A postdoctoral researcher position is open in Prof. Dr. David Ginsbourger’s uncertainty quantification and spatial statistics group at the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Context: The recruited postdoctoral researcher will be affiliated with Prof. Dr. David Ginsbourger’s group. The group is involved in collaborations with national and international partners from various research fields. These include geosciences, with a history of collaborations around stochastic modelling in hydrogeology, geophysical inversion, and atmospheric sciences (with links to the Oeschger Center of Climate Change Research). Recently, the group has also been increasingly collaborating with the Institute of Social and Preventive Medecine and the University Hospital around statistical machine learning for biomedical applications.

Project: The recruited postdoctoral researcher will reinforce the current efforts of the group in pushing further the limits of kernel methods to work with data in and beyond Euclidean settings. Of special interest classes are kernel embedding approaches, particularly well-suited to work with set- and distribution-valued inputs, but there is also room for further research directions depending on the candidate’s research interests and motivation. Several ongoing or emerging collaborations (around paleo-climatology, psychology, medicine, etc.) call for thorough approaches to model similarity and estimate related parameters. This position will give the opportunity to candidates with a strong theoretical background to enrich their research profile with application-driven research while cultivating their passion for statistical methodology.

Sought profile: The ideal candidate will have recently earned or be about to finish their PhD degree in statistics or neighbouring subjects with a strong mathematical component, a genuine interest in statistical data science and applications thereof, a taste for both theoretical investigations and numerical experiments, and solid programming skills. The salary will be at the level foreseen by the University of Bern. There might be a possibility to be involved in teaching and/or consulting duties. The funding is secured for up to 18 months with the starting date of May 1st 2023 or as can be arranged by mutual agreement.

Applications should contain: (1) a letter in which the applicants describe their research interests and motivations as well as a 1-page research proposal, (2) a complete CV, (3) copies of relevant diplomas, certificates and transcript of records, (4) an electronic version of a research work (PhD thesis or other scientific publication), (5) contact information of 2 – 3 references.

Applications and inquiries should be sent to Prof. Dr. David Ginsbourger (respectively via this link and via e-mail to david.ginsbourger@unibe.ch)