PhD Positions in Control Engineering and Robotics

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is consistently ranked among the world's top universities. There are approximately 47,000 students and more than 8,800 employees in Lund, Helsingborg, and Malmö. We unite in our efforts to understand, explain, and improve our world and the conditions of humanity.

Lund University welcomes applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Gender equality, equal opportunities, and diversity are fundamental principles for all aspects of our operations.

Subject and Project Description

ELLIIT (https://elliit.se) is a strategic research area funded by the Swedish government since 2010, as part of its initiative to support strong research in information technology and mobile communication. ELLIIT has four partners: Linköping University, Lund University, Halmstad University, and Blekinge Institute of Technology. We are now announcing PhD positions funded by ELLIIT for two new projects in control engineering and robotics.

Learning-Based Mobile Manipulation in Robotics:

This PhD project focuses on developing physically grounded and safety-aware learning frameworks that combine reinforcement learning with control-theoretic structure