Doctoral student in IoT and AI for monitoring of bridges focus on degradation modelling of bridge structures and their service life.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre of intellectual talent and innovation. We are Sweden’s largest technical research and learning institution and home to students, researchers and faculty from around the world. Our research and education covers a wide area including natural sciences and all branches of engineering, as well as architecture, industrial management, urban planning, history and philosophy.

Project description

Third-cycle subject: Structural Engineering and Bridges

Most civil engineering structures are afflicted with time dependent degradation due to environmental conditions and repetitive loading. Predictions of their real physical condition are difficult and associated with considerable uncertainties. In-service monitoring by wireless IoT sensors can help reducing uncertainties and provide reliable support for decisions on maintenance actions.

The PhD project will focus on degradation modelling of bridge structures and the prediction of their service life. This typically involve complex modelling of material properties and behaviour. The research will be aimed at establishing data driven models that can be updated with information from, e.g., inspections, testing, and expert knowledge. The project will combine physics knowledge of structures with machine learning knowledge, aiming at exploiting recent breakthrough in machine learning (ML).

The candidate will be employed at the division of Structural Engineering and Bridges. The project is a cooperation with the division of Network and Systems Engineering.

Supervision: John Leander is proposed to supervise the doctoral student. Decisions are made on admission

What we offer

• The possibility to study in a dynamic and international research environment.Read more
• A workplace with many employee benefits and monthly salary according to KTH’s Doctoral student salary agreement.
• A postgraduate education at an institution that is active and supportive.
• Help to relocate and be settled in Sweden and at KTH.
• The division of Structural Engineering and Bridges is involved in several ongoing monitoring projects with access to real-time data from bridges loaded with traffic.

Admission requirements

To be admitted to postgraduate education (Chapter 7, 39 § Swedish Higher Education Ordinance), the applicant must have basic eligibility in accordance with either of the following:

• passed a second cycle degree (for example a master’s degree), or
• completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 second-cycle higher education credits, or
• acquired, in some other way within or outside the country, substantially equivalent knowledge

The candidate should have a degree in computer science with a solid background in mathematics, probability theory and machine learning. Interest and experience from civil engineering structures is advantageous.

In addition to the above, there is also a mandatory requirement for English equivalent to English B/6, read more here

Selection

In order to succeed as a doctoral student at KTH you need to be goal oriented and persevering in your work. During the selection process, candidates will be assessed upon their ability to:

• independently pursue his or her work
• collaborate with others,
• have a professional approach and
• analyse and work with complex issues.

After the qualification requirements, great emphasis will be placed on personal competency. 

Target degree: Licentiate degree

Information regarding admission and employment

Only those admitted to postgraduate education may be employed as a doctoral student. The total length of employment may not be longer than what corresponds to full-time doctoral education in four years ‘ time. An employed doctoral student can, to a limited extent (maximum 20%), perform certain tasks within their role, e.g. training and administration. A new position as a doctoral student is for a maximum of one year, and then the employment may be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time.

Union representatives

You will find contact information for union representatives on KTH’s website.

Doctoral section (Students’ union on KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

You will find contact information for doctoral section on the section’s website.

Application

Apply for the position and admission through KTH’s recruitment system. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the advertisement.

Applications must be received at the last closing date at midnight, CET/CEST (Central European Time/entral European Summer Time).

Applications must include the following elements:

• CV including your relevant professional experience and knowledge.
• Application letter with a brief description of why you want to pursue research studies, about what your academic interests are and how they relate to your previous studies and future goals. (Maximum 2 pages long)
• Copies of diplomas and grades from previous university studies and certificates of fulfilled language requirements (see above). Translations into English or Swedish if the original document is not issued in one of these languages.Copies of originals must be certified.
• Representative publications or technical reports. For longer documents, please provide a summary (abstract) and a web link to the full text.

Other information

Striving towards gender equality, diversity and equal conditions is both a question of quality for KTH and a given part of our values.

For information about processing of personal data in the recruitment process please read here.

We firmly decline all contact with staffing and recruitment agencies and job ad salespersons.

Disclaimer: In case of discrepancy between the Swedish original and the English translation of the job announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.

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