Doctoral Researcher (PhD) in Trustworthy Machine Learning, Aalto University, Finland
Job Description
This PhD in trustworthy machine learning is at Aalto University in Finland. You join the new Trustworthy & Adversarial Computing Lab, led by Sebastian Szyller. The work is on checking where ML models come from and whether they can be trusted.
At a glance
- Position: Doctoral Researcher (PhD student), fully funded (ref. R48273)
- Where: Department of Computer Science, Otaniemi campus, Espoo, Finland
- Pay: Starting salary €3,168 a month, plus occupational health benefits
- Duration: 2 years, with an option to renew for 2 more
- Start: January 2027, or sooner
- Apply: 31 October 2026
About the trustworthy machine learning PhD
- Research the provenance and integrity of ML models and pipelines
- Work on verifiable and auditable ML: adversarial robustness, privacy and fairness
- Work on AI/ML bills of materials (AI/MLBOM) and proof-carrying ML
- Publish at leading conferences and journals, and present at academic and industry events
- Teach, following the department’s usual practice
Why this role matters
Companies and governments now ask where an AI model came from and what data built it. Tools to prove this barely exist yet. A PhD here puts you early in a field that regulators and industry both need.
What Aalto University is looking for
- A master’s degree, completed before the contract starts
- Excellent Python, with proven PyTorch use and experience of shared codebases
- Strong applied maths, especially probability, matrix algebra and calculus
- Teamwork, and critical and independent thinking
- A fit with one of these: ML with an interest in security or privacy; security or privacy applied to ML; or explainable, fair ML or software supply chains
Nice to have
- Earlier work in trustworthy ML
- Papers in ML, security, privacy or software supply chains
Pay and location
The starting salary is €3,168 a month, with occupational health benefits. The yearly workload for research and teaching staff is 1,612 hours. The post is a 2-year fixed-term job with an option to renew for 2 more years.
How to apply
Apply through the official Aalto University page. The closing date is 31 October 2026. Aalto says it will fill the post as soon as it finds a suitable person, so apply early.
See all our PhD positions, or browse more research jobs on ResearchJobs.in.
Hiring institution: Aalto University
Official advertisement: aalto.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
How to prepare for this application
- Send one PDF with your CV, a short bio, a draft research plan, your transcript, your MSc thesis (or a link) and references
- Keep the research plan to one clear question, such as how to prove a model was trained on the data claimed
- Read about model watermarking, fingerprinting and ML supply-chain attacks before the interview
- Show a PyTorch project from a shared repository, so they can see how you work with others' code
- Revise probability and linear algebra, since the ad names them directly
About Aalto University
Aalto University was formed in 2010 by merging three Finnish universities: Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics and the University of Art and Design Helsinki. Its main campus is in Otaniemi, Espoo.
