R00022365 Research Fellow (Developing Small Language Models for nature-positive business transformation)

EOS is a University Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University that conducts fundamental research on earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and climate change in and around Southeast Asia, towards safer and more sustainable societies. For more information on EOS please visit http://www.earthobservatory.sg.

We are looking for a Research Fellow to conduct research on the development of Small Language Models (SML) to support nature-positive business transformation. The research will contribute to a new venture aiming to support Southeast Asian businesses in their sustainability transition. 

We are looking for a motivated, entrepreneurial researcher who is not only technically strong but also passionate about developing a long-term research vision at the interface between AI and sustainability. The position offers the chance to build a new line of activity, secure follow-on funding, and establish a leadership role within a dynamic, internationally connected research ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities:

• Review recent developments in the field of Small Language Models for sustainability applications

• Design, develop, and fine-tune a small or efficient language model (SLM/LLM) tailored to sustainability and nature-positive business contexts, using curated datasets on sustainability reporting.

• Implement, test, and benchmark model performance using open-source frameworks and tools.

• Collaborate with sustainability researchers, data scientists, and industry partners to ensure model relevance and usability.

• Develop user-facing prototypes or APIs that demonstrate the model’s practical applications in reporting, analysis, or decision support.

• Contribute to academic publications, open-source releases, and capacity-building activities.

Job Requirements:

• PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.

• Proven experience in large/small language model development, fine-tuning, or LLM-based applications.

• Strong programming skills in Python, and familiarity with key libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or Hugging Face Transformers.

• Experience with data engineering (e.g., preprocessing, annotation, pipelines).

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with attention to reproducibility and open-source best practices.

• Experience or demonstrated interest in applied NLP for related contexts (e.g., finance, ESG, corporate sustainability, environmental data)