FOURIER - InnOvative ArtiFicial IntelligencE methodologIes for monitoRing and maintaining large scale complex infrastrUctures and obtaining greener, more Resilient and smart societies - 1 PhD position

25 Feb 2025
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Infra Plan consulting

Department

Research and Innovation

Research Field

Computer science » Programming
Engineering » Civil engineering
Environmental science » Earth science

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Positions

PhD Positions

Country

Croatia

Application Deadline

30 Apr 2025 - 12:00 (Europe/Zagreb)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Hours Per Week

40

Offer Starting Date

1 Jul 2025

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Horizon Europe - MSCA

Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number

101169429

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

FOURIER DC6 - Training AI health monitoring algorithms using large-scale synthetic data 

This position is part of MSCA European doctoral network “FOURIER - InnOvative ArtiFicial IntelligencE methodologIes for monitoRing and maintaining large scale complex infrastrUctures and obtaining greener, more Resilient and smart societies”, which offers altogether 15 PhD positions. 

Infra Plan Consulting, as a beneficiray in the FOURIER project, is offering this PhD research project. Infra Plan Consulting is providing consultancy and research actvities in the area of data analytics, maintenance planning projects and infrastructure management. Multi-disciplinary team at Infra Plan has a strong expertise in R&I activities related to upgrading the existing transport networks, from condition assessment, over construction to operational and maintenance management. 

AI-based approaches for monitoring of distributed Critical Infrastructure require significant amounts of training data to produce accurate and reliable predictions. However, one of the major bottlenecks in this area is the lack of adequate field monitoring data of hazard events (i.e. failures caused by extreme weather events), which restricts the wide application of these techniques. Therefore this project will focus on the usage of synthetic data produced from simulations of physical engineering structural models of infrastructure elements (subsystems, components) including their uncertainties (digital twins), considering pre-stress (e.g. due to aging), external loading, failure response and consequences. The project will consist of following tasks:

Hazards scenarios analysis and data collection. Generative adversarial networks will be used to produce a large amount of data based on the simulation results. 

Synthetic data produced from simulations of physical engineering structural models of infrastructure elements (subsystems, components) including their uncertainties (digital twins), considering pre-stress (e.g. due to aging), external loading, failure response and consequences. 

Training of AI algorithms using multi-time series data from remote sensing and embedded sensors in infrastructure elements.

Validation of AI algorithms in the real-world application with the industrial partners, using multi-time series sensor data of infrastructure elements and other data.

The research project outputs will be used to support infrastructure decision makers to cope with different challenges of the future needs of transport networks (i.e. climate change impacts, aging, overloading, etc.). 

 

FOURIER's main objectives are:

• Establish a network of individual research projects focused on advanced infrastructure monitoring techniques using AI.
• Develop methods for large-scale autonomous monitoring, inspection and proactive testing of complex engineering systems.
• Improve the resilience of infrastructures against failures, accidents, sabotage and disasters.
• Offer innovative research training and knowledge exchange opportunities for doctoral students through cross-border and intersectoral mobility.

The PhD student (DC6) for this project will be enrolled at PhD program at University of Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering, and employed by Infra Plan Consulting company. In this position, the candidate will take part in secondments at National Technical University of Athens (Greece) and Technical University of Munich (Germany).

 

 

Where to apply

E-mail

info@infraplan.hr

Requirements

Research Field

Computer science » Programming

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Research Field

Engineering » Civil engineering

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Research Field

Environmental science » Earth science

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

In order to succeed as a doctoral student at University of Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering you need to be goal oriented and persevering in your work. 

During the selection process, candidates will be assessed upon following:

• independently pursue their work (self-motivated and organized)
• communication and teamwork skills to collaborate within multi-disciplinary academic and industry teams
• experience of using programming languages in big data handling
• committed and professional approach to analyse and work with complex issues
• problem-solving and creative solutions development.

Willingness to engage in secondments at industrial and academic partners to gain practical and interdisciplinary experience is a must.

