Internship
Bayesian preference learning
The Machine Learning for Services (MLS) team at Xerox Research Centre Europe is looking for an intern at the MSc or PhD candidate level in the area of preference learning.
Preference learning has drawn considerable attention in recent years due to its importance in web applications and electronic commerce. Its goal is to predict the likes and dislikes of individuals (or groups of individuals) based on preference about items or alternatives expressed in the past. Preference learning is closely related to discrete choice models from econometrics and psychology, and it is a basic building block of modern recommender systems, which have been popularised by the Netflix challenge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize). However, preference learning is typically based on pair-wise or group-wise comparisons, rather than on conventional ratings.
The goal of this internship is to investigate large scale preference learning models and/or pro-active approaches to preference learning. In particular, Bayesian models will be considered (http://mlg.eng.cam.ac.uk/zoubin/bayesian.html). Adopting a Bayesian is attractive in practice as it deals with the various sources of uncertainty (e.g. noise) in a principled way.
The new developed models will be compared to several state-of-the-art techniques, such as probabilistic collaborative filtering. Depending on the interests of the intern the models will be applied to problems relevant to Xerox, such as ranking, transportation (e.g. the choice of the transportation mode) or healthcare (e.g. choice of what to be charged to health insurance).
The successful candidate will be part of the Service Innovation Lab (SIL).This internship is in collaboration with Francois Caron (ALEA team, INRIA Bordeaux- Sud Ouest). The starting date is flexible, but should not be later than July 2012.
Requirements
Applicants will have to demonstrate their capacity to learn new mathematical concepts. They will develop and implement state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms. They should be proficient in one or several programming languages such as in Matlab, Python, Java or C++. A strong background in computational statistics and/or machine learning is preferred. Please include in your CV at least two referees we can contact for letters of recommendation.
Application deadline: January 2012. Applications will be considered until the position is filled.
For further details, please contact Cedric Archambeau (cedric.archambeau@xerox.com) or Shengbo Guo (shengbo.guo@xerox.com).
Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE) is a young, dynamic research organization, which creates innovative technologies to support growth in Xerox business process outsourcing and document management services businesses.
Our domains of research stretch from the social sciences to computer science. We have renowned expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, ethnography and services computing.
XRCE is part of the Xerox Innovation group made up of 800 researchers and engineers in four world-renowned research and technology centres. Xerox and XRCE is an equal opportunity employer.
The "Charte de la diversité”, adopted by Xerox, proves our engagement in favour of cultural, ethnic and social diversity. Our main building is compliant with the AGEFIPH standards for disabled access.
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