The Postdoc-NeT-AI Tour 11/2020

What is the Postdoc-NeT-AI?

Twice a year we select a group of outstanding international postdoctoral researchers to visit the German hotspots in artificial intelligence. The visits cover a wide range of research fields and applications. They provide our guests both with a general overview of the German Science System and a deeper insight into the current research as well as the funding and career opportunities in specific research areas in German academia and industry.

In these challenging times, where the Covid-19 crisis impacts both our private and professional lives we are all confronted with high uncertainty. Therefore, we want to highlight, that we are looking forward to your application no matter where you are applying from. We will do our best to support the participation of all qualified candidates either in the current or, if not possible, in an upcoming tour.

Receive first-hand information by meeting top scientists during on-site visits to
- universities;
- research institutes;
- private companies.
Obtain insight into top notch research projects
- for details, check the detailed schedule for the next and for earlier tours (soon ).
Enjoy face-to-face discussions with experts to find out more about
- the German research system;
- German industry;
- funding opportunities;
- the job markets and the employers’ perspective;
- application procedures for jobs and funding.
Benefit from numerous networking opportunities with
- representatives from industry and academia;
- the other tour participants.
You should have
- an outstanding scientific track record with a focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning (preferably connected to one of the research areas of the current guest institutions);
- obtained a PhD/doctorate before the travel but no longer than 5 years ago (exceptions can only be made if justified by outstanding achievements);
- not been living in Germany or affiliated with a German institution within the previous 12 months;
- exhibited drive and determination, initiative and a willingness to play a role in shaping the future.
- a hands-on, practical, and rich program to suit the requirements of different participants;
- coverage of all programme-related costs in Germany (accommodation, domestic travel, meals);
- a lump sum travel allowance (for travel to Germany based on your country of origin) if such costs are not covered by a third party. This will also be provided if the stay is extended by up to five working days in order to allow for additional professional networking.

The Postdoctoral Networking Tour in Artificial Intelligence, 22 - 28 November 2020

During the upcoming Postdoc-NeT-AI in November we will visit AI research hotspots in southern Germany. Here, leading Universities und public research institutions in AI are clustered together with world industrial leaders with a long tradition of innovation in technology, creating a unique breeding environment for new paths in basic research and new innovative applications in AI. Our hosts will span various actors from the different fields like the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence or the Technical University of Munich covering research areas from robustness and explainability, health and medicine, data privacy and transparency, mobility and autonomous driving to remote sensing, natural language processing, computer vision and graphics, and robotics. As participant you will not only get to know the work of the research teams and take part in exclusive tours of the research laboratories and venues. You will also be able to present and discuss your own work in interactive academic formats and a unique intimate and engaging setting.

Cyber Valley is Europe’s largest research consortium in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), with partners from science and industry. The founding academic partners were the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Universities of Stuttgart and Tübingen. As a result of the initiative, a thriving ecosystem has grown that promotes lively exchange between science and industry. This ecosystem has further strengthened southwestern Germany’s position as a global leader in the field of modern AI.

Visit their website at cyber-valley.de.

The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems is a publicly funded research institute that has attracted world-class scientists from around the globe. Thanks to secure budgets, scientists at MPI-IS enjoy exceptional research conditions that give them complete freedom to focus on outstanding basic research. This freedom allows scientists to explore the scientific foundations of perception, action, and learning through interdisciplinary and collaborative research across scales and systems. In turn, this enables them to drive their research forward and lay the foundations for a successful scientific career.

Participants will gain insights into the institute’s research at the main campus in Tübingen. They will also have an opportunity to present their own work to MPI-IS researchers and the other participants.

Visit their website at is.mpg.de.

The University of Tübingen is one of eleven universities judged excellent under the German government’s Excellence Initiative. Tübingen is one of the world’s foremost locations for neuroscientific research.

The Tübingen AI Center is a joint project of the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. It is one of the six Competence Centers for AI and Machine Learning funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Its goal is to build robust learning systems that approach the robustness of natural intelligence as evident in biological systems, and to ensure that AI benefits the society.

Visit their website at tuebingen.ai.

The mission of the Cluster of Excellence – Machine Learning in Science is to enable machine learning algorithms to take a central role in all aspects of scientific discovery and to understand how such a transformation will impact the scientific approach as a whole.

Visit their website here.

The University of Stuttgart is one of the leading technically oriented universities in Germany and pursues the vision of “Intelligent systems for a sustainable society”. The university defines itself as a hub between research in academia and industry.

