Apollo Tyres is one of world’s biggest tyre manufacturers. The enterprise has manufacturing units in India, The Netherlands and Hungary. Research & Development (R&D) within Apollo Tyres has over 300 engineers working mainly in Enschede, The Netherlands. R&D activities include Material science, Simulations technology, Design & Construction, CAE/FEA, Process development and Testing. The development process is strongly linked to Manufacturing, Marketing and Sales.
The design and production of new tyre products is drastically changing, being impacted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. AI has the potential of improving the performance and optimizing the material consumption of tyre production. A challenge to proper support AI is the development of a data repository, which is a sustainable data infrastructure that provides long-term storage and access to datasets for data analysis and sharing, complying to the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data principles. You will address this challenge in the PDEng project, considering the use cases of Apollo Tyres R&D.

Are you passionate about high-end technological design? Do you want to continue developing your skills with a combination of education and work? 
The Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) programme Business & IT offers you a 2-year position combining post MSc education and a design project to be carried out at Apollo Tyres.
The educational programme, carried out at the University of Twente, will have an in-depth and broadening character with ample attention for professional development and will be partly tailored to the design project. In collaboration with Apollo Tyres you will work on high level, creative new designs for complex issues.

The project – FAIR Data repository for Explainable Artificial Intelligence:

• Your main goal is to develop a data repository to serve as central database that stores data about tyre mould parameters, tyre specifications, tyre test and FEA data. This data repository needs to support explainable AI methods, such as white-box artificial neural networks.
• You will define a data model schema (e.g., an ontology) covering the existing data, identify machine learning algorithms and run experimentations, choosing the most appropriate ones.
• The machine learning algorithm needs to identify minimum values of certain tyre mould parameters and tyre constructions to achieve a certain level of these tyre performance indicators: (1) Rolling resistance needs to be minimized; (2) High speed needs to be maximized; (3) Tyre durability tests needs to be more accurate.
• You will use techniques like data management, ontology engineering and machine learning, and other modelling and software engineering techniques to develop the data repository.
• You will cooperate with Apollo Tyres R&D, covering performance and technology aspects of Apollo Tyres’ products and services.

• You hold a MSc degree, for example in: Computer Science, Internet Science & Technology, Software Technology, Business Information Technology (BIT), Industrial Engineering and Management, Interaction Technology, or a related specialization;
• You have demonstrated affinity with design and multidisciplinary assignments;
• You have a passion for finding solutions for complex IT-related issues;
• You have excellent collaboration and communication skills;
• You are self-starting and self-motivating, willing to take initiatives and feel the responsibility for your own project;

Applicants with a non-Dutch qualification and who have not had secondary and tertiary education in English can only be admitted with an IELTS-test showing a total band score of at least 6.5, internet TOEFL test (TOEFL-iBT) showing a score of at least 90, or a Cambridge CAE-C (CPE).

We offer a very challenging position for two years in an inspiring multidisciplinary and international environment. In this time we will provide you with a tailor made post-master design programme that has an educational component (~50%) as well as a design project (~50%).

• A salary of € 1.970,- gross per month;
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary;
• A solid pension scheme;
• Minimum of 29 holidays in case of full-time employment

On successfully completing the programme, you will receive a certified degree. You will be entitled to use the academic degree PDEng and will be registered as a Technological Designer in the Dutch register kept by the Royal Institution of Engineers in the Netherlands (KIVI).

The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) comprises three disciplines that shape Information and Communication Technology. ICT is more than communication. In almost every product we use mathematics, electronics and computer technology and ICT now contributes to all of societies' activities. The faculty works together intensively with industrial partners and researchers in the Netherlands and abroad and conducts extensive research for external commissioning parties and funders.