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

Languages

ENGLISH

Level

Excellent

Additional Information
Benefits

The selected candidates will receive a 36-month, full-time employment contract as per Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) regulations for early stage researchers, with a highly competitive salary, including a monthly living and mobility allowance and (if eligible) a monthly family allowance. 

The gross salary consists of:

• living allowance: 3400 EUR/month, adjusted through the application of a country correction coefficient to the living allowance of the country in which the researcher is recruited. The country correction coefficients are indicated in Table 1 of the MSCA Work Programme 2023-2025.
• mobility allowance: 600 EUR/month 
• family allowance, if applicable - depending on the family situation: 660 EUR/month. 

Net salary is subject the 2025 Croatian tax laws.

Eligibility criteria

The expected recruitment date for this position is July 1, 2025. To comply with the MSCA-DN eligibility rules, the applicant:

• Must not be already in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment;
• Must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Croatia for more than 12 months in the 36 months before their recruitment date.

To be eligible for a PhD at University of Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering, the applicant is bound to have the following requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree diploma (EQF level 6).
• Certificate with all the exams taken in the Bachelor’s degree programme (front and back scan) or a document issued by the University including all the exams taken.
• Master’s degree diploma (EQF level 7). If the official diploma is not available yet, a provisional one can be accepted. Otherwise, an official document specifying the expected date of graduation is necessary.
• Certificate with all the exams taken in the Master’s degree programme (front and back scan). If at the final year of the programme, a certificate of the exams taken - as updated as possible - with the average of final or current grades;

These documents must be written in English by the issuing University. In case of any other language than those mentioned above, applicants are required to attach both the original version of the document and its official translation in English. The documents must be on headed paper with the stamp of the institution that issued them and the administrator's signature in charge. Electronically signed documents can only be accepted if they can be verified online via QR code or verification link.

One of the following certificates of English language knowledge, regardless of the data of obtainment:

English language certificate – level C1 or above (valid regardless of the conferral date)  as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The language certificates accepted by University of Zagreb are available here .

Selection process

Applications must be received before the indicated deadline. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the advertisement.

All applications will adhere to the security constraints of the organizations hosting the PhD candidate

Infra Plan Consulting company is engaged to ensure an Open, Transparent, Merit-based Recruitment, in line with the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. 

The composition of the selection committee will respect the rules of parity both in gender and in academic/industrial participation. 

The selection procedure will consist of the following steps:

• Eligibility check: The Recruitment Committee will check that each application is complete and that applicants fulfil the eligibility criteria described in the previous section.
• Remote Evaluation: each eligible application will be evaluated by the Selection Committee, according to the doctoral canditate´s position options expressed by the applicants and the provided documents.
• Interviews: The short-listed candidates will be interviewed by a Selection Committee. The Selection Committee will respect the rules of gender equality and will have an adequate academic/industrial participation.

The recruiting institution will send out notification of the selection outcome after the interview. Rejected applications will receive constructive feedbacks. 

The organization then conducts a final assessment of the selected candidate, verifying administrative and institutional aspects to confirm acceptance. The process concludes with signing a contract, which formalizes the relationship between the successful candidate and the institution. This contract establishes the rights and duties of both parties.

Additional comments

The email subject must begin with the word FOURIER and include:

• International identification document (passport for extra-European candidates)
• Updated CV including relevant professional and academic experience.
• MSc certificate or Authenticated Master's degree diploma (if obtained outside the EU). Translations into English if the original document is not issued in one of these languages. Copies of originals must be certified.
• Declaration of not having completed any other PhD program
• Research statement 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 1 page)
• English and optional Croatian language certificate 
• Master’s Thesis and scientific publications.

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

INFRA PLAN KONZALTING D.O.O.

Country

Croatia

City

Zagreb

Postal Code

10110

Street

Nova cesta 109

Geofield

Contact

City

Zagreb

Website

http://infraplan.hr/

Street

Nova cesta 109

Postal Code

10000

E-Mail

info@infraplan.hr

STATUS: EXPIRED

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