KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre of intellectual talent and innovation. We are Sweden’s largest technical research and learning institution and home to students, researchers and faculty from around the world. Our research and education covers a wide area including natural sciences and all branches of engineering, as well as architecture, industrial management, urban planning, history and philosophy.

Project description

Third-cycle subject: computer science, speech and music communication

1. Develop new, better deep learning based speech synthesis (text-to-speech) that can handle reading aloud long and information rich texts. Explore new methods in all steps of the process of training Swedish speech synthesis, based on professionally readtexts. You will work in close relation to both industry and the research front, and have the opportunity to test the results in real-world situations.
2. Develop Swedish deep learning based automatic speech recognition (speech-to-text) that can handle long and complex recordings from Swedish media archives. Use new methods on real-world tasks. You will work in close relation to large Swedish culture institutions and with researchers on the research frontier.

Both tasks are executed in large, well-known open source frameworks, in collaboration with other research teams. The work does not stop at engineering, but extends into studies of how the technology is perceived and utilized by people.

Supervision:The doctoral student will be placed at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and supervised by Jens Edlund.

What we offer

• The possibility to study in a dynamic and international research environment in collaboration with industries and prominent universities from all over the world
• A personal study plan to support your development within your areas of interest.
• A workplace with many employee benefits and monthly salary according to KTH’s Doctoral student salary agreement.
• A postgraduate education at an institution that is active and supportive in matters pertaining to working conditions, gender equality and diversity as well as study environment.
• Work and study in Stockholm, one of Europe’s fastest growing capitals, which is close to both nature and the sea.
• Help to relocate and be settled in Sweden and at KTH.

The division for Speech, Music and Hearing is the worlds perhaps oldest still active research lab for speech technology, with a very strong international network. The close relation to the national research infrastructure Språkbanken Tal ensures that your results will be widely available.

Eligibility

To be admitted to postgraduate education (Chapter 7, 39 § Swedish Higher Education Ordinance), the applicant must have basic eligibility in accordance with either of the following:

• passed a degree at advanced level,
• completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits at advanced level, or
• in any other way acquired within or outside the country acquired essentially equivalent knowledge.                                                                              

Experience in the following fields, among others, is considered a merit:speech synthesis, speech technology, machine learning, phonetics, signal processing. Insights into spoken languages on all levels are also valuable.

Selection

In order to succeed as an doctoral student at KTH you need to be goal oriented and persevering in your work. In the selection of the applicants, the following will be assessed:

• ability to independently pursue his or hers work,
• ability to collaborate with others, have a professional approach and analyse and work with complex issues.
• A good command of spoken and written English is a requirement. Knowledge of Swedish is a plus.

After the qualification requirements, great emphasis will be placed on personal qualities and personal suitability.

Target degree: Doctoral degree

Information regarding admission and employment

Only those who are or have been admitted to third-cycle studies may be employed as a doctoral student. The term of the initial contract may not exceed one year and may there after be extended. Doctoral students may engage in teaching, research, and administration corresponding to a maximum of 20 % of a full-time position.

Union representatives

You will find contact information for union representatives on KTH's website.

Doctoral section (Students’ union on KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

You will find contact information for doctoral section on the section's website.

Application

Apply for the position and admission through KTH's recruitment system. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the advertisement.

Applications must be received at the last closing date at midnight, CET/CEST (Central European Time/entral European Summer Time).

Applications must include the following elements:

• CV including your relevant professional experience and knowledge.
• Application letter with a brief description of why you want to pursue research studies, about what your academic interests are and how they relate to your previous studies and future goals. (Maximum 2 pages long)
• Copy of the degree certificate(s) and transcripts of records from your previously attended university-level institutions. Translations into English or Swedish if the original documents are not issued in one of these languages.
• Representative publications or technical reports. For longer documents, please provide a summary (abstract) and a web link to the full text.

Other information

Gender equality, diversity and zero tolerance against discrimination and harassment are important aspects of KTH's work with quality as well as core values in our organization.

For information about processing of personal data in the recruitment process please read here.

We firmly decline all contact with staffing and recruitment agencies and job ad salespersons.

Disclaimer: In case of discrepancy between the Swedish original and the English translation of the job announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.