Openings
Thank you for your interest in joining my group! I’m looking for motivated students and collaborators. As a mentor, I take a hands-on approach and am invested in my students’ growth. I believe the most important part of research is identifying problems that are genuinely interesting and impactful. Please refer to the openings and application procedures below to start working with me:
Current Openings
- PhD Student — Jan 2027 Intake: (application deadline: Sep 2026).
- You can apply to SUTD’s PhD program and list me as a potential advisor. This position is fully supported by the SUTD Scholarship. Students with prior research or publication experience in LLMs, NLP, or related areas will be preferred.
- If you have Singaporean citizenship / PR status, please make a note in your email. Possible Industry Postgraduate Programme (IPP) sponsorship could be arranged.
- RAs/Interns:
- I am looking for collaborators to work together on research ideas. If interested, please share your resume with me over as detailed in the next section. You can also note down your possible time commitment and whether you’d prefer onsite or remote collaboration.
- Visiting Students:
- CSC-supported students are welcome to visit.
- Postdocs:
- I am happy to co-supervisor Postdocs with Assistant Professor Wenxuan Zhang.
How to Apply
If you are interested in any of the positions listed above, feel free to email me at esther_zhao [at] sutd.edu.sg with the following:
- Email subject: Position-Start Time-Name-Affiliation (e.g., “PhD-Jan 2027-Annie-SMU”).
- Required materials: Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Resume.
- Optional materials: Feel free to include anything that you think would outline your academia abilities and research interests, such as transcripts, future plans, or a brief research proposal.
Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 3 weeks.