CS PhD Roundup — August 31, 2026: 1 new opening and 1 urgent carry-forward

What changed this week

The August 24–31, 2026 window produced one newly posted qualifying opening. One previously tracked role now needs action before its stated deadline, so this issue has two main decision units: a Northeastern University Dublin postdoc in topological machine learning and a University of Southern Denmark postdoc in neuromorphic reinforcement learning.

The new opening closes on September 9. The SDU page carries a deadline that falls today in local Danish time, alongside a second portal timestamp that needs confirmation before submission.

Quick triage

Direction	Advisor and institution	Position	Status and timing	First action
Topological and geometric machine learning	Giovanni Petri, Northeastern University Dublin Innovation Institute	1 postdoctoral research associate; 10 months, full time	Placed August 24, 2026; closes September 9; starts September 1 or as soon as possible	Read the advert and apply by email with reference `TOPO-LLM-DII-2026`. 1
Neuromorphic reinforcement learning	Melih Kandemir, University of Southern Denmark	1 postdoc; 2 years	Carry-forward from June 17, 2026; job description says August 31 at 23:59 local Danish time; portal block says September 1 at 05:59 with no timezone label; starts October 1 or later	Open the SDU application portal, confirm the cutoff, and upload the PDF application. 2

Topological and geometric machine learning

Northeastern University Dublin Innovation Institute: Giovanni Petri

Fit. ICML 2026 lists Professor Giovanni Petri as an author of The Geometry of Representational Failures in Vision Language Models. The paper studies how geometric overlap between concept representations relates to specific failures in vision-language models. The role fits applicants working in topological data analysis, computational topology, geometric deep learning, higher-order network science, graph machine learning, or statistical physics. 3

Role and application. Northeastern University's Dublin Innovation Institute is recruiting one full-time postdoctoral research associate for the TOPO-LLM project, Topologically-Informed Large Language Models for Innovation Intelligence. The 10-month appointment pays €64,000 for the project period and starts on September 1, 2026, or as soon as possible afterward. The advert lists September 9 as the closing date. 1

The researcher will build an Innovation Topology Embedding from persistent-homology summaries, higher-order Laplacian features, and multiscale network structure. The work then integrates those features into a transformer-based language model and tests the result with controlled benchmarks and ablation studies. The project uses a large knowledge graph of publications, patents, and related innovation data, with access to the EuroHPC MareNostrum 5 supercomputer. 1

Applicants need an awarded or near-complete PhD in computer science, mathematics, physics, statistics, network science, or a related quantitative field. The required profile includes Python, modern scientific or machine-learning software, computational experiment design, independent research and publication, and clear technical English. Persistent homology, transformers or large language models, PyTorch, Hugging Face, high-performance computing, SLURM, distributed multi-GPU training, hypergraphs, simplicial complexes, large knowledge graphs, and open-source scientific software are listed as additional advantages. 1

Send the application to Caroline Ward at caroline.ward@nulondon.ac.uk by 12 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, using reference TOPO-LLM-DII-2026. Include a CV with publications and software contributions, a covering letter, a research statement of no more than two pages with at least one figure, and contact details for up to three referees. The advert says shortlisting is rolling and early closure is possible. The position currently accepts an EEA, UK, or Swiss national who can demonstrate the right to work in Ireland; applicants should describe that status in the covering letter. 1

Lab signal. The role joins Giovanni Petri's NP Lab within Northeastern's Network Science Institute. The advert describes work across the Dublin Innovation Institute, Northeastern's global network, and Futurity Systems in Barcelona, with publication, project-report, and reusable-software contributions. 1

Neuromorphic reinforcement learning

University of Southern Denmark: Melih Kandemir

Fit. Melih Kandemir's publication page lists recent reinforcement-learning and uncertainty work at NeurIPS 2022, NeurIPS 2023, NeurIPS 2024, and ICLR 2022. The SDU opening suits researchers who combine reinforcement-learning theory with probabilistic modelling, spiking neural networks, and robust control under uncertainty and non-stationarity. 4

Role and application. The SDU Adaptive Intelligence Lab is recruiting one postdoctoral research fellow for a two-year appointment in neuromorphic reinforcement learning. The earliest start date is October 1, 2026. The project covers deep reinforcement learning, probabilistic modelling, spiking neural networks, theoretical guarantees for high-dimensional non-stationary control, and high-fidelity simulation for adaptive robotics and embodied AI. 2

The required profile includes a PhD in computer science, mathematics, statistics, or theoretical physics; at least two first-author papers at flagship machine-learning venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, or ICLR; reinforcement-learning theory; and strong Python skills with PyTorch or JAX. The advert also values distributional reinforcement learning, probabilistic machine learning, bio-inspired architectures, complex RL pipelines, and custom simulation environments. Salary follows the Danish collective agreement, with the starting range supplied during recruitment. 2

The job description gives a deadline of August 31, 2026, at 23:59 local Danish time. The Job Info block gives September 1, 2026, at 05:59, with no timezone label. Treat both as live portal fields and confirm which cutoff controls before submitting. The application requires a CV with employment start and end dates, a full publication list, and a PhD diploma or supervisor statement. Upload the files as PDFs through the SDU application portal. 2

Lab signal. ADIN sits in the Data Science and Statistics Group within SDU's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The advert describes collaboration between mathematicians and computer scientists, joint work aimed at top-tier publications, and standard teaching-assistant duties. 2

Deadline watch

SDU — confirm the portal cutoff and submit today. The page combines the August 31 local-Danish deadline with the unlabeled September 1 portal timestamp. The application also has a two-first-author-paper screen, so prepare the publication list before opening the portal. 2
Northeastern University Dublin — September 9, 2026. Prepare the two-page research statement and its required figure early. Rolling shortlisting and possible early closure make the email application time-sensitive. 1

This week's queue contains one new opening and one urgent carry-forward. Start with SDU's live deadline confirmation, then decide whether the TOPO-LLM combination of topology, language-model engineering, and large-scale computing matches your research record.