Vacant job

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Your Responsibilities

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

As a PhD student, you will dedicate yourself to your doctoral education and research projects in which you are involved. Your work may also include teaching or participating in other departmental assignments, up to 20% of full-time.

Your Qualifications

You have a master's degree in mechanics, material physics, (applied) physics, medical technology, biophysics, or related fields, or have completed courses totaling at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits at the master's level, or have acquired equivalent knowledge in another way.

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

You are passionate about natural sciences and engineering and have a strong interest in interdisciplinary research. You thrive in teamwork with colleagues in a multicultural environment but can also work independently. You should be skilled in thinking at a system level, interested in applications, and enjoy building and testing functioning devices. You should be highly motivated, take initiative, be able to solve problems, communicative, quality-oriented, flexible, and eager to learn. You can write and speak English fluently.

A brief motivation (max 1 A4) of why you are applying for this specific PhD position should be attached.

Your Workplace

The work will be carried out at the Department of Sensor and Actuator Systems (https://liu.se/forskning/sensor-och-aktuatorsystem (https://liu.se/forskning/sensor-och-aktuatorsystem)) under the scientific supervision of Professor Edwin Jager. The Department of Sensor and Actuator Systems conducts research as well as undergraduate and doctoral education in applied physics, in areas such as soft actuators, soft robotics, bioelectronics, biosensors, and gas and environmental sensors.

About the Employment

Upon commencement of employment, you will be admitted to the doctoral program. Read more about the respective faculty's doctoral education here.

The employment is temporary for four years full-time. You will initially be employed for one year, and thereafter the employment will be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time, based on the achieved study plan. Extension of employment up to five years may occur based on the degree of teaching and departmental assignments. In special circumstances, further extension may occur.

Start date by agreement.

Salary and Benefits

The PhD salary is regulated based on a locally agreed salary scale. Read more about employee benefits here.

Union Contacts

Information about union contacts can be found in Help for applicants.

Application

You apply for this position by clicking the “Apply” button below. Your application must be received by Linköping University no later than 2025-04-24. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

We welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, as this enriches and develops our operations. For us, it is self-evident to uphold everyone's equal value, rights, and opportunities. Read about our work with Equal Conditions.

Welcome with your application!

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