Cluster of Excellence "Bilateral AI" @ the Institute of Software Technology - Open positions

One open PhD position and one open PostDoc position in the Cluster of Excellence “Bilateral AI” at the Institute of Software Technology of TU Graz (Graz University of Technology).

We are seeking highly motivated and talented individuals to join our dynamic research team for combining symbolic and sub-symbolic AI. The successful candidates will conduct research at TU Graz in collaboration with our partner institutes: Johannes Kepler University Linz, AAU Klagenfurt, ISTA, TU Vienna, and WU Vienna. The vision of Bilateral AI is to educate a new generation of top-quality AI scientists with a holistic view of symbolic and sub-symbolic AI methods. Training and mentoring young researchers is a central activity, combining groundbreaking research work with an education program. The training will be distributed among the six participating institutions.

Location: TU Graz (Graz University of Technology), Institute of Software Technology, Graz, Austria

PhD job description:

PhD students will be trained within the Bilateral AI Doctoral School. Joint seminars, scientific workshops, and
compulsory courses outside the PhD students’ research fields will also be designed to encourage
interdisciplinarity.


Apart from that, students will be involved in grant applications, conference organization, Bachelor and Master
student supervision, and teaching. A student will be supervised by two experienced and internationally renowned professors with different research fields (symbolic / sub-symbolic AI). The training will also provide a career development program, advice and support for students with innovative business ideas, and workshops for presentation and soft skills. We are searching for students with good knowledge in either symbolic or sub-
symbolic AI (e.g., machine learning). PhDs will be assigned to one of the following projects: (i) Quality
assurance of AI-based systems, (ii) Explainable AI, or (iii) Combining ML and AI in diagnosis and debugging.

Duration: 4 years


Post-Doc job description:


The open Post-Doc position is allocated to the sub-project Quality Assurance of AI-based Systems and shall contribute to research in verifying and validating software and systems comprising AI methodologies (either machine learning or symbolic AI). Candidates are expected to have already provided research in verification, validation, or testing and to have excellent knowledge of either logic or machine learning. Post-Docs will be involved in grant applications, conference organization, and the supervision of Bachelor and Master students, and teaching. Successful candidates will be assigned to the research group headed by Prof. Franz Wotawa.

Duration: 3 years

Application Deadline: Open until filled. Applications will be processed on a regular basis. Only full application documents will be considered.

Our project is committed to increasing the proportion of academic female faculty and, for this reason, especially welcomes applications by qualified women. If applicants are equally qualified, a woman will be given preference for this position.

If you are interested in a position, you must submit the following application documents, included in a .zip archive, to the e-mail address wotawa@ist.tugraz.at:

  • letter of motivation (detailing previous research achievements, research goals, and career plans);
  • a complete CV, including a list of previous scientific expertise, awards, grants, stays abroad, attended lectures, attended summer schools, attended workshops, skills, and publications (if applicable);
  • abstract in English of the applicant’s MSc thesis, BSc thesis, or of a research project;
  • a complete list of completed studies and transcripts of all grades;
  • contact details of two reference persons (at least one academic) willing to provide a recommendation letter;
  • proof of proficiency in English (usually TOEFL/IELTS/CAE);
  • (optional) the selection of one or more research projects and related supervisors.

Furthermore, the reference letters should be sent (there will be no invitation e-mail) with the subject “Candidate name_of_the_candidate” to references@bilateral-ai.net and wotawa@ist.tugraz.at within two weeks from submission.