PhD Candidate in Incorporating AI in Safety-critical systems for CO2 capture, Injection and Storage

About the job

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering  is currently seeking a Ph.D. Candidate to investigate the challenges and opportunities of using artificial intelligence (AI) for safety-critical systems in offshore industrial facilities such as oil and gas, offshore windfarms, and blue hydrogen production and CO2 capture.

The primary focus of this position will be to develop trustworthy situational awareness and decision support at remote locations by leveraging machine learning (ML) and other AI technologies. However, the need for more transparency in algorithms and the unpredictable behavior of AI currently limits its use in functional safety standards, such as IEC 61508 and IEC 61511. Therefore, you will explore ways to overcome these challenges by ensuring the trustworthiness of AI algorithms and developing an architecture for an AI safety controller that can achieve the same safety integration level as a conventional safety-related controller.

You will address the following challenges:

Overall, this Ph.D. position offers an exciting opportunity to explore the use of AI in offshore industrial facilities and to develop solutions for ensuring the safety and reliability of these critical systems.

You will report to Professor Shen Yin.

Duties of the position

• take part in the mandatory Ph.D. research education program
• conduct independent research and publish the result in recognized scientific journals
• participate actively in activities of SUBPRO ZERO, the series of Ph.D. seminars

Required selection criteria

• you must have a professionally relevant background in Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS) or Cybernetics or Computer Science/Artificial intelligence/Machine learning
• your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level
• you must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education
• you must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program
• excellent written and oral English
• some knowledge or experience in safety systems
• familiar with Python and MATLAB, and a strong will to learn more.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate  and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• familiar with diagnosis and condition monitoring
• competences and skills in applying these tools for safety-instrumented systems

Personal characteristics

• autonomous – able to plan and organize own work in a systematic way
• team oriented – able to work with others
• curious – eager to learn new things
• creative – able to generate more ways to solve problems
• critical – ability to question and reflect on own and others’ work

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 3 years.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Engineering  within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants , and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

The position is subject to external funding.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must follow the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include: 

• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees. If you have not completed the master's degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master's thesis has been submitted
• a copy of the master's thesis. If you recently have submitted your master's thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master's degree must be presented before taking up the position
• project/research proposal
• Name and contact information of three referenses
• If you have publications or other relevant research work

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here . If you already have a statement from NOKUT, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation . You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Professor Shen Yin, shen.yin@ntnu.no and/or Professor Mary Ann Lundteigen, mary.a.lundteigen@ntnu.no . If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR consultant Linn-Cecilie Felle Brattheim, linn.c.felle@ntnu.no .

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 11.06.2023

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

We educate graduates who can create new products, operate and maintain products, and manage projects. The Department has a variety of bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes. We conduct wide-ranging research in fields such as technology, energy, product quality and development, and productivity. The Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering  is one of eight departments in the Faculty of Engineering.

Deadline 11th June 2023
Employer NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Municipality Trondheim
Scope Fulltime
Duration Temporary
Place of service Institutt for maskinteknikk og produksjon