PhD position Adaptive & Differential Privacy for Energy Data

Requirements

Requirements

You hold, or will soon obtain, an MSc degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related discipline. You should have:

• a strong background in privacy-enhancing technologies, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity or statistical modelling;
• strong programming skills, particularly in Python;
• preferably, some familiarity with deep generative models (VAEs, GANs, diffusion models) and probabilistic modelling;
• good written and spoken English skills;
• knowledge of Dutch language preferred not mandatory.

Conditions of employment

Fixed-term contract: for 4 years.

The PhD candidate will be appointed for a period of 15 months. The appointment will be extended to 4 years when progress and performance are good. A PhD training program is part of the agreement.

Salary

The salary is determined in accordance with salary scale P of Appendix A of the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities and ranges from € 3.204, gross per month upon commencement to € 4.051, gross per month in the fourth and final year, in case of full employment.

The Open Universiteit provides good secondary benefits such as training, mobility, part-time employment and paid parental leave.

Station

The position is officially based in Heerlen. As part of the PhD project, you will mainly work at Radboud University in Nijmegen, where you will collaborate closely with the other researchers in the SHARE project. This setup enables close day-to-day collaboration with researchers working on machine learning, synthetic data and energy systems.

You will be employed by Open Universiteit and supervised by Dr. Mina Alishahi as your primary supervisor, with Prof. dr. ir. Harald Vranken as co-supervisor.

Employer
Open Universiteit

Working at the Open University means contributing to academic education for the most motivated students in the Netherlands and Flanders, as well as to scientific research with visible impact for people and society. With a broad range of bachelor's and master's programmes and short courses, the Open University makes lifelong learning accessible to everyone. There are no prior education requirements for bachelor's programmes: anyone aged eighteen or older can enrol. Education is hybrid and flexible, available anytime and anywhere, at a pace that suits the student.

The majority of the nearly 16,000 students combine their studies with work. This creates a valuable interaction: experiences and questions from professional practice enrich education and research and increase their societal relevance. It is therefore no coincidence that the Open University has ranked in the top three of the Dutch Keuzegids for universities for many years, and this year holds the number one position.

In research, the university focuses on three central themes: healthcare, digitalisation and AI, and society and citizenship. Solutions to today's challenges are sought across disciplinary boundaries and in collaboration with partners.

The Open University employs approximately 800 staff members, has its main campus in Heerlen, and operates study centres in the Netherlands and Flanders. Its culture is people-centred, collaborative, and inclusive: an environment in which students, staff, and partners feel connected, with ample opportunities for personal development and a healthy work-life balance.

Department
Department of Computer Science

You will be appointed within the Department of Computer Science of the Faculty of Science. The department's research program "Towards high-quality and intelligent software" () consists of four research lines, focusing on:

Techniques for quality assurance of software systems

Software and computer system security, and privacy-by-design

Responsible artificial intelligence, including methods and applications of AI

Educational tools and computing education.