JADS: PhD in AI for decision support in water desalination

JADS: PhD in AI for decision support in water desalination

Published Deadline Location
17 May 30 Jun Eindhoven

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PhD in Artificial Intelligence to support Sustainable Development Goals 6 (clean water) and 7 (clean energy) as part of the Innovation Lab for Utilities on Sustainable Technology and Renewable Energy (ILUSTRE) project, funded in a public private partnership by NWO/NLAIC and private partners.

Job description

The Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS) is the joint Data Science Academy of Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands.

JADS is seeking an enthusiastic colleague for the position of
PhD researcher in decision support systems to accelerate the energy transition and the use of sustainable technology for water desalination, recycling and purification,
as part of the ILUSTRE project that focusses on use-cases in the Caribbean region.

Are you fascinated by how clean water and sanitation can be provided to citizens in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly way? Are you eager to work on developing advanced technology for optimizing the decisions to manage clean water production systems? Are you passionate about creating scientific breakthroughs in artificial intelligence for managing scarce water supplies? Then you might be our next PhD who will develop artificial intelligence systems to support the complex operational decisions needed to improve water desalination, recycling and purification processes.

Job Description

Clean water and sanitation is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations. Reaching these goals in an energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable way requires optimization and balancing of multiple decisions in a complex setting. For example, the recent trend to use renewable energy sources for desalination and wastewater treatment makes the decision process more complicated, due to the temporal variability of these sources. To deal with this complexity, AI systems that go beyond the current point solutions are needed, while also considering the broader perspective and a balanced interaction between the computerized systems and human experts, providing them with understandable explanations on the inner working of the AI system. The scientific challenge of this PhD project is to develop hybrid AI solutions that combine advanced prediction methods (e.g., deep learning algorithms), multi-objective optimization and adaptive models with explainable AI decision-making methods from computational intelligence to realize such a balance.

As the PhD working on this challenge, you will become part of the Computational Intelligence for Decision Support team at JADS and will collaborate with other PhDs working in the Data Analytics Unit.

ILUSTRE project

This position is linked to ILUSTRE, a new Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence (ICAI) to be established in Curaçao. ILUSTRE will be a living lab in the Caribbean with the objective to develop, implement and test AI innovations that will accelerate the use of clean energy and advanced solutions in water treatment and wastewater recycling/purification. The innovation lab is one of the new ICAI labs that are part of the ROBUST program on Trustworthy AI-based Systems for Sustainable Growth which is financed under the NWO LTP funding scheme. ILUSTRE offers opportunities for PhD candidates who wish to support to the acceleration of the energy transition and who have an affinity with the Dutch Caribbean islands.

Specifications

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

Requirements

  • A master's degree in artificial intelligence, data science, computer science or an equivalent quantitative field.
  • Provable affinity with the Caribbean region.
  • Preparedness to perform a significant part of the research in the Caribbean region.
  • A research-oriented attitude.
  • Ability to work in a team while also taking a pro-active attitude to drive your own research in collaboration with industrial partners and other stakeholders.
  • Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).

Conditions of employment

Being appointed at JADS provides a meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious community of two universities and many startups. Based on the project, the candidate receives an appointment at TU/Eindhoven.

As a PhD Student at JADS you will have a full-time employment for a total of four years, with an intermediate evaluation after nine months. JADS offers excellent employment conditions with attention to flexibility and (personal) development and attractive fringe benefits. The gross monthly salary is in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities. The minimum gross salary is € 2.541 per month up to a maximum of € 3.247 in the fourth year. You are entitled to a vacation allowance of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% of your gross annual income. If you work 40 hours per week, you will receive 41 paid days of leave per year. PhD Students from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance of 30% of their taxable salary if they meet the relevant conditions. The university applies for this allowance on their behalf. JADS will provide assistance in finding suitable accommodation.

The exact conditions of employment may vary depending on the percentage of time spent in Curaçao as part of your secondment.  

Preferred starting date: September 1, 2023.

To develop your teaching skills, you will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks. To support you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will make a Training and Supervision plan and you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students.

Next to that we offer all kinds of facilities and arrangements to maintain an optimal balance between work and private life. All employees of the university are covered by the so-called General Pension Fund for Public Employers (Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP). 

JADS values an open and inclusive culture. We embrace diversity and encourage the mutual integration of groups of employees and students. We focus on creating equal opportunities for all our employees and students so that everyone feels at home in our university community.

All researchers working in JADS have contracts at either Tilburg University or Eindhoven University of Technology. Please visit Working at Tilburg University and Working at Eindhoven University of Technology for more information on their respective employment conditions.

Specifications

  • PhD
  • Engineering
  • max. 38 hours per week
  • University graduate
  • V32.6639

Employer

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

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Location

De Rondom 70, 5612 AP, Eindhoven

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