Four new researchers join the effort to shape the future of AI
From left to right: Ina Kodrasi, André Freitas, Lonneke van der Plas and Damien Teney

Four new researchers join the effort to shape the future of AI

Idiap is developing its research capacities by hiring four new senior researchers. Two women and two men, whose goal will be to work on topics with great potential in AI and to continue to progress in areas that have already contributed to the reputation of the institute.

The expansion continues with the arrival in Valais of four new permanent researchers. Three of them will have the task of leading new research groups so that Idiap remains at the forefront of innovation and of future issues in international research.

Idiap is pleased that Ina Kodrasi is taking over the new Signal Processing for Communication group. Expert in signal processing, she continues her career within our institute where she previously worked as an associate researcher. Idiap is committed to offering its employees, when possible, a long-term vision with optimal conditions for their professional development.

Today's technologies in AI are not very transparent and complicated to understand. Data processing by methods such as machine learning or neural networks, often constitutes a mystery. One of the main challenges for the new head of the Reasoning & Explainable AI group, Andre Freitas, will be to understand the existing mechanisms within artificial intelligence and how algorithms and techniques produce desired results.

Continuing to evolve where Idiap has already established itself

The institute is renowned for its work on language and speech. To further strengthen its capabilities in these areas, Lonneke van der Plas will leadthe brand new Computation, Cognition & Language group. As an expert in multilingual language processing and computer semantics, she will continue to explore within Idiap these topics whose applications, such as speech recognition, are used by many on a daily basis.

The limits of these research areas are still far from being reached, as it is the case for Machine Learning. Damien Teney and his group’s mission will be to study and continue working on this essential subject. This senior researcher from the Australian Institute of Machine Learning in Adelaide takes over from François Fleuret. During his career, he also has had the opportunity to work with Carnegie Mellon University (USA), the University of Bath (UK) and the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

Idiap is proud to welcome these four talented researchers who will enable the institute to strengthen its capacities and prepare future innovations. Welcoming new members while trying to offer equal opportunities is at the very heart of our principles.

 

More information

- Signal Processing for Communication group
- Reasoning & Explainable AI group
- Computation, Cognition & Language group
- Machine Learning group