The g group seeks two highly motivated PhD students to join an innovative SNSF funded project focused on developing advanced AI models for real-world social behavior understanding.
Project Overview
While current computational attention models have traditionally focused on framing the task as a pure machine learning problem predicting the pixel D gaze target location of a scene person from an image, this project aims to capture the broader phenomenological aspects of where and why people look, integrating gaze with other social cues in natural, dynamic environments.
This contrasts with previous studies which had modeled gaze in tandem with other behavioral cues only in very restricted settings.
Research Objectives
Leveraging cutting-edge deep learning methods, including recent PAU team contributions, the project will analyze complex social interactions in daily scenes. This includes both individual-level cues (gaze target, head gestures, emotions, attentiveness) and interpersonal dynamics (social gaze, group identification, conversational activities) through a unified multimodal, multi-task framework.
Main research areas include:
* Unified deep learning for head, facial, and upper body behavior recognition, including human-object interactions and audio processing;
* Models for attention states and social relations analysis;
* Machine learning strategies such as multi-task learning, unsupervised learning, and distillation to unify the modeling of these social behaviors.
Your Profile
The ideal PhD candidates will hold an MS degree in computer science, engineering, physics, or applied mathematics.
A solid foundation in statistics, linear algebra, signal processing, machine learning, and programming is essential, with mandatory experience in deep learning.
Successful applicants will demonstrate strong analytical abilities and excellent written and oral communication skills.
About Idiap
Idiap is a research institute of national importance that engages in fundamental research, education and technology transfer in artificial intelligence, machine learning and signal processing.
Idiap offers competitive salaries and conditions in a young, high-quality, dynamic, and multicultural environment.
English is the official working language.
Diversity and Inclusion
At Idiap we place great emphasis on diversity and we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation.
We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.