Research Assistant

Job Description

The Big Data Analytics Center (BIDAC) at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) is seeking highly motivated Research Assistants to join its team of researchers, data scientists, and engineers working on next-generation Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) projects. This position provides an opportunity to work at the forefront of Large Language Model (LLM) research, data analytics, and AI system development, contributing directly to UAEU’s strategic initiatives in digital transformation and national AI leadership. Research Assistants will be actively involved in data collection, model development, evaluation, and experimentation, supporting projects focused on education, governance, and health AI applications. The position is ideal for graduates who wish to gain hands-on experience in AI research and software prototyping within a world-class academic environment. Key Responsibilities:

• Support ongoing AI and NLP research projects under BIDAC supervision.
• Collect, clean, and annotate datasets for machine learning and LLM fine-tuning.
• Implement and test AI and deep learning models using frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Assist in the development of LLM-based tools, chatbots, and generative AI prototypes.
• Conduct data analysis, visualization, and performance evaluation of trained models.
• Support experiments in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and knowledge-graph integration.
• Document methodologies, results, and findings for technical reports and publications.
• Contribute to preparing manuscripts, grant proposals, and research presentations.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams including faculty, postdocs, and software developers.
  
  

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
• Strong programming experience in Python and familiarity with data-science libraries (NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib).
• Understanding of machine learning fundamentals and deep learning architectures (CNNs, RNNs, Transformers).
• Basic experience with NLP tools and AI model development.
• Good command of English (written and spoken) and strong technical writing skills.
  
  

• Experience in LLM fine-tuning, embeddings, or text summarization / generation projects.
• Exposure to Arabic NLP or bilingual (EN/AR) data handling.
• Familiarity with Git, Docker, or cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Prior involvement in academic research, technical reports, or open-source contributions.
• Keen interest in pursuing future graduate studies or AI research careers.
  
  

• Familiarity with LLMs, prompt engineering, and model evaluation.
• Experience using Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, or OpenAI APIs.
• Ability to work with structured and unstructured datasets.
• Basic understanding of data pipelines, APIs, and MLOps environments.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and documentation abilities.
• Self-motivated with a collaborative and research-oriented mindset.