Doctoral Researcher for Speech and Language Technology

At Aalto University, science and art meet technology and business. We build a sustainable future by achieving breakthroughs in our key areas and at their intersections. At the same time, we inspire the changemakers of the future and create solutions to the world's great challenges. Our university community includes 16,000 students, 446 professors, and over 5,000 employees, representing a total of over 120 nationalities. Our campus is located in Espoo, Otaniemi. Diversity is part of us, and we work continuously to ensure the diversity and non-discrimination of our community. Therefore, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to join our community.

Research is conducted at Aalto University's Department of Information and Telecommunication Engineering, in DICE. The project environment offers excellent facilities for research in deep learning, speech, and audio. Available resources include, among others, Aalto University's scientific computing cluster, CSC's national computing infrastructure including LUMI, as well as Aalto Acoustics Laboratory's anechoic chambers, listening rooms, and audio measurement equipment.

We are now looking for a doctoral researcher for the field of speech and language technology.

Are you inspired by AI for speech and audio, deepfake detection, and the question of how the origin of AI-generated content can be identified? We are looking for a doctoral researcher to join the COWAMA: Content-based watermarking for AI-generated audio project, led by Assistant Professor Lauri Juvela.

The rapid development of generative AI has enabled the production of realistic speech and music, but it has simultaneously created risks related to misinformation, harmful deepfakes, copyrights, ownership, attribution, and responsibility. The project responds to these challenges by developing methods to identify the origin and authenticity of generated and watermarked audio data, improving content-based audio watermarking, and evaluating robustness against watermark removal, forgery, adversarial attacks, and realistic post-processing.

Your Role

As a doctoral researcher, you will take primary responsibility for identifying produced audio content originating from multiple sources and will work together with a Postdoctoral Researcher on robustness, evaluation, and generalizability.

Your tasks include:

• Developing methods for identifying the authenticity and origin of speech and audio content produced by several different models and containing various watermarking methods
• Creating diverse datasets containing real and produced speech and audio, including content produced by different generative models and several watermarking methods
• Developing recognition models in a multi-objective recognition task, which includes deepfake detection, content origin identification, and watermark identification
• Developing explainable and localizable recognition methods for the attribution of watermarks and deepfake content, especially in situations where the produced content is mixed with other audio sources
• Investigating robustness against signal processing attacks, generative resynthesis attacks, adversarial attacks, and realistic post-processing, such as mixing
• Publishing research results in high-level conferences and journals and participating in the development of open-source software, open models, and reproducible research outputs.

Your Network and Team

Your supervisor will be Assistant Professor Lauri Juvela, who leads Aalto University's Speech Synthesis research group. The group works on deep generative speech and audio models, speech synthesis, differentiable signal processing, deepfake detection, and watermarking.

In addition to Aalto's speech groups and the project's Postdoctoral Researcher, you will work in an international collaborative network, which includes, among others, Professor Junichi Yamagishi from the National Institute of Informatics in Japan, Professor Xavier Serra from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Spain, and Professor Gustav Eje Henter from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. The collaborative network has a strong background in speech and audio synthesis, deep generative models, and deepfake detection, making the project well-positioned to impact watermarking and source tracking of AI-generated audio.

What we expect from you

We are looking for a curious and motivated researcher in the early stages of their career who wants to develop their expertise in speech, audio, machine learning, and reliable generative AI. Success in the position requires:

• A Master's degree or a soon-to-be-completed Master's degree in speech or audio processing, machine learning, signal processing, computer science, electrical engineering, or another suitable field
• A strong interest in doctoral research on audio deepfake detection, watermarking, source tracking, and generative AI
• Good programming skills, including Python and modern machine learning tools
• Basic knowledge of deep learning, signal processing, speech or audio processing, or statistical machine learning
• Interest in working with speech and audio datasets, recognition models, generative audio models, and experimental evaluation
• Motivation to publish scientific articles as well as participate in conducting open-source and reproducible research
• The ability to work both independently and collaboratively in an international research environment
• Fluent English language skills. Proficiency in Finnish is not required.

If you are selected for the position, you will apply for the right to doctoral studies at the Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering. Please familiarize yourself with the student information and selection criteria at: https://www.aalto.fi/en/study-options/aalto-doctoral-programme-in-electrical-engineering .

What we offer

• A doctoral researcher position in a timely and socially significant field: improving the transparency, traceability, and responsibility of AI-generated speech and audio
• The opportunity to work with technical methods that support the safer use of generative AI, including deepfake detection, watermark attribution, and robustness evaluation
• Excellent computing and audio research infrastructure, including CPU/GPU clusters, CSC and LUMI, FIN-CLARIN resources, and the Aalto Acoustics Laboratory
• International collaboration opportunities with leading researchers in speech synthesis, music technology, deepfake detection, and generative audio
• A strong open science environment: the project's goal is to publish in leading publication forums as well as to publish software source code and trained models to support reproducibility and FAIR data management
• A meaningful and inspiring environment. We are proud of our purpose to shape a sustainable future. We renew society with research-based knowledge, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
• A culture where everyone is valued. All our work is guided by the university's values: responsibility, courage, and collaboration. We are an open community where equality and inclusivity enable curiosity, innovation, collaboration, and well-being.
• Support, guidance, and sparring when you feel you need it.
• Great opportunities for skill development and learning. We strive to utilize the strengths and passions of every Aalto person in the best possible way. We help each other succeed, focusing on community and people, learning new things from one another.
• We aim to combine the best aspects of remote and on-site work. Your workplace will be located in the renewed and vibrant Otaniemi campus area, which offers diverse services and good transport links.

The salary for the position is determined according to the university salary system used at Aalto University. The starting salary for the position is €3,143/month and increases after the mid-term evaluation. The position is fixed-term and follows the school's 2+2 model. The position is initially contracted for two years with a six-month probationary period, and it is extended for two years after a successful mid-term evaluation. The total duration of the position is four years. The position begins in January 2027 or as agreed.

Work duties must be performed in Finland.

Interested?

If you are inspired by the position and want to join us, please send your CV, motivation letter, and copies of your degree certificates and transcripts through our recruitment system (at the bottom of the "Apply now!" page) no later than 31.10.2026 at 23:59 (EET).

Current employees of Aalto University should apply for the position using their own employee profile through the Workday system (Internal Jobs). Aalto students or visitors apply using their personal email address, not an aalto.fi address, through the external Open Jobs page.

For more information about the position, contact Lauri Juvela, lauri.juvela@aalto.fi, +358 50 464 6653. For questions regarding the application, HR Advisor Johanna Haapalainen, hr-elec@aalto.fi, will assist.

We review applications and may invite suitable applicants for an interview during the application period. You will hear from us by 15.11.2026 at the latest. We strive for a transparent and equal recruitment process, so you can request feedback from us.

Do you want to know more about us and your future colleagues? You can watch these videos:

This is Aalto University! Aalto University – Towards a better world and Shaping a Sustainable Future.

Read more about working at Aalto: https://www.aalto.fi/fi/toihin-aaltoon and visit the new virtual campus experience: https://virtualtour.aalto.fi .