Join us
Come and work on this with us
LS3 has openings for doctoral and master's students and for postdoctoral researchers. We look for people with strong backgrounds in information retrieval, machine learning, natural language processing, or the social study of computing.
Current status
Accepting applications for PhD and MSc study, and enquiries from prospective postdoctoral researchers. Programme deadlines are set by the Faculty of Information, not by the lab — check the admissions pages for the dates that apply to your programme.
Before you write to us
Applications to work in the lab go through the University of Toronto’s central admissions process — being in touch with us is not a substitute for applying, and we cannot admit anyone outside it. What contact does do is make sure your application is read by someone who is looking for it.
Read a couple of our recent papers first. The research themes are the fastest way in, and each one lists the work that defines it. An email that engages with something specific we have written will get a reply; a mass-mailed one almost certainly will not.
What to send
Email Professor Bagheri directly, with:
- A short summary of your background and research experience.
- Why you think you are a good match for the work being done at LS3 — name the theme or the paper.
- Your CV, and a transcript if you have one to hand.
Use a subject line beginning [LS3 application] so your message is filtered correctly and not lost.
Positions
PhD students
Apply to a doctoral programme at the Faculty of Information. Funding for admitted doctoral students is arranged through the Faculty; we will discuss lab-specific support during the process.
Master’s students
Master’s students join the lab for thesis or project work. If you are already enrolled at the University of Toronto and looking for a supervisor, say so — the route is different and usually faster.
Postdoctoral researchers
Postdoctoral positions open with funded projects rather than on a fixed calendar. Write with a CV, a research statement, and two or three representative papers.
Undergraduate and visiting researchers
We take a small number of undergraduate researchers each term, usually through University of Toronto research programmes. Visiting doctoral students with their own funding are welcome to enquire; the lab has hosted visitors from Brazil, France, Iran and Canada.
What working here is like
The lab publishes at SIGIR, CIKM, ECIR, WSDM, TheWebConf, EMNLP and ICWSM, and in journals including TOIS, TIST and Information Processing & Management. Students lead their own papers — look at the author lists on the publications page and you will see students in first position on most of them.
Projects are collaborative. Most papers have three or more lab authors, and much of the work sits across the boundary between retrieval methods and their social consequences, so we read widely and argue a lot.