On May 18, the University of Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL) launched the second edition of its COFUND “Artificial Intelligence for the Sciences” call for thesis projects. Initiated in 2020, AI4TTheSciences will award 26 thesis grants to AI or big data processing systems from PSL’s component institutions, the Institut Curie or the Collège de France. The European Commission is co-financing the program with 2.1 million euros over five years.

A call for projects to benefit from support around artificial intelligence and big data

Within the framework of this call for projects, it is proposed that doctoral students from institutions affiliated with PSL University or their associate members present their thesis topic around AI interfaces. Each thesis topic may be related to one of the disciplines taught at PSL, such as physics, chemistry, history, economics, literature, etc. A partnership with the socio-economic world is not excluded.

bctt tweet=”Twenty-six doctoral students (fifteen for the start of the 2021 academic year and eleven for the start of the 2022 academic year) will be selected to participate in the AI4TheSciences program.” username=”actuiafr”]

Thus, several aids will be provided to them in connection with the Transverse DATA Program, a training cycle around data, initiated by PSL University:

• An introductory course on AI and Big Data processing techniques will be organized at the beginning of each academic year so that everyone can acquire a common base of knowledge on these subjects.
• A weekly seminar will be offered to them to deepen their knowledge and exchange more in detail on AI. The objective is to regularly bring together the laureates, initially distributed among the various PSL laboratories, so that they can form a close-knit community.
• Training in the writing of popular science articles will be introduced, with the help of The Conversation, a partner in the project. Eventually, each doctoral student will see his or her thesis topic featured in an article in the journal.
• The PhD students will be able to intervene in high schools in order to explain to young people the nature of their research in their discipline and show the contribution of AI in their thesis. This possibility is offered to them thanks to a partnership with 100.000 Entrepreneurs.
• Training in Open Science and the acquisition of transversal skills.

Conditions of participation and choice of winners

In order to participate in this call for projects, the thesis director must be a member of PSL University, the thesis must be related to one of PSL’s disciplines, and there must be a co-supervision with a specialist in the discipline in question and a specialist in AI or big data. There is no limit to the number of thesis proposals per laboratory.

One of the particularities concerns the eligibility of student candidates: students who have stayed in France for less than twelve months during the last three years before February 12, 2022, the closing date of the call for applications, can participate. As for financing, the salary of doctoral students will be set at 3,100 euros gross per month, for a total duration of 36 months. 53,640 over three years, subsidized by the PSL member institution or by a private partner. If this partner is not an academic, a contribution of 80,000 euros is required to finance the environmental costs.

Fifteen theses have already been selected for the start of the 2021 academic year. This new call for projects will aim to select eleven new PhD students who will be able to start the programme in September 2022. Scientific teams interested in co-financing the project can send their proposals between June 1 and September 17, 2021. The best applications will be chosen by a committee composed of the program’s scientific coordinator and six researchers from the PSL community. The eleven new winners will be announced in the spring of 2022 by a jury representing all the disciplines taught at PSL University.

Translated from Lancement de l’appel à projets de thèse du COFUND “AI4TheSciences” de l’Université PSL