Join Us: Openings at the Reading to Learn (R2L) Lab

The R2L Lab at the University of Waterloo's Cheriton Department of Computer Science is seeking passionate and driven researchers to join our team. Our mission is to advance machine learning efficiency and generalization through the lens of language understanding. We build cutting-edge natural language agents that can learn, reason, and interact with the world. If you are excited about solving fundamental challenges in AI and collaborating in a dynamic and supportive environment, we encourage you to apply.


Open Positions

We have several openings for motivated individuals to contribute to our core research areas.

PhD/MS Student

As a PhD/MS student at the R2L Lab, you will lead a research project, publish in top-tier AI/ML/NLP conferences (such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP), and contribute to the intellectual life of the lab.

Postdoctoral Fellow

We are looking for an independent researcher to join us as a Postdoctoral Fellow. You will have the freedom to define and lead ambitious research projects while mentoring PhD students and helping to shape the lab's research direction.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Each semester, we have 1-2 slots for undergraduate researchers in our lab. We prioritize students through the URF program, follwed by the URA program. At R2L Lab, we empower our students to become independent thinkers and future research leaders. Unlike typical research assistantships that involve completing assigned, well-defined tasks, you will be expected to lead your own investigation. Working closely with a PhD or faculty mentor, you will learn to identify a compelling research problem, formulate a hypothesis, design experiments, and drive your project towards a meaningful outcome, such as a publication at a top-tier conference.


Example Research Projects

Our lab offers an exceptional platform for exploring how machines, like humans, can swiftly adapt to novel situations via language understanding. As a member of our lab, you will work in a diverse set of areas including ML, RL, NLP, and CV. Moreover, your work will provide collaboration opportunities with industry research labs such as the Vector Institute, Microsoft Research, Meta AI Research, and Salesforce Research. Some specific topics that we are exploring and hiring for include:

If you do not have traditional ML/NLP training, but would like to work on ML/NLP, we might also be a good fit for you. Currently, we are also looking to hire in the following areas for graduate students and postdocs:

To give you a better idea of our work, here are some recent research projects we are exploring:


How to Apply

Interested in joining us? Please follow these steps:

  1. Review our work: Take a look at our recent publications to see if your research interests align with ours. An LLM summary of our recent papers is insufficient.
  2. Complete our Lab Application: In order for our lab to track your application, please complete this form. This is independent from applying through the University. If you do not complete this form, and just email us, there is a high chance that we will miss your application.
  3. For Prospective PhD/MS students: Please also submit an official application for PhD or for MMath to the University of Waterloo's Computer Science department. You must mention your interest in working with Victor Zhong in your application. Our deadline is typically December 1st.

Contact Us

If you have any questions after reviewing this page, please feel free to reach out to Victor Zhong. We look forward to hearing from you!