The FOX team of the CRIStAL laboratory (UMR CNRS), Lille, France, and the PR team of the MIS Laboratory, Amiens, France, are looking to recruit :
* a post-doc starting as soon as possible and;
* a joint PhD student starting in October 2025
in the field of asynchronous computer vision from event cameras.
Abstract: Video analysis is one of the fundamental tasks in computer vision. The dominant approach is based on deep neural networks applied to RGB images. These models have disadvantages such as: a) the need of large quantities of annotated data, which requires significant human work; b) the significant computational and therefore energy cost of these approaches; and c) redundancy in terms of visual information between two successive images. Spiking neural networks can offer a solution to these problems, through the use of unsupervised learning rules inspired by biological learning and the possibility of implementing them on ultra-low energy hardware components. . Event cameras that only communicate changes in light intensity are positioned as an alternative for capturing a scene when efficient processing on hardware with low computing capabilities is required. The objective of this thesis is to offer a joint response by proposing weakly supervised learning methods based on spiking learning mechanisms which will directly exploit the flow of impulses generated by an event camera. We are targeting applications around autonomous driving, such as the detection of moving vehicles or the recognition of information conveyed by large displays along the road infrastructure.
The main objective is to develop new models of spiking neural networks (SNN) capable of directly processing visual information in the form of spike trains. The proposed models must be validated experimentally on dynamic vision databases, following standard protocols and best practices.
Candidates for the PhD must hold a Master degree (or an equivalent degree) in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics or a related field.
Candidates for the post–doc must hold a PhD degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Statistics, Applied Mathematics or a related field.
Experience in one or more of the following is a plus:
• image processing, computer vision;
• machine learning;
• bio-inspired computing;
• research methodology (literature review, experimentation…).
Candidates should have the following skills:
• good proficiency in English, both spoken and written;
• scientific writing;
• programming (experience in C++ is a plus, but not mandatory).
The PhD candidate will be funded for 3 years (grant application pending). He/She is expected to defend his/her thesis and graduate by the end of the contract. The monthly gross salary is around 2000€, including benefits (health insurance, retirement fund, and paid vacations).
The post–doc will be hired for 18 months starting from March 2025 (this is a fully-funded position). The monthly gross salary is around 2500-3000€, including benefits (health insurance, retirement fund, and paid vacations).
For application, please send the following items in a single PDF file to Pr. Marius Bilasco (marius.bilasco@univ-lille.fr) and to Dr. Fabio Morbidi (fabio.morbidi@gmail.com) with subject [EventSpike]:
* A cover letter.
* A curriculum vitae, including a list of publications, if any.
* Transcripts of grades of Master’s degree or transcripts/reports from the PhD defense.
* The contact information of two references (and any support letters, if available).
We look forward to receiving your application as soon as possible but no later than 12 April 2025.
Context of the projet:
The FOX research group is part of the CRIStAL laboratory (University of Lille, CNRS), located in Lille, France. We focus on video analysis for human behavior understanding. Specifically, we develop spatio-temporal models of motions for tasks such as abnormal event detection, emotion recognition, and face alignment. We are also involved in IRCICA (CNRS), a research institute promoting multidisciplanary research. At IRCICA, we collaborate with computer scientists and experts in electronics engineering to create new models of neural networks that can be implemented on low-power hardware architectures. Recently, we designed state-of-the-art models for image recognition with single and multi-layer unsupervised spiking neural networks. We were among the first to succesfully apply unsupervised SNNs on modern datasets of computer vision. We also developed our own SNN simulator to support experiments with SNN on computer vision problems. Our work is published in major journals (Pattern Recognition, IEEE Trans. on Affective Computing) and conferences (NeurIPS, WACV, IJCNN) in the field.
The PR (Robotic Perception) team is specialized in mobile robotics (perception), 3D reconstruction and unconventional vision. The PR team is leading the e-Cathedral program and is currently involved in three projects dealing with event cameras: the ANR CERBERE project (2022-2025), the ANR DEVIN project (2024-2028) and the international (France-Austria) ANR-FWF EVELOC project (2024-2028). The PR team wishes to further strengthen this area of research and improve its expertise in AI by collaborating with the CRIStAL laboratory.
The positions are located in Lille, France. With over 110 000 students, the metropolitan area of Lille is one France’s top education student cities. The European Doctoral College Lille Nord-Pas de Calais is headquartered in Lille Metropole and includes 3,000 PhD Doctorate students supported by university research laboratories. Lille has a convenient location in the European high-speed rail network. It lies on the Eurostar line to London (1:20 hour journey). The French TGV network also puts it only 1 hour from Paris, 35 mn from Brussels, and a short trips to other major centres in France such as Paris, Marseille and Lyon.
