About us
The Department of Mathematics at King's College London is a leading centre for mathematics research in the UK. Our aim is to foster a vibrant and innovative environment to explore new ways of looking at familiar issues and deliver new tools to solve complex problems. The post holder will be working in a newly established Mathematical Data Science group.
Our researchers work in interdisciplinary research collaborations within King's including with computer scientists, physicists and researchers in health sciences and medicine. They also work externally with industrial partners such as EDF research, the Pensions Policy Institute and Unilever, as well as with the Francis Crick Institute.
About the role
The AUTOMATA project aims to transform the process of documenting and classifying archaeological finds by enabling low-cost and time-efficient digitisation. You will work on developing AI tools for automated classification of archaeological artefacts and information discovery based on all data (images, shapes, and archaeometry data), and capable of detecting new classes through continual learning from human feedback.
To this purpose, you will work on developing classifiers, including deep neural networks, for the analysis and classification of archaeological artefacts using various data types (images, shapes, archaeometry). Where real-world data are insufficient for training, you will use simulated data and digital twinning to supplement them. In order to make the results of the machine intelligible to non-AI-expert humans, and to prompt effective feedback from domain experts for continual learning capabilities, you will explore and integrate XAI elements in the model structures.
A data-driven AI model, especially one working with varied inputs such as archaeological data, is inevitably going to make mistakes. To mitigate the impact of these, and to increase the dependability and utility of these results to human users, you will work to incorporate rigorous error correctors (or any other appropriate mechanisms) in the system.
Using features developed in the above approaches, as well as original data, you will develop and use unsupervised learning for knowledge discovery by identifying clusters and low-dimensional structures.
All these tools need to be developed in close coordination with archaeologists and domain experts, for whom the results need to be intelligible, usable and trustworthy. You will therefore liaise with archaeological partners within and potentially outside the AUTOMATA project, explaining the results and incorporating their feedback into the design process.
This is a part-time post (20 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed-term contract until 28 of February 2029.
About you
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
1. PhD qualified in mathematics or computer science with significant archaeological research component around ceramics, or alternatively PhD in archaeology with appropriate mathematical or computational component
2. Demonstrated expertise at the intersection between machine learning and archaeological data classification
3. Demonstrated affinity with both computer science/mathematics and archaeology
4. Strong record in research and publication (relative to career stage and research field)
5. Ability to critically evaluate published literature, including at the intersection of archaeology and machine learning
6. Analytical and technical/scientific problem-solving capabilities
7. Excellent communication skills
Desirable criteria
1. Experience with data simulation, explainable AI, and automatic error correction
2. Demonstrated affinity with interdisciplinary communication between mathematicians, computer scientists and archaeologists
3. Experience of engagement and working in interdisciplinary research projects around the computational analysis of ceramics using AI
4. Experience with archaeological data management
Further Information
We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.
We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our 'How we Recruit' pages.
Interviews are due to be held on Monday the 9th of December.
We are able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK. #J-18808-Ljbffr