Doctoral Studentship: Artificial Intelligence Technologies at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job:

The CSIR has a Doctoral Studentship opportunity in the Emerging Digital Technologies for Fourth Industrial Revolution (EDT4IR) Research Centre, within the Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions Cluster. The Doctoral student needs to conduct original research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by demonstrating theoretical and application aspects of AI techniques. This opportunity is based in Pretoria.

Research areas:

Possible research areas include (but not limited to):

• General Artificial intelligence;

• Large-scale Machine Learning/Deep Learning;

• Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality;

• Artificial Intelligence responsible deployment.

Key responsibilities:

• Preparing research proposal to be approved by both the CSIR and the university;

• Preparing a written literature overview of the current state-of-the-art around the research topic;

• Performing original research to solve the open research problem that the student identified in his/her proposal;

• Producing sufficient quantity and quality of peer-reviewed publications around this research topic;

• Compiling the doctoral thesis and defending the work successfully;

• Contribute to extra activities that may outside the scope of the doctoral research as per the needs of the research group. The amount of such work shall be limited to 20% of the total time.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Master’s degree in computer science/engineering, electronic engineering, or any information technology related fields;

• The ability to generate research questions and hypotheses: Review, critique and synthesize a body of research, identifying significant gaps in knowledge, methods, and study subjects to develop research questions and testable hypotheses;

• Effectively communicate issues, research findings and implications of research verbally and in writing to appropriate professional and public audiences;

• Enthusiastic and self-motivated individuals who take ownership and initiative and have the willingness to learn;

• The ability to work well under pressure as part of a team as well as independently;

• Good knowledge of digital ledger technologies;

• A good peer-reviewed publication record will be advantageous.

Applicants must attach the following documents:

• An abstract of research statement/philosophy (maximum two pages) that highlights the problem statement, research questions, research objectives and expected outputs/outcomes/impact of the research;

• Certified copies of the applicant’s latest academic results or transcript;

• Certified copies of tertiary qualifications;

• Curriculum vitae;

• If applicable, proof of registration from university or confirmation letter from university supervisor that he is willing to involve in the candidate supervision.