Research Scientist - Computer Vision and Machine Perception - KTP Associate

The Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth, in collaboration with ReThink Productivity Consulting Ltd (ReThink) are seeking an innovative and motivated graduate to design and develop algorithms that can accurately recognise and classify employee activity and customer behaviour from video footage in order to improve productivity within retail environments.

Established in 2011, ReThink is an industry leader, combining over 50 years of cumulative experience to help some of the largest brands boost productivity.  ReThink provides business analytics, time and motion studies, working with some of the largest brands in the retail and hospitality sectors such as Vodafone, Boots, Siemens, Costa Coffee, Wickes, Pandora and many more. ReThink aims to improve productivity and efficiency for clients in the UK, Europe, Dubai, Hong Kong and the U.S.

This is a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between ReThink Productivity Ltd and the University of Portsmouth, co-funded by Innovate UK. This strategically important partnership addresses ReThink’s need to provide productivity insights to an ever growing number of retail environments. This AI driven platform will allow ReThink to capture footage from a wide variety of retail environments and automatically extract key productivity indicators through the use of deep learning and transfer learning algorithms. The project provides a distinct opportunity to make a significant positive impact on the retail environment.

You will lead, facilitate and manage the project. You will work with both ReThink staff and the University of Portsmouth academic team to utilise video capture, embedded systems and deep learning algorithms to analyse retail environments of varying complexity. The post holder will produce scientific and technical publications as well as embed these new systems, knowledge and processes within ReThink’s business.

This is a fixed term appointment for 30 months.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)

KTP brings together universities and businesses to work together on a development project that is strategically important to the future of an organisation.  KTP offers:

• Acceleration for your career
• Access to £2,000 personal training budget per year
• A competitive salary
• The opportunity to lead and manage a strategic project
• The possibility of a permanent post with the company
• The support of an academic team from the University
• The opportunity to enhance training and learning

For an informal discussion prior to application, please contact Dr Hongjie Ma  (email: Hongjie.ma@port.ac.uk) or Dr Edward Smart (email: Edward.smart@port.ac.uk).

Interviews are anticipated to be held week 9 June 2025.

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