Postdoctoral Fellow / Senior Research Fellow in Vision Language Models

The Opportunity

The School of Computer Science and Engineering has a fixed-term opportunity for a Postdoctoral Fellow / Senior Research Fellow to contribute to world-leading research in continual learning, computer vision, multimodal foundation models, and adversarial learning. Working on an exciting research project focused on developing continual and robust VLMs, you will investigate novel approaches to continual learning, model pre-training and post-training, with applications in multimodal understanding and reasoning. This is an outstanding opportunity to undertake high-impact research, collaborate with leading researchers and industry partners, and contribute to advancing the next generation of artificial intelligence technologies.

This position offers the opportunity to advance your scholarly research and professional activities on both national and international levels. You will contribute to the writing of scientific papers and reports for international journals, participate in conferences and workshops, supervise HDR students, and actively collaborate with industry partners.

This role reports to Professor Flora Salim and has no direct reports.

• Salary,
• Postdoctoral Fellow (Level B) - AUD$133,065 to $156,864 per annum + 17% superannuation
• Senior Research Fellow (Level C, Step 1) – AUD$ 161,619 $ per annum + 17% superannuation
• Full time
• Fixed-term contract – ASAP start until March 2029
• Location: Kensington – Sydney, Australia
• Australian citizenship required for project eligibility

About UNSW

UNSW is a world‑leading institution recognised for its scale, prestige, and impact. With strong industry engagement and partnerships across sectors, UNSW provides a unique environment where academic expertise translates into real‑world outcomes. The university is home to cutting‑edge research that drives innovation and societal progress, while its excellence in teaching ensures students are prepared to lead in their fields. For academics, UNSW offers an outstanding platform to flourish — combining world‑class facilities, collaborative networks, and a culture of innovation that supports both career growth and meaningful contributions to the wider community.

The School of Computer Science and Engineering is one of the largest and most prestigious schools of computing in Australia. It offers undergraduate programmes in Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Bioinformatics, as well as a number of combined degrees with other disciplines. Our research and teaching staff are world leading and world building as they advance knowledge and learning. For more information on our school go to the following link - https://www.unsw.edu.au/engineering/our-schools/computer-science-and-engineering

Skills and Experience

Level B

• A PhD in Computer Science or a related discipline, and/or relevant work experience.
• Proven commitment to proactively keeping up to date with discipline knowledge and developments.
• Demonstrated track record in research, evidenced by publications in top-tier AI and CV conferences and journals, such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, TPAMI, TNNLS, with outcomes of high quality and high impact with clear evidence of the desire and ability to continually achieve research excellence as well as the capacity for research leadership.
• Strong experience in the following areas:
• deep learning and/or computer vision
• continual learning
• vision language models
• Experience in developing comprehensive benchmarks.
• Robust coding and software engineering skills.
• Experience in handling multimodal data, especially videos, is required.
• Experience with post-tuning and/or model editing of multimodal LLMs is preferred.
• A track record of significant involvement with the profession and/or industry.
• High level communication skills and ability to network effectively and interact with a diverse range of students and staff.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team, collaborate across disciplines and build effective relationships.
• Evidence of highly developed interpersonal and organisational skills.
• An understanding of and commitment to UNSW’s aims, objectives and values in action, together with relevant policies and guidelines.
• Knowledge of health and safety responsibilities and commitment to attending relevant health and safety training.

Level C

• A PhD in Computer Science or a related discipline, and/or relevant work experience.
• Proven commitment to proactively keeping up to date with discipline knowledge and developments.
• Demonstrated track record in research, evidenced by publications in top-tier AI and CV conferences and journals, such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, TPAMI, TNNLS, with outcomes of high quality and high impact with clear evidence of the desire and ability to continually achieve research excellence as well as the capacity for research leadership.
• Strong experience in all of the following areas:
• deep learning and/or computer vision
• continual learning
• vision language models
• Experience in developing or leading the development of comprehensive benchmarks.
• Robust coding and software engineering skills.
• Experience in handling multimodal data, especially videos, is required.
• Experience with post-tuning and/or model editing of multimodal LLMs is required.
• Experience in translating AI models developed in research into deployment is preferred
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team, collaborate across disciplines and build effective relationships.
• Evidence of highly developed interpersonal and organisational skills.
• An understanding of and commitment to UNSW’s aims, objectives and values in action, together with relevant policies and guidelines.
• Knowledge of health and safety responsibilities and commitment to attending relevant health and safety training.

Additional details about the specific responsibilities for this position can be found in the position description. This is available via JOBS@UNSW.

To Apply:

Please click the “Apply Now” button and submit your CV, Cover Letter and Responses to the Skills and Experience. You should systematically address the Skills and Experience listed within the position description in your application.

To be eligible, applicants must hold Australian citizenship and be able to work on‑site in Kensington.

Please note applications will not be accepted if sent to the contact listed below.

Contact:

For role-specific inquiries, please contact Prof Flora Salim

E: flora.salim@unsw.edu.au

For questions regarding the recruitment process, please contact Eugene Aves (Talent Acquisition Partner)

E: eugene.aves@unsw.edu.au

Applications close:11:55 pm (Sydney time) on Monday, 3 August 2026

As part of our recruitment process candidates may be required to undergo pre-employment screening, which may include reference checks, qualification verification, right-to-work verification, and criminal history screening where relevant to the role.

UNSW is committed to evolving a culture that embraces equity and supports a diverse and inclusive community where everyone can participate fairly, in a safe and respectful environment. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and encourage applications from people of diverse gender, sexual orientation, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background, people with disability and those with caring and family responsibilities. UNSW provides workplace adjustments for people with disability, and access to flexible work options for eligible staff. The University reserves the right not to proceed with any appointment.