The Excellence Cluster Data-integrated Simulation Science - SimTech develops simulation technology into an integrative systems science (on the Web here and here).

The Excellence Cluster Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture - IntCDC harnesses digital technologies with the goal of enabling game-changing innovation in the building sector (on the Web here and here).

As world leading automotive supplier, Bosch has a long and strong tradition of basic and applied research. Since 2017 the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI) uses data from various business divisions, the BCAI conducts cutting-edge research that focuses on safe, secure, robust, and explainable AI to create new products and services for their customers spanning from autonomous cars and robotics to smart homes

At the BCAI the Participants will discuss ongoing research topics and projects, engage in an interactive poster session and finally visit the Bosch Renningen Research Campus and Laboratories, learning more about the company and its research activities.

The Chair of Embedded Intelligence for Health Care and Wellbeing at the University of Augsburg carries out research at the intersection of modern computer science and medicine, in the field of computationally intelligent ubiquitous sensing for the monitoring of health-related activity, vital parameters, wellbeing and contextual factors.

Held by Prof. Björn Schuller, the chair is a young and ambitious team whose research interests span the capture, analysis and modelling of biosignals, speech and non-verbal acoustic signals, and visual signals such as facial expressions, in everday life for mHealth and affective computing applications.

Visit their website here.

The Earth Observation Center is part of the German Aerospace Center (DRL) and conducts AI research in the field of earth observation, aiming to reach the increasing demand for high quality geoinformation in fields like geosciences, environmental sciences, sustainable development, civil security or disaster control.

During the visit participants will not only get to know the research of the Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF), but also visit the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) for satellite and human spaceflight missions.

Visit their website here and here.

The Siemens AG has been active in data analytics and AI for more than 30 years. In 2017 the Siemens AI Lab was founded in Munich, focusing in applied AI research and, together with the Machine Intelligence Research Group, it creates an open and interdisciplinary research environment at the interface between research and development.

Participants will have the chance to present and discuss their work and learn about forms of collaborations and the current research of Siemens in the fields of ML, simulation and digital twins, and autonomous robotics.

Since August 2018, leading researchers from the two Munich universities LMU and TUM have formed the Munich Center for Machine Learning (MCML). The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the 18 teams from the fields of data science, computer science and statistics of the MCML as one of four nationwide competence centers for machine learning and artificial intelligence. The aim of the center is to advance basic research in the field of machine learning with close links to practical applications.

The aim of the centre is to advance basic research in the field of machine learning with close links to practical applications. The main research topics range from models and algorithms as a basis for AI (Explainable AI, Model Selection, Auto-ML, as well as Unsupervised Learning, Representation Learning for complex data such as multimedia, graphs and networks) to challenges of Human-Centered AI, such as Computer Vision, NLP, interactive Data Mining and Visual Analytics.

Visit their website at mcml.ai.

The Helmholtz Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Unit (Helmholtz AI) is a Helmholtz-wide network for applied AI. Through its 6 units, Helmholtz AI brings together scientists from all Helmholtz centers, provides support in their needs and thereby fosters transdisciplinary and ground-breaking research, effectively combining AI-based analytics with Helmholtz' unique research questions and datasets.

Visit their website helmholtz.ai.

The Institute of Computational Biology at the Helmholtz Zentrum München develops models and methods for data analysis in systems biology and systems medicine developing data methods in data sciences, dynamical modeling, integrative omics and, bioimage informatics and applying them to advance the understanding and treatment of human diseases.

Visit their website here.

The Visual Computing Group at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) works on pushing the state of the art at the intersection of computer vision, computer graphics, and machine learning, ultimately aiming to achieve both 3D and 4D recordings from monocular sensors - essentially, to record holograms with a simple webcam or mobile phone.

Participants will be able to discuss their recent work and visit the lab at the research campus inside the TUM Faculty of Computer Science.

Visit their website at niessnerlab.org.

Please note:

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions might apply. If the participation of a successful candidate is prevented by persisting restrictions tied to the Covid-19 pandemic, acceptance and funding eligibility can be transferred to a subsequent tour.
Further, in dealing with highly sensitive research areas additional restrictions addressing the risk of industrial espionage and dual use issues might apply.

If you have any questions or want to stay informed about the development of the Postdoc-NeT-AI project, please contact us .

What is the Postdoc-NeT-AI?

What you can expect

What we expect from you

What we provide

The Postdoctoral Networking Tour in Artificial Intelligence, 22 - 28 November 2020

The guest institutions

The program