Vacant job

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Your work assignments

As a PhD student, you will develop new soft actuators based on pneumatics and electroactive polymers and use them in wearables to exert artificial touch for pain relief. You will develop, manufacture, and characterize these actuators in the lab. You will then develop methods to integrate these into different fabrics, and wearables or garments together with our partners within the project. To support the development of these soft actuators and their integration in wearables, you will also participate in modeling them together with our partner at Biomechanics. You will also be involved in the various tests where the soft actuators and garments are tested on volunteers to study different stimulation parameters.

Your qualifications

You have graduated at Master’s level in mechanical engineering, material science, (applied) physics, medical engineering, biophysics, or related fields or completed courses with a minimum of 240 credits, at least 60 of which must be in advanced courses. Alternatively, you have gained essentially corresponding knowledge in another way.

Experience in haptics, wearables, soft actuators, electroactive polymers, and/or electrochemistry is meritorious.

You are passionate about science and engineering and have a strong interest in interdisciplinary research. You enjoy teamwork with colleagues in a multicultural setting but are also able to work on your own. You should be adept at thinking at a system level, be interested in applications, and enjoy building and testing working devices. You should be highly motivated, taking initiative, problem-solving, communicative, quality-minded, flexible, and eager to learn. You can both write and speak English fluently.

A short letter of intent (max 1 A4) where you describe your motivation for applying to this PhD position should be attached.

Your workplace

The work will be carried out at the Division of Sensor and Actuator Systems (https://liu.se/en/research/sensor-and-actuator-systems (https://liu.se/en/research/sensor-and-actuator-systems)) under the scientific guidance of Professor Edwin Jager. The Division of Sensor and Actuator Systems carries out research, undergraduate and postgraduate education within Applied Physics, in areas such as soft actuators, soft robotics, bioelectronics, biosensors, and gas and environmental sensing.

The employment

When taking up the post, you will be admitted to the program for doctoral studies. More information about the doctoral studies at each faculty is available at Doctoral studies at Linköping University (https://liu.se/en/education/doctoral-studies).

The employment has a duration of four years’ full-time equivalent. You will initially be employed for a period of one year. The employment will subsequently be renewed for periods of maximum duration two years, depending on your progress through the study plan. The employment may be extended up to a maximum of five years, based on the amount of teaching and departmental duties you have carried out. Further extensions can be granted in special circumstances.

Starting date by agreement.

Salary and employment benefits

The salary of PhD students is determined according to a locally negotiated salary progression.

More information about employment benefits at Linköping University is available here.

Union representatives

Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants (https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/help-for-applicants).

Application procedure

Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button below. Your application must reach Linköping University no later than 24th of April 2025.

Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered.

We welcome applicants with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives - diversity enriches our work and helps us grow. Preserving everybody's equal value, rights, and opportunities is a natural part of who we are. Read more about our work with: Equal opportunities (https://liu.se/en/work-at-liu/equal-opportunities).

We look forward to receiving your application!

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