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Professorship in Intelligent Software

KU Leuven has a vacancy at Campus De Nayer for a full-time professor in Intelligent Software, advanced software that combines machine learning and knowledge-based inference. We are looking for internationally oriented candidates with both educational competence and a solid research record in computer science that have extensive expertise in the domain of the vacancy.

The successful applicant will be appointed in the Faculty of Engineering Technology, which offers academic, implementation-oriented engineering programs at six campuses across Flanders. The main teaching duties will be situated at Campus De Nayer, Sint-Katelijne-Waver. This position is an appointment in the Department of Computer Science. The new professor is expected to collaborate with the AI researchers of the EAVISE Group at Campus De Nayer.

The faculty, the department, and the campus can build upon a solid research infrastructure, extensive international networks, connections with companies and non-profit organisations, a stable offer of talented PhD students, and a supportive work environment. As one of the 10 most innovative universities in the world, KU Leuven has been very successful in cooperation with companies as well as the creation of spin-off companies, illustrating the socio-economic relevance of its research. Many of these spin-off companies are technology leaders within their domain, and their products and services are renowned internationally.

RESEARCH

• Successfully developing AI solutions often requires the creation of advanced software that combines machine learning and knowledge-based inference. In real-world applications, it is often paramount to exploit expert knowledge for the task at hand. However, this poses significant challenges with respect to how we can design (learning-based) AI software systems that acquire and exploit this knowledge to the fullest extent possible. Thus, the crucial questions are: how can we (1) allow experts to express complex domain knowledge in a formal yet flexible manner, and (2) design AI approaches such as learning algorithms and reasoning engines that can exploit the provided knowledge?
• The successful candidate will conduct research on how to build software solutions that make AI operational in an industrial context, with a focus on deriving value from the available expert knowledge. Specific topics include for example AI-assisted data and knowledge acquisition and wrangling, knowledge representation, automated inference,   developing novel machine learning approaches that exploit complex domain knowledge, integrating machine learning and formal reasoning.  A crucial component for successfully integrating into the Faculty of Engineering Technology is the ability to develop practical implementations in projects with industrial partners and with strategic research centres such as Flanders Make, and in collaborations with academic end users. Campus De Nayer is particularly well-connected in the manufacturing and automotive industries. A connection with the automotive industry in the research plan is an added value.
• The successful candidate will be a key facilitator of an intensified interfaculty interaction among experts in AI and users of AI technology at the KU Leuven campuses in Sint-Katelijne-Waver and Leuven, reaching out to industrial partners in the region. Through collaborations with experts on other campuses of the faculties of Engineering Technology and Engineering Science he/she will help unlock various types of dedicated know-how (e.g. machine learning, signal processing and data mining, optimization, decision support and operational research, knowledge representation and reasoning, databases, knowledge bases, computer vision, machine listening) as well as expertise in the concrete technological setting of the application. As an active member of the KU Leuven Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Leuven.AI), the successful candidate will help create synergies at the overall institutional level.

TEACHING

• Teaching activities will concern courses in the academic bachelor and master program of the faculty, on topics such as Software Engineering, Operating Systems, Computational Thinking, Object Oriented Software Development, Data structures and algorithms, symbolic AI, statistics and data management, with a clear commitment to the quality of the programme as a whole. All professors are expected to teach a few basic undergraduate courses. You contribute to the faculty's and the university's pedagogical project through the supervision of student projects, such as bachelor's and master's theses, and by acting as a supervisor of PhD students.
• You will develop your teaching in accordance with the KU Leuven vision on activating and research-based education and you will make use of the possibilities for educational professionalization offered by the faculty and the university.

SERVICE

• You maintain close contact with the regional industry, and you act as a key facilitator of AI projects between industrial partners and experts at KU Leuven. You invest in science communication, outreach activities and creating public awareness with respect to AI.
• You are prepared to provide services to the scientific community, to society and to the university.

PROFILE

• You have an MSc and PhD degree in Computer Science or Informatics where the subject of your doctoral thesis relates to the research topic, in particular the exploitation of expert knowledge (on top of data) in an AI context. 
• You have both a strong track record in this research domain, with a strong academic component (publications at top conferences and journals in AI and machine learning), as well as a strong connection with industry and a demonstrated ability to develop software that uses AI to solve real-world problems. You have knowledge of a very broad range of machine learning and knowledge-based reasoning tools and techniques, and extensive experience with applying the right tool to the right problem in industrial application contexts.  You also have a demonstrated capacity to conceive new algorithms where needed . You have a strong academic and industrial network. You have the ambition to contribute to the valorization of research in industry and in society. Additionally, you have the ability to teach core courses in a computer science curriculum.
• You have demonstrable qualities related to academic education, in particular in computer science / informatics and in artificial intelligence. Teaching experience is an advantage.
• You possess organizational skills and have a cooperative attitude. You also possess leadership capacities in a university or industry context.
• A good command of Dutch is required (C1 level or higher), as the main part of your teaching duties is organized in Dutch.

OFFER

• We offer full-time employment in an intellectually challenging environment.
• KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally-oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied scientific research. It has a strong interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary focus and strives for international excellence. In this regard, it collaborates actively with research partners in Belgium and abroad. It provides its students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
• You will be affiliated with KU Leuven De Nayer Campus, in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, next to the historic city of Mechelen. Mechelen has a 15 minutes rail connection to Brussels, capital of the European Union, and about two hours to Paris, London and Amsterdam. Other campuses can also make use of your expertise to provide education.
• Depending on your record and qualifications, you will be appointed to or tenured in one of the grades of the senior academic staff: assistant professor, associate professor, professor or full professor. In principle, junior researchers are appointed as assistant professor on the tenure track for a period of 5 years. At the end of this period and a positive evaluation, they are permanently appointed (or tenured) as associate professor.
• To facilitate scientific integration and research in the first phase, a research position equivalent to a PhD fellowship for 4 years is made available. You can also apply for a start-up grant of EUR 110,000. (offered to new professors, appointed for at least 50%.)
• KU Leuven is well equipped to welcome foreign professors and their family and provides practical support with regard to immigration and administration, housing, childcare, learning Dutch, partner career coaching, etc.

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