Artificial Intelligence Research Associate

The Department of Computer Science at the University of Bath welcomes applications for an Artificial Intelligence Research Associate to work with Professor Özgür Şimşek and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence.

This is currently a fixed-term position for 48 months, to start on 1 October 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

About the role

The postholder will support the EPSRC Prosperity Partnership on Injectable Medicines, which explores the problem of sequential decision making applicable to optimising the high-volume, high-variation manufacturing of injectable medicines. The emphasis is on approaches that could eventually be deployed into real scenarios to improve industrial processes. Relevant areas of research include reinforcement learning and probabilistic machine learning. Candidates will be expected to design and develop novel approaches in these areas that are robust and applicable to real industrial scenarios.

There is a strong expectation you will actively contribute to the strong profile of machine learning work at Bath and its interdisciplinary ethos through participation in the development and publication of research results in major international conferences and journals.

The postholder will have the opportunity to work with Centre for AI scholars and academics, contributing to developing new funding bids, as well as support existing funded projects, and to gain experience in one or more areas of AI. Our capabilities are also of significant interest to industry, and you will be able to help deepen existing partnerships and develop new ones.

About the Centre for Artificial Intelligence 

The Centre for AI at the University of Bath provides a new home for this exciting field of research, focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on machine learning, the field that is driving the major developments in AI today. The Centre aims to lead, enable, connect, prepare, nurture, and showcase the fundamental research in AI, innovative applications and commercial activities that represents the distinctive internationally leading identity for Bath AI. 

Centre for AI members conduct basic research in AI and the Centre fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, e.g. Chemistry (drug discovery, material synthesis, chemical reaction prediction), Life Sciences (analyses of biological systems), Maths (theory of machine learning), and Physics (simulating complex physical systems, analysing vast data from astrophysics, particle physics, oceans)

Further information 

This is initially a 2-year fixed term role, with the potential to extend, depending on the success of funding applications. The long-term aim is to build a group of AI Research Associates with different areas of expertise, skills, and capabilities, working closely with Centre for AI academics and driving our research forward. 

The role is full-time (36.5 hours per week) role, but we welcome applications from candidates looking for less than full-time hours. Please state your preferred working pattern in your application. 

For an informal discussion regarding the role please contact Özgür Şimşek at os435@bath.ac.uk. 

As a member of Research Staff at the University of Bath, you will be entitled to a minimum of 10 days professional development (pro rata) each year and will have considerable freedom to shape your own scientific programme within the strategic aims of the Centre. The Centre and the University actively support postdoctoral researchers in developing independent research directions and fellowship applications. Recent AIRAs have progressed to interesting, competitive long-term positions at Bath or elsewhere and continue to work with us in different capacities as part of our network. 

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