PhD Position Optimal Exploration of Networks

When fighting crime, it is crucial to be able to forecast how actors are going to respond to actions. Whether the police acts on information captured, or intervenes in e.g. a money laundering or drugs chain, any action will provoke an uncertain reaction. As a PhD candidate at TU Delft, you will bridge fundamental research and police practice. To enhance the predictive models used by the police, you will harness reinforcement learning to optimise the exploration of networks. Would you like to see your research applied in the real-world security domain?
The police use multiple models to enhance their effectiveness. Yet the data, represented as interconnected networks of nodes, are limited, while the potential response to disruptions is volatile. You will develop algorithms to identify and prioritise the uncertainties in networks, assess the risks of interventions, and predict the actors’ response to disruptions. And you will use simulations to test your enhanced models. You will, of course, be writing scientific articles and speaking at leading AI conferences. In this 5-year project you will spend 20% of your time at the Netherlands police force. Working closely with police experts, you will benefit from their experience, expertise and in-depth insights.
Your project is part of the Model-Driven Decisions (MoDD) Lab, a Police-TU Delft initiative. At the MoDD Lab, you will join an interdisciplinary community of four fellow PhD students. Together, you will share knowledge to tackle model-based decision-making from different perspectives. At TU Delft, you will join the driven and internationally diverse team of some 20 academic staff, PhD students and postdocs of the Sequential Decision Making section. We share the ambition to be the world’s top scientists in the field of AI and machine learning, and encourage you to spar with us. Fostering a welcoming and collaborative atmosphere, we will give you all the support you need to grow your career as a researcher.
Learn more about your project at the Model-Driven Decisions Lab

Requirements:

• You hold an MSc in computer science, mathematics, artificial intelligence, physics or another relevant subject.
• You have experience and knowledge of AI and machine learning. A quick learner, you have a keen interest in uncertainty modelling, probability theory and statistics.
• You thrive on conducting research geared to real-world application in the security domain and are intrinsically motivated to collaborate with the Netherlands Police.
• You harness your communication skills to work with different scientific and non-scientific stakeholders in different work cultures.
• You have a good command of written and spoken English, as you will be working in an international environment. Since you will be working with the Netherlands police, it is an advantage if you also have a good command of the Dutch language.

Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis. For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.

Salary Benefits:

Pending the screening result, a temporary employment contract as a researcher can be offered for up to 4 months, if requested by the candidate. This contract will be converted to a PhD contract upon a positive screening result. 
Doctoral candidates will be offered a 5-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of two employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 3,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met. The additional fifth year (compared to a standard 4 year PhD program) accommodates for the extra activities to get to know the police organisation and to secure the results in the police organisation.
Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2770 per month in the first year to € 3539 in the fourth year. In the 5th year, you will receive a temporary monthly allowance based on the gross difference between salary scale P, step 3 and salary scale 10, step 3.
As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.
For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

36 - 40 hours per week

Mekelweg 2