Postdoctoral Researcher in Data-Efficient Visual Learning Leiden University in Canada

Leiden University’s Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) is recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher in Data-Efficient Visual Learning for its Machine Learning cluster. This postdoctoral project focuses on how visual foundation models can efficiently acquire new expertise in specialised domains where labelled data is scarce. The aim is to develop adaptive visual learning systems that can specialise through structure in representations and across tasks, helping bridge the gap between general-purpose foundation models and expert-level performance in domain-specific settings.

The research sits at the intersection of computer vision, machine learning, and foundation models, with potential directions including adaptation and specialisation of visual foundation models, fine-grained visual understanding, representation learning, self-supervised and data-efficient learning, transfer learning, structured and compositional learning, vision-language and multimodal models, and learning with limited supervision. The precise agenda will be shaped together with the successful candidate.

The postdoctoral researcher will conduct original research, develop novel algorithms for adapting visual foundation models, publish in top venues such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, and ICLR, present work internationally, contribute to the supervision of MSc and PhD students, and assist with limited teaching and service in the department.

The role is based at Leiden University in the Netherlands, within LIACS, a well-regarded computer science department with a collaborative and international research environment. The university highlights a supportive academic culture, strong research infrastructure, and a location in Leiden’s Bio Science Park.

Eligibility highlights: applicants should already hold a PhD in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or Computer Vision. A strong publication record, excellent Python and PyTorch skills, and strong English communication skills are expected. Experience with vision-language models, large-scale representation learning, or foundation model adaptation is especially valued.

Funding and contract: the position is a full-time academic appointment for one year initially, with the possibility of extension by two additional years after positive evaluation. The salary is €3,546 to €5,538 gross per month (scale 10), with holiday allowance, end-of-year bonus, pension, commuting reimbursement, and other employment benefits.

Application deadline: applications are accepted until 31 July 2026 (23:59 Europe/Amsterdam) and are reviewed on a rolling basis.