Doctoral Candidate for Rearing of Fly Larvae with Machine Learning to Improve the Sustainability of Agricultural Inputs
In der aktuellen Covid-19 Situation laufen die Rekrutierungen weiter. Es kann dabei allerdings zu Verzögerungen kommen. Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis.
100%, Singapore, fixed-term
ETH Zurich is one of the leading universities of the world with a strong focus on science and engineering. In 2010 it established the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) in collaboration with the National Research Foundation (NRF) to do interdisciplinary research on pressing problems.
The centre currently runs several research programmes with the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) as one of the programmes. It is home to a community of over 100 PhD, postdoctoral and professorial researchers working on diverse themes related to sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure systems. In the course of their work, researchers actively collaborate with universities, research institutes, industry, and government agencies with the aim of offering practical solutions.
The ETH Sustainable Food Processing Group in the Department of Health Science and Technology uses a combined approach of emerging food safety concepts, novel protein processing and sustainability assessment to target fundamental challenges in food science and society. Our research lies at the interface of biological systems and engineering.
Project background
Singapore targets increasing its domestic, independent food supply under urbanized constraints by 30% through intensification of domestic food production by 2030. The NRF funded project “Using black soldier flies in food waste management and sustainable food production in urban systems” supports the ‘30-by-30’ vision by insect-based bioconversion of high value food waste back for production of high-quality agricultural inputs for domestic food production. The project includes collaborative research by National University of Singapore (NUS), SEC, ETH Zurich, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and others, across five interrelated thematic areas.
The doctoral student will work with larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens). Rearing of black soldier fly larvae on food wastes is notoriously unreliable due to the natural variable nutrient composition among wastes. In large rearing facilities, such variability can be partially compensated by formulating waste mixtures. However, the large space requirements in these facilities limits direct replication in dense urban systems like Singapore. Instead, decentralized and vertical rearing in unutilized urban spaces holds more promise for Singapore. The doctoral student will optimize insect bioconversion in a decentralized rearing module by using the ever-evolving pool of smart and inexpensive sensors and machine learning algorithms.
Job description
As a Doctoral Candidate in the ETH Sustainable Food Processing Group in Singapore, you will be responsible for research working towards making decentralized food waste bioconversion by black soldier fly larvae more reliable.
Your tasks will include:
- Design and commission a modular research rearing unit using the ever-evolving pool of smart sensors, e.g. real time analysis of growing crate temperature heat maps, larval movement (e.g. using bioacoustics) and emissions/odours (e.g. H2O, CO2, NH4, CH4)
- Operate the rearing unit to produce a training data set for construction of a machine learning algorithm that adapts rearing parameters to make food waste decomposition more reliable
- Validate rearing unit and machine learning algorithm with both industrial and community partners to ensure uptake and replication into Singapores food system
- Communicate research outcomes at relevant international conferences and in peer-reviewed journals
- Acting at the interface between science and technology when supervising students and collaborating with partners from academia and industry
Your profile
- A M.Sc. (or equivalent) in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Environmental or Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Data Science and Machine Learning, Measurement and Control Technology (or similar)
- A passion for sustainability, circular economy, and resource management
- Expertise and interest in working with biological systems (e.g. animals, insects, microbes, vertical farming of plants)
- Interest to work with fly larvae and food waste
- Experience in applying Machine Learning, Data Analysis and Statistics (e.g. Regressions) in Python
- Good “people skills” when interacting with colleagues, supervisors, research partners and research equipment manufacturers
- A strong interest and willingness to prototype, build, operate and trouble-shoot a sensor-based research setup
- Experience of working independently in an international multicultural project
- Strong verbal and written communication skills in English
- Scientific curiosity and motivation to perform scientifically rigorous experimental work
The following competences will be advantageous:
- At least one peer-reviewed publication
Singapore-ETH Centre
The Singapore-ETH Centre provides a multicultural and interdisciplinary environment to researchers working on diverse themes focussed on sustainable and liveable cities, resilient urban systems, and patient-centric healthcare. The centre is home to a community of over 100 doctoral, postdoctoral and professorial researchers working in three main programmes: Future Cities Laboratory, Future Resilient Systems, and Future Health Technologies.
Working, teaching and research at Singapore-ETH CentreSimilar Positions
-
Ph D Position In Food Technology, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia, 5 days ago
18 Apr 2024 Job Information Organisation/Company Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Department Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science Research Field Agricultural sciences Researcher Prof...
-
Ph D Position In Food Technology, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia, 6 days ago
17 Apr 2024 Job Information Organisation/Company Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Department Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science Research Field Agricultural sciences Researcher Prof...
-
Ph D Position In Economics And Management, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia, 8 days ago
15 Apr 2024 Job Information Organisation/Company Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Department Faculty of Economics and Management Research Field Economics Researcher Profile First Stage Re...
-
Ph D Student In Industrial Economics And Organization, Mälardalens universitet, Sweden, 7 days ago
16 Apr 2024 Job Information Organisation/Company Mälardalens universitet Research Field Economics » Industrial economics Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Country Sweden Application D...
-
Ph D Student In Industrial Economics And Organization, Mälardalen University, Sweden, about 18 hours ago
Mälardalen University (MDU) is the youngest university in Sweden. In line with our vision, to be a progressive and collaborative University where we shape a sustainable future together, we wish to...
-
Ph D Scholarship In Magnetothermal Energy Harvesting From Waste Heat, European Magnetism Association EMA, Denmark, 22 days ago
Description of the offer : Do you want to contribute to a future where we can harvest energy from waste heat using a novel magnetothermal device, that you will get to help realize? If yes, this Ph...