiting process will be handled in accordance with the “Gender and generational equal opportunities, as well as the employment inclusion of people with disabilities in public contracts financed with the resources of the PNRR and PNC” guidelines and with the Foundation's Gender Equality Plan.
The Committee may compile the short-list of the candidates admitted to the interview, remotely or in presence. The short-list shall be compiled based on the requirements set out in the call (contained in the requirements of the job description), with the support of the screening of CVs and any other required documents.
Candidates with a minimum score will be admitted to the interview phase. Shortlisted candidates must do at least one interview with the Committee.
In case of specific need, the Selection Committee can also meet remotely, by teleconference or videoconference, provided that all members can be identified and that they are able to follow and intervene in the discussion, as well as to receive, transmit and view documents.
During the evaluation step, evaluation support tools such as tests or questionnaires may be used. Furthermore, group tests and/or practical tests may be administered.
Evaluation criteria
The recruitment process will be based on the total points obtained by the evaluation of the qualifications/ expertise and the evaluation of the interview.
A maximum of 40 points will be allocated for qualifications and expertise that the candidate expresses on the resume, while the interview will be worth up to 60 points.
The interview scores will be assigned to candidates by the Commission according to the following criteria: the presentation of their personal research profile; the knowledge about the scientific domain, the experience in working for research projects and the language skills.
Only candidates obtaining at least 25 points in the evaluation of the qualifications and the expertise will be admitted for the interview.
The interview is considered as “passed” if the applicant obtains at least 45 points.
The final score will be used to generate the final suitability list for each job position .
Results of the selection process
All candidates will be notified via email once the selection process has been completed.
The suitability list may be used to fill the position in case the successful candidate doesn’t accept the job offer.
At the website https://jobs.fbk.eu/ in the "Selection results" section, will be published the details of the selection process and the final results.
Diversity & Inclusion policy
FBK actively seeks diversity and promotes inclusion in the workplace. The main aims of the FBK Diversity & Inclusion policy are to:
- promote gender equality across the research domains and on all levels by encouraging qualified female candidates to apply for job positions and by implementing specific improvements and measures as stated in the Gender Equality Plan (GEP)
- foster young talents development by offering opportunities to grow
- become a disability-inclusive organization by encouraging applications from candidates with a disability (Law 68/99). We provide special assistance to applicants during the recruitment procedure and reasonable arrangements for disabled staff
- promote a healthy work-life balance by offering a package of flexible working arrangements and facilities (telework, individual working time, parental leave, etc).
The FBK operates in compliance with current legislation concerning fixed-term contracts. Candidates with disabilities are invited to state whether they belong to the categories referred to in Law 68/99, and to indicate this in the curriculum vita sent in application for recruitment.
Processing of personal data
Pursuant to art. 13 of EU Regulation No. 2016/679 (GDPR), we inform you that your personal data shall be processed for the management of the selection process and of the obligations connected to it, through manual, electronic and informatic means and will be guaranteed within privacy and security standards as indicated in the full privacy policy.
In order to ensure and respect the principles of publicity, transparency and impartiality, the name of the successful candidate and the names of suitable candidates will be published on the FBK website following acceptance of the position.
For further information, please contact the Human Resources Services at jobs@fbk.eu.