Master Student in Machine learning (R0)

The Machine Learning for Biomedical Research Unit, led by Davide Cirillo, is looking for an intern to contribute to the development of an active inference framework for the study of rare diseases.

The project aims to combine multimodal biomedical knowledge graphs with active inference agents to support reasoning over rare disease hypotheses, while keeping every decision interpretable. This study will serve as a proof of concept for applying active inference to clinical decision support in data-sparse, high-uncertainty settings. The intern will address the following tasks:

• Knowledge graph integration: harmonizing multimodal biomedical data from knowledge-based resources.
• Representation learning: exploring approaches to learn meaningful representations of disease-related data.
• Explainable discovery: supporting the interpretation of model outputs to help clarify how the framework’s decisions can inform transparent, evidence-based clinical reasoning.

The successful candidate will join a dynamic research group within the Life Sciences department, which integrates independent senior scientists that work on various aspects of computational biology, ranging from bioinformatics for genomics and proteomics to computational biochemistry and text mining. The researcher will work in a highly sophisticated HPC environment, will have access to systems and computational infrastructures, and will establish collaborations with experts in different areas. Key Duties

• Complete an internship in bioinformatics, focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
• Participate in internal group meetings and other scientific discussions., * A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process

The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system (“Concurso-Oposición”). The recruitment process consists of two phases:

• Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points
• Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.

In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.

The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.

At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment [at] bsc [dot] es. For more information, please follow this link.

• Master student in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology or any field related to AI and biomedicine.
• Degree in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology or any field related to AI and biomedicine and Computer Science.
• Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
• Knowledge in Computer Science, Bioinformatics and/or Computational Biology.
• Knowledge of Python or other programming languages (e.g., R)
• Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
• Fluency in spoken and written English.
• Competences
• Good communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to work both independently and within a team.

• The position will be located at BSC within the Life Sciences Department
• We offer a part-time internship (25h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure

• Duration: 11 months *

• Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
• Starting date: 01/11/2026

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.

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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.

We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.