Postdoctoral Researcher in Logical Reasoning and Machine Learning (ARC Challenge)

The logic and learning (LOL) group is recruiting a postdoc partly funded by the ARC Prize Foundation . You will work with Associate Professor Andrew Cropper . We work on combining logical reasoning and machine learning. We focus on inductive logic programming (ILP), a form of inductive program synthesis which learns logical rules from data.

The focus of this position is to develop ILP/program synthesis methods for the Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus (ARC) challenge . ARC is a benchmark designed to measure an AI system's ability to efficiently acquire new skills outside its training data. The focus is specifically on ARC-AGI-3 , where systems must learn rules by interacting with their environment.

The research will build on our IJCAI 2025 paper , where we showed that an off-the-shelf ILP system using raw pixels, only arithmetic, and a single CPU could perform reasonably well on ARC-1.

A start date before September 2026 is ideal but is flexible. The application deadline is February 5, 2026 (at 23:59 UTC +2).

Requirements

• A PhD in computer science or a related topic
• Prior experience in SAT/ASP/SMT/MaxSAT is essential
• Any experience in model counting and a broader understanding of machine learning is also highly desirable
• Excellent English skills
  
  
  

We offer

• The opportunity to do fundamental research and supervise students
• A world class academic community that promotes diversity, international engagement and equality . We encourage all qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply for our positions
• 3-year full-time contract
• A starting salary of 3800-4150 euros/month depending on the appointees’ qualifications and experience
• Occupational health care and other social benefits
• Support for internationally recruited employees with their transition to work and live in Finland
• A chance to live in Helsinki and Finland renowned for their high-quality of life, services, and work-life balance
  
  
  

Application instructions

Applications shall be submitted through the University of Helsinki´s recruitment system and include the following documents:

• CV
• A motivation letter (max 2 pages)
• Contact information of two referees to provide reference letters upon request
  
  
  

External applicants , please submit your application via the Apply Now button.

Internal applicants , who have a helsinki.fi username and a valid employment/grant/visitor contract, please submit your application via the Employee login button.

Additional Information

For more information on the position and the logic and learning (LOL) group, please contact Associate Professor Andrew Cropper ([email protected]).

With technical questions related to the recruitment system, please contact [email protected].

The Department of Computer Science is a leading unit in Finland in its area and responsible for the teaching and research in computer science at the University of Helsinki. The main research fields at the department are artificial intelligence, big data frameworks, bioinformatics, data analysis, data science, discrete and machine learning algorithms, distributed, intelligent, and interactive systems, networks, security, and software and database systems. The department has extensive international collaboration with companies and universities. Within teaching, the department’s professors and staff are in charge of the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral Programmes in Computer Science, as well as the separate Master’s Programme in Data Science, in which other departments also participate.