Laboratory

RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project

• (1)Imperfect Information Learning Team (Team Leader: Masashi Sugiyama)
• (2)Causal Inference Team (Team Leader: Shohei Shimizu)
• (3)Continuous Optimization Team (Team Leader: Akiko Takeda)
• (4)Mathematical Science Team (Team Leader: Kenichi Bannai)
• (5)High-Dimensional Causal Analysis Team (Team Leader: Masaaki Imaizumi)
• (6)Data-Driven Biomedical Science Team (Team Leader: Ichiro Takeuchi)
• (7)Geoinformatics Team (Team Leader: Naoto Yokoya)
• (8)Music Information Intelligence Team (Team Leader: Masatoshi Hamanaka)
• (9)Robot Learning Team (Team Leader: Takayuki Osa)
• (10)AI Security and Privacy Team (Team Leader: Jun Sakuma)
• (11)AI Safety and Reliability Unit (Unit Leader: Hiromi Arai)
• (12)Deep Learning Theory Team (Team Leader: Taiji Suzuki)

The research overview of the laboratory is shown below.
Laboratories | RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project

Outline of Laboratory

The RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP) has been launched since April 2016 with the subsidy for “Advanced Integrated Intelligence Platform Project-Artificial Intelligence/ Big Data/ Internet of Things/ Cybersecurity-.” from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Our center aims to achieve scientific breakthrough and to contribute to the welfare of society and humanity through developing innovative technologies. We also conduct research on ethical, legal and social issues caused by the spread of AI technology and develop human resources.

AIP has established a new recruitment category for those who have completed (or are expected to complete) a master’s degree, with the aim of fostering talented young researchers.
Research associates hired through this recruitment will be engaged in research projects for each team, and are expected to pursue a doctorate at Japanese university during their non-working hours at AIP.

Job title and Job description

Job title

Research Associates Up to 10 position(s)

A job category is as shown below:
Research associate: Carries out research and other work in accordance with laboratory research themes under the direction of supervisors.

Job description

Applicant will be engaged in one of the following research projects (1) to (12).
Please select the team and research project you wish to be assigned when applying.
Through the recruitment screening process, applicant may be assigned to a project other than the one you requested.
If there is a change in duties during the contract period or at the time of contract renewal, it will be within the scope of the research project of the team decided at the time of recruitment. There will be no change to another team or project during the contract period or at the time of contract renewal.

Research projects

*The following numbers (1) to (12) is correspond to the numbers (1) to (12) in the [Laboratory] section.

• (1)Research on imperfect information machine learning from weakly supervised, noisy, and biased data
• (2)Research on Theory, Methods, and Applications of Statistical Causal Discovery
• (3)Theoretical and numerical research on mathematical optimization algorithms
• (4)Mathematics Supporting Theoretical Development of Machine Learning and AI
• (5)Research on high-dimensional statistics and machine learning theory
• (6)AI and Machine Learning for Science and Technology
• (7)Visual Information Processing for Geospatial Information Extraction Using Remote Sensing Data
• (8)Research on multimodal deep learning in time series media such as music
• (9)Research on imitation learning and reinforcement learning for training Vision-Language-Action models
• (10)Research on security and privacy in deep discriminative models and deep generative models
• (11)Algorithm Research or Research Studies on AI Safety and Reliability
• (12)Developing Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Mechanism of Foundation Models and Improving Their Learning Efficiency

Qualification

• The applicant who has completed or are expected to complete (by April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026) a master’s degree in a field related to the team which you selected to apply or six-year curriculum in science (medical, veterinary, or pharmaceutical).
• The candidate must also have good communication skills and be able to cooperate with the relevant personnel within/outside of the laboratory to fulfill the tasks.

Work location

*The following numbers (1) to (12) is correspond to the numbers (1) to (12) in the [Laboratory] and [Job description] sections

• (1)Tokyo Campus, RIKEN (1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)
  OR
  Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo (7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo)
• (2)Tokyo Campus, RIKEN (1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)
  OR
  Suita Campus, Osaka University (8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka) *TBD
• (3)Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo (7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo)
• (4)Yagami Campus, Keio University (3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama city, Kanagawa)
• (5)Komaba Campus, The University of Tokyo (3-8-1 Komaba Meguro-ku, Tokyo)
• (6)Nagoya University (Furocho Chikusaku Nagoya city, Aichi)
• (7)Kashiwa Campus, The University of Tokyo (5-1-5 Kashiwanoha Kashiwa city, Chiba)
• (8)Tokyo Campus, RIKEN (1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)
• (9)Tokyo Campus, RIKEN (1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)
• (10)Ookayama Campus, Institute of Science Tokyo (2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo)
• (11)Tokyo Campus, RIKEN (1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo)
• (12)Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo (7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo)

RIKEN has implemented a work-from-home system. Employees can work from home in accordance with the prescribed procedures. RIKEN may order the employee to change work locations, if necessary.

Salary and benefits

• 1.A one-year fixed-term employment contract, renewable based on evaluation, to a maximum of the end of the fiscal year (March 31) in which the employee completes 3 years of employment.
• 2.RIKEN may adjust the above maximum period of renewability based on a) the employee’s abilities, work load at the time of contract completion, performance and work attitude and b) the continuation of the employee’s center, laboratory or project and RIKEN’s management situation and budget at the time. In principle, employment contracts will not be renewed for individuals older than 70 years.
• 3.The contract will end at the end of the fiscal year that marks three years from the date of employment, but if a candidate reapplies and pass the screening, the candidate will be able to sign a new contract.
• 4.After obtaining Ph.D., and screening, it is possible to promote internally to Postdoctoral Researcher.

In principle, the first two months of employment are considered a trial period.
Salary will be an annual salary based on experience, ability, and performance, and will consist of a base salary and a variable salary. The variable salary will be determined each fiscal year based on experience, ability, and performance. The monthly base salary is 268,300JPY as of April 1, 2025. The monthly base salary and variable salary are subject to change due to amendments to RIKEN regulations.

Discretionary work, commuting and housing allowances will be provided. Social insurance will be applied.

The approximate amount of annual salary at the time of employment:

Monthly salary range, including discretionary work allowance, at the time of employment is 361,000 JPY or more (annual salary 4,330,000 JPY or more). Decided based on experience, ability, and achievements.

Mandatory membership in the RIKEN Mutual Benefit Society (RIKEN Kyosaikai).
This position falls under the specialized duties discretionary work system; one working day will be calculated as 7 hours and 30 minutes.

Days off include weekends, public holidays, New Year's holidays (Dec. 29 - Jan 3), and RIKEN Foundation Day.
Paid leave includes annual paid leave (up to 20 days depending on the month of employment), special paid leave (childcare, family nursing care, etc.), and work life balance holidays (up to 7 days depending on the month of employment).
There are also additional leave systems such as maternity leave, childcare leave, and family nursing care leave.
Smoking is entirely prohibited on site.
These and other provisions are in accordance with RIKEN regulations.

RIKEN is actively undertaking initiatives to promote gender equality and diversity, and moving forward with the establishment of a diverse and vibrant research environment. If multiple candidates are found to have the same aptitude following a fair assessment, active efforts will be made to recruit female candidates.

Eligible to apply for a Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research (Kakenhi)

The Wako Campus has an on-site daycare, RIKEN Kids Wako. For details, please send an email to the HR at kids@riken.jp.

Application and required documents

Required documents

• 1.List of publications
• 2.Summary of past or current research, name of the team you would like to be assigned, reasons for applying and research plan (approximately 3 A4 pages in total)
• 3.Photocopies of three major research papers, (excluding master's theses) if you have published papers.
• 4.At least one letter of recommendation Note:
  • *Please arrange for a letter of recommendation from your current academic advisor or a third party.
  • *Although the letter of recommendation does not need to be stamped, please be sure to include the contact details of the recommender (name, affiliation, job title, telephone number, email address).
  • *Letter of recommendation should be addressed to “Director of RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project”.
  • *Recommendation letters must be submitted directly by the recommender, not by the applicant. We will contact the recommender with the URL to which the recommendation letter should be submitted.
• 5.Consent form for handling personal information based on GDPR
  • *If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA)or UK, you are required to submit the document, "Consent form for handling personal information based on GDPR and Regulation of the European Parliament and of the council of on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (UK General Data Protection Regulation)" with your signature.
    • You will find detailed information about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the following website:
      Data protection | European Commission
    • You will find detailed information about Regulation of the European Parliament and of the council of on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (UK GDPR) on the following website:
      Data Protection and the EU | Information Commissioner’s Office

How to apply

• A)Please access "[HR] Inquiry for public recruitment" and enter your contact information, the Open call ID (W24325).
• B)Our HR staff will send you an email with instructions on how to submit your application.

Note:
Application documents will not be returned.
We cannot answer any inquiry about information regarding application status or evaluation details prior to, during, or after the evaluation process.

Deadline

Application must arrive by April 15, 2025 at noon (JST)

Handling Personal Data

Submitted documents are strictly protected under the RIKEN Privacy Policy and will be used only for the purpose of applicant screening at RIKEN. Personal information will not be disclosed, transferred or loaned to a third party under any circumstances without just cause.

Selection process

Application screening and interview for selected applicants

Start of Employment

October 1, 2025-April 1, 2026 (Negotiable.)

Contact Information

RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project
Nihonbashi 1-chome Mitsui Building, 15th floor,
1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0027, Japan
Email: aip-hr@ml.riken.jp
For inquiries, please send an email.