Two Ph.D. positions in Process Mining are about to open at University of Padua (Italy), and we are seeking for expressions of interests for the positions from excellent students. Process Mining is seen by many as the missing link between Process and Data Science. It focus on analyzing process-related trasactional data (a.k.a. event logs) with the intention to gain insight into how processes are being executed within organizations. The ultimate goal of Process Mining is to improve the process executions. The Ph.D. positions are financed by two industrial partners, which aim to advance their software solutions towards better process analytics and mining. Specifically, these positions are on the following topics: * PROCESS-AWARE RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS: these are system that monitor process executions, predict the final outcomes of the different process executions and recommend which activities to work on as next to optimize the quality of the outcome. While a large share of research has focused on monitoring and prediction, little has relatively been researched on for providing data-driven and fact-based recommendation. This Ph.D. project will focus on providing the most effective recommendations. * TASK MINING: event logs often record too low-level transactions, thus not matching the concepts known at business level. For instance, the application of Process Mining onto low-level event logs produces models that are overly complex and business companies do not understand. This Ph.D. project will aim to discover the actual business process tasks that are behind the low-level transaction data. Both Ph.D. projects aim to achieve the expected results by ensembling techniques from the realms of process-mining, machine- and deep-learning. The Ph.D. candidates will join the Ph.D. program on "Brain, Mind & Computer Science" at University of Padua (http://hit.psy.unipd.it/BMCS). University of Padua is constantly ranked among the best 150-250 universities in the world. It is the best Italian university for the quality of research results, according to the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research Systems. Padua is a middle-size city located in Veneto, one of the wealthiest Italian regions, at 30-minute distance from Venice. The Venice airport is a destination from most of the countries in the world, which makes travelling easy. THE POSITIONS WILL START IN OCTOBER 2021 AND END IN SEPTEMBER 2024 (three years). Possibility of a pre-doc scholarship for those who graduate before June 1st. These projects have a strong focus on the industrial application. Therefore, Ph.D. candidates are also expected to engage into conversations with company's customers to assess the practical, industry-oriented relevance of the work. Moreover, the candidates are expected to: * Conduct research on the Ph.D. project and develop accordant software prototypes, * Publish papers for important international conferences and attend those conferences, largely in Europe but possibly world-wide (ca. 2 times per year), * Spend between 3 to 6 months abroad to collaborate with international research groups. The requisites are: * to have a good knowledge in Machine and/or Deep Learning, * to be willing to develop their research ideas in terms of software prototype, * to have completed (or plan to complete) a Master in Computer Science or Engineering, Data Science or related programs not later than September 2021. Preexisting knowledge of Process Mining is not requested. PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS WHO WANT TO EXPRESS THEIR INTEREST SHOULD FILL THE FORM AT https://forms.gle/DVigCc7C2tnqE19J6 The expressions of interest will be immediately evaluated as soon as they are received (on a first-come-first-served basis). Expressions of interest after April 16th may not be considered. In case of questions, these can be directed to Dr. Massimiliano de Leoni at deleoni@math.unipd.it.