Post-Doctoral Research Visit F/M Bandits and adaptive testing with scarce data
Contract type : Fixed-term contract
Level of qualifications required : PhD or equivalent
Fonction : Post-Doctoral Research Visit
About the research centre or Inria department
The Inria University of Lille centre, created in 2008, employs 360 people including 305 scientists in 15 research teams. Recognised for its strong involvement in the socio-economic development of the Hauts-De-France region, the Inria University of Lille centre pursues a close relationship with large companies and SMEs. By promoting synergies between researchers and industrialists, Inria participates in the transfer of skills and expertise in digital technologies and provides access to the best European and international research for the benefit of innovation and companies, particularly in the region.For more than 10 years, the Inria University of Lille centre has been located at the heart of Lille's university and scientific ecosystem, as well as at the heart of Frenchtech, with a technology showroom based on Avenue de Bretagne in Lille, on the EuraTechnologies site of economic excellence dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICT)
Assignment
The goal of the project is to design and study bandit algorithms for testing problems with scarce data, as part of the FATE ANR project https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-22-CE23-0016 .
Testing is the process of gathering observations about an unknown system (for example a new drug and a placebo) in order to answer a question (e.g. which treatment is more efficient). Good testing protocols are such that the test can be stopped after few observations, while obtaining a correct answer with high probability.
In applications where a large number of observations is available, like online advertising, algorithms that can adaptively change their future gathering of observations based on previously obtained information (called bandit algorithms) can be shown to stop as early as possible. In particular, they stop faster than non-adaptive algorithms.
However the guarantees on the stopping time of these methods are insufficient for applications in which the number of observations available is small, like clinical trials. Nonetheless, experimental evaluation of bandit algorithms show promising performance in that case.
The main goal of this Post-Doc project is to adapt bandit algorithms to the regime where observations are scarce and to prove that they allow faster testing than less adaptive protocols.
Main activities
- Review and follow the existing literature on bandit identification and adaptive testing.
- Theoretically and empirically study the performance of existing bandit algorithms in testing tasks with scarce data.
- Propose new testing methods and provide theoretical and experimental evaluations of their merits.
- Publish and present results in top machine learning conferences and journals.
Skills
A good candidate will have the following skills:
- A strong background in theoretical machine learning and statistics
- A good command of English
- Experience with implementation and experimentation
- A good knowledge of bandits algorithms or statistical hypothesis testing
Benefits package
- Subsidized meals
- Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
- Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
- Possibility of teleworking and flexible organization of working hours
- Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
- Social, cultural and sports events and activities
- Access to vocational training
- Social security coverage
General Information
- Theme/Domain : Optimization, machine learning and statistical methods
- Town/city : Villeneuve d'Ascq
- Inria Center : Centre Inria de l'Université de Lille
- Starting date : 2025-05-01
- Duration of contract : 1 year, 6 months
- Deadline to apply : 2025-02-28
Warning : you must enter your e-mail address in order to save your application to Inria. Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website. Processing of applications sent from other channels is not guaranteed.
Instruction to apply
Defence Security :
This position is likely to be situated in a restricted area (ZRR), as defined in Decree No. 2011-1425 relating to the protection of national scientific and technical potential (PPST).Authorisation to enter an area is granted by the director of the unit, following a favourable Ministerial decision, as defined in the decree of 3 July 2012 relating to the PPST. An unfavourable Ministerial decision in respect of a position situated in a ZRR would result in the cancellation of the appointment.
Recruitment Policy :
As part of its diversity policy, all Inria positions are accessible to people with disabilities.
Contacts
- Inria Team : SCOOL
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Recruiter :
Degenne Remy / remy.degenne@inria.fr
About Inria
Inria is the French national research institute dedicated to digital science and technology. It employs 2,600 people. Its 200 agile project teams, generally run jointly with academic partners, include more than 3,500 scientists and engineers working to meet the challenges of digital technology, often at the interface with other disciplines. The Institute also employs numerous talents in over forty different professions. 900 research support staff contribute to the preparation and development of scientific and entrepreneurial projects that have a worldwide impact.