Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology
5 days ago
PhD Candidate in Explainable AI for Synthetic Media Analysis Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway
Degree Level
PhD
Field of study
Computer Science
Funding
Three-year full-time PhD appointment at NTNU. Salary is normally NOK 580,000 per annum depending on qualifications and seniority, with a 2% statutory contribution deducted. The position includes access to employee benefits and working capital for the project.
Deadline
Sep 21, 2026
Country
Norway
University
Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology

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About this position
NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) is advertising a PhD Candidate in Explainable AI for Synthetic Media Analysis at the Department of Computer Science (IDI), based at the Gjøvik campus, Norway. The project sits at the intersection of machine learning, computer vision, visual computing, explainable AI, media forensics, uncertainty estimation, robustness, and multimodal learning.
The research will focus on methods for detecting, localizing, and characterizing authentic, synthetic, and manipulated visual content, including images and videos. The candidate will study how pretrained visual and multimodal representations can be adapted for synthetic media analysis, with attention to explainability, calibration, robustness to distribution shifts, and generalization across datasets, content sources, generation methods, and post-processing such as compression and re-encoding.
This is a three-year full-time doctoral appointment. The post offers a strong international research environment, collaboration opportunities, doctoral training, and access to relevant research infrastructure. Salary is normally NOK 580,000 per year depending on qualifications and seniority.
Eligibility highlights include a master's degree in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, or signal processing; a substantial thesis project; strong academic performance; solid Python and deep learning skills; and good English. Preferred experience includes vision transformers, self-supervised learning, transfer learning, representation probing, explainable AI, uncertainty quantification, adversarial robustness, and related authenticity or media-forensics work.
Applications must be submitted via Jobbnorge.no by 2026-09-21. Required documents include transcripts and diplomas, CV, master's thesis, a research plan, motivation letter, optional publications, and three referees. Questions about the position can be directed to Professor Kiran Raja at [email protected].
Funding details
Three-year full-time PhD appointment at NTNU. Salary is normally NOK 580,000 per annum depending on qualifications and seniority, with a 2% statutory contribution deducted. The position includes access to employee benefits and working capital for the project.
What's required
Applicants must meet admission requirements for NTNU's Doctoral Programme and hold a master's degree or equivalent in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, or signal processing with a substantial independent project equivalent to a master's thesis. A strong academic record is required, normally an average grade of B or better on NTNU's scale, though exceptionally suited applicants with weaker grades may be considered. Candidates should have good knowledge of machine learning and deep learning, sound experimental research methodology, strong Python programming skills, experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow, and good written and oral English. Preferred experience includes computer vision, video analysis, self-supervised learning, vision transformers, multimodal learning, pretrained representations, transfer learning, explainable AI, uncertainty estimation, calibration, out-of-distribution detection, adversarial robustness, causal inference, counterfactual explanations, publications, a strong master's thesis, research software, or open-source contributions.
How to apply
Apply electronically through Jobbnorge.no. Submit transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees, CV, copy of master's thesis, a research plan (max 1500 words/4 pages), a short motivation letter, any relevant publications or research work, and contact information for three referees. If applicable, include documentation of foreign education and diploma supplements.
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