Summary
The Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) at Universiteit Leiden is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to join its Machine Learning cluster. This role involves an ambitious research project focused on bridging the gap between general-purpose foundation models and expert-level performance in specialized domains where labeled data is scarce. The researcher will collaborate closely with Dr. Hazel Doughty to shape a research program at the intersection of computer vision, machine learning, and foundation models.
Postdoctoral Researcher in Data-Efficient Visual Learning, Leiden Institute, Netherlands
Designation
Postdoctoral Researcher (Academic Staff)
Key Details at a Glance
| Category | Details |
| Vacancy Number | 16728 |
| Job Type | Academic staff |
| Contract Hours | 38 hours/week (Full-time) |
| Salary | €3,546 – €5,538 gross per month (payscale 10) |
| Contract Duration | 1 year initially (extendable by 2 years upon positive evaluation) |
| Faculty/Unit | The Faculty of Science (LIACS) |
| Supervisor/Contact | Dr. Hazel Doughty (h.r.doughty@liacs.leidenuniv.nl) |
| Benefits | 8% Holiday allowance, 8.3% end-of-year bonus, ABP pension scheme, commuting reimbursement, 29+ leave days, laptop, and hybrid work allowance |
Research Area
The project explores how visual foundation models can efficiently adapt and acquire expert-level capabilities with limited supervision. Potential research directions include:
- Adaptation and specialization of visual foundation models.
- Fine-grained visual understanding and representation learning.
- Self-supervised and data-efficient learning.
- Transfer learning and knowledge reuse across tasks.
- Structured and compositional learning.
- Vision-language and multimodal models.
- Learning with limited supervision.
- Generalization beyond pre-training distributions.
Location
Leiden, Netherlands (Hybrid working is possible within the Netherlands).
The faculty is located at the Bio Science Park.
Eligibility/Qualification
Candidates must bring the following qualifications:
- A PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, or a closely related field.
- A strong publication record in leading machine learning and/or computer vision venues.
- Excellent programming skills, specifically in Python and PyTorch.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.
- The ability to conduct independent research while collaborating effectively.
- Desirable: Experience with vision-language models, large-scale representation learning, or foundation model adaptation.
Job Description
As a Postdoctoral Researcher, your core responsibilities will be to:
- Conduct high-quality, original research in machine learning and computer vision.
- Develop novel algorithms designed to adapt and specialize visual foundation models.
- Publish research findings at top-tier venues (e.g., CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, and ICLR).
- Present your research at international conferences and workshops.
- Co-supervise MSc and PhD students.
- Assist with limited teaching and departmental service activities.
- Contribute to building an internationally recognized research program focused on fine-grained and data-efficient visual understanding.
How to Apply
Interested candidates can apply directly via the “Apply now” button on the vacancy page.
Please ensure you upload the following documents with your application:
- A detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV).
- A Research Statement (maximum 2 pages).
- The names and email addresses of two references who can provide letters of recommendation.
Note: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. For questions regarding the procedure, you can email jobs@liacs.leidenuniv.nl.
Last Date for Apply
August 12, 2026
