Internship | AI‑Driven Dataset Curation: Leveraging VLMs to Understand and Improve Dataset Quality

High‑quality datasets are the backbone of trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. Yet, strengthening AI systems through careful dataset curation remains an often underestimated part of model development and deployment. In this internship, you will explore how natural‑language‑driven image quality assessment can enhance dataset curation practices. Where traditional methods rely on numerical indicators such as contrast, noise levels, or resolution, modern multimodal models enable richer, grounded descriptions of image quality. Building on ideas from work like GROUNDING‑IQA: Grounding Multimodal Language Models for Image Quality Assessment, this project investigates how image‑level quality descriptions can be combined into dataset‑level profiles, revealing coverage gaps, biases, and systematic quality inconsistencies. The focus will be on real‑world datasets, with particular attention to how well these quality assessment approaches generalize to niche domains, long‑tail categories, or fine‑grained classes. The results will contribute to more structured, transparent, and explainable dataset curation workflows.

You will design and implement a pipeline that generates and analyzes natural language image quality descriptions, perform dataset-level aggregation and keyword analysis, and evaluate how well these methods generalize across different datasets and domains. Through experiments, you will assess how language-based quality profiling can complement traditional numerical quality metrics in data validation workflows. The precise focus and methods can be tailored to match your interests and strengths.

During your internship, you will write a thesis documenting your research. If the results are promising, we may explore the possibility of a joint publication.

You are in the final stages of your master’s degree in artificial intelligence, computer science, data science, or a related field. You have experience with Python, deep learning, and preferably some familiarity with vision-language models. You are curious about how AI can be made more interpretable and robust in real-world settings.

We expect you to work from our office in The Hague (Oude Waalsdorperweg 63) at least two days per week, but preferably more often. Your supervision team will consist of experienced researchers in computer vision and deep learning, and are actively involved in related projects. Furthermore, they regularly supervise students, often with overlapping topics that encourage collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Please include the following practical information in your cover letter:

• Whether you are looking for an internship or a graduation project.
• The preferred duration of your project (flexible in the range of 6 to 12 months).
• Your desired start date (flexible, but due to the required security screening the earliest possible start date is three months after submitting your application).

You want an internship opportunity on the precursor of your career; an internship gives you an opportunity to take a good look at your prospective future employer. TNO goes a step further. It’s not just looking that interests us; you and your knowledge are essential to our innovation. That’s why we attach a great deal of value to your personal and professional development. You will, of course, be properly supervised during your work placement and be given the scope for you to get the best out of yourself. Furthermore, we provide:

• A highly professional, innovative internship environment, within a team of top experts.
• A suitable internship allowance (615 euro for wo-, hbo- and mbo-students, for a full-time internship).
• Possibility of eight hours of free leave per internship month (for a full-time internship).
• A free membership of Jong TNO, where you can meet other TNO professionals and join several activities, such as sports activities, (work-related) courses or the yearly ski-trip.
• Use of a laptop.
• An allowance for travel expenses in case you don’t receive an OV-card.

At TNO, we innovate for a healthier, safer and more sustainable life. And for a strong economy. Since 1932, we have been making knowledge and technology available for the common good. We find each other in wonder and ingenuity. We are driven to push boundaries. There is all the space and support for your talent and ambition. You work with people who will challenge you: who inspire you and want to learn from you. Our state-of-the-art facilities are there to realize your vision. What you do at TNO matters: impact makes the difference. Because with every innovation you contribute to tomorrow’s world. Read more about TNO as an employer.

At TNO we encourage an inclusive work environment, where you can be yourself. Whatever your story and whatever unique qualities you bring to the table. It is by combining our unique strengths and perspectives that we are able to develop innovations that make a real difference in society. Want to know more? Read what steps we are taking in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion.

After the first CV selection, the application process will be conducted by the concerning department. TNO will provide a suitable internship agreement. If you have any questions about this vacancy, you can contact the contact person mentioned below.

For this internship vacancy it is required that the AIVD issues a security clearance (VGB) after conducting a security screening. Take into account that this process may take about 8 weeks. If you have been abroad for more than 6 consecutive months, or if you do not have the Dutch nationality, it may take longer. Read more about security screening on the AIVD website.

Important to be aware of before applying:

• Before the start of the internship, the internship agreement from TNO needs to be signed. For students at a college or university based in the Netherlands, TNO uses the UNL-template (supplemented with a number of specific agreements from TNO). For students of foreign and MBO educational institutions, the TNO internship agreement applies. TNO does not sign any other internship agreements.
• Before the start of the internship, the educational institution will need to confirm in writing that:
  • 1) You are enrolled at the educational institution during the internship, and;
  • 2) The internship takes place as part of the programme of the study.

• The confirmation of educational institution takes place by signing the UNL template or forms prepared by TNO.
• Interns at TNO must be in possession of a Dutch residential address at the start of the internship. Performance of internship activities from abroad is not possible.