[visionlist] PhD Opportunity in NeuroAI (CMU Portugal Affiliated Program – ALIGN Project)

[Jorge Almeida]

Dear colleagues,

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to join the ALIGN project
at the University of Coimbra, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon
University (CMU), under the CMU Portugal Affiliated PhD Program.

The selected candidate will be supervised by Jorge Almeida (University of
Coimbra) and Michael Tarr (Carnegie Mellon University), and will work at
the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and
NeuroAI. The selected candidate and the supervision team (Jorge and Mike)
will jointly apply to the CMU Portugal affiliated PhD program.

Project Overview:
ALIGN aims to develop human-centered evaluation frameworks for artificial
intelligence systems by examining how representations in AI models align
with human conceptual and neural representations. The project combines
behavioral experiments, fMRI, and computational modeling to study
representational geometry in both biological and artificial systems.

Research Topics Include:

NeuroAI and human–AI representational alignment
fMRI and multivariate analysis (RSA, encoding models)
Vision and vision-language models (e.g., CLIP, DINO, ViT)
Human conceptual representations and categorization
Cross-cultural cognitive neuroscience
Program Details:
After a joint application, this position will be funded through the CMU
Portugal Affiliated PhD Program (FCT), which provides:

Full tuition coverage
Monthly stipend (up to 4 years)
Up to 12 months of research at Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
Application Deadline: The application to the CMU Portugal Affiliated PhD
Program (FCT) is May 12, 2026. Interested individuals should contact Jorge
Almeida and Mike Tarr ASAP and never later than April 30.

Important:
Applicants must ensure recognition of their Master’s degree in Portugal.
This process can take time and should be initiated as soon as possible:
https://www.dges.gov.pt/en/pagina/degree-and-diploma-recognition

More information about the program:
https://cmuportugal.org/media/call-for-up-to-12-affiliated-ph-d-scholarships-to-study-in-portugal-with-a-12-month-research-period-at-cmu/

Interested candidates should contact:

jorgecbalmeida at gmail.com
michaeltarr at cmu.edu
Please feel free to share this opportunity with potential candidates.

Best regards,
Jorge Almeida and Michael Tarr
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