Research Associate – The University of Edinburgh
Grade UE07: £41,064‑£48,822 per annum
College of Science and Engineering, School of Informatics
Fixed Term: 13 months
Full Time: 35 hours per week
Overview
The position is in collaboration with the Huawei Trustworthy Technology and Engineering Laboratory Munich (TTE‑DE). We aim to create a new generation of large language model (LLM) agents that are more reliable, consistent, and trustworthy, evaluated on standard benchmarks for smartphone users. The major aim is to understand where and when current agents fail to reason consistently and augment them with a neuro‑symbolic layer that can fix these reasoning shortcomings without compromising performance and scalability.
Roles & Responsibilities
* Conduct cutting‑edge research in LLM agents with neuro‑symbolic layers, building on our lab’s pioneering research on reliable and trustworthy ML.
* Assist the TTE‑DE team with benchmarking different failure models of foundation models and their safer neuro‑symbolic versions.
* Write scientific papers documenting the proposed methodology.
* Participate in international conferences (travel funded) and access HPC infrastructure.
* Collaborate with researchers and engineers from the TTE‑DE Lab.
Qualifications & Experience
* PhD or near completion in Machine Learning, MLSys, NLP or related areas of computer science / engineering / mathematics.
* Track record of research excellence, evidenced by publications in top‑tier venues.
* Experience in implementation of foundation models / LLMs, evidenced by published papers and projects on GitHub.
* Experience in implementation of neuro‑symbolic systems, evidenced by published papers and projects on GitHub.
Preferred Attributes
* Strong communication skills and ability to work in interdisciplinary teams.
* Proactive and self‑motivated with a passion for advancing trustworthy AI.
Application Information
Please include the following documents in your application:
* CV
* 1‑page cover letter
* 2‑page research statement highlighting how your experience aligns with this position and the work in the April Lab
* List of the 3 most relevant scientific papers and a link to a well‑maintained codebase
Benefits & Work Environment
* Competitive salary
* Creative, diverse and vibrant international community
* Comprehensive staff benefits (holiday entitlement, pension schemes, staff discounts, family‑friendly initiatives)
* Flexible working patterns, part‑time and hybrid working options available
* Visa sponsorship available for suitable candidates
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award and is a member of the Race Equality Charter and Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions.
Candidates must provide evidence of right to work in the UK prior to employment.
International workers may be sponsored depending on the successful applicant.
Closing Date
Applications close on 9 December 2025 (11:59 PM GMT).
Contact
Antonio Vergari – avergari@ed.ac.uk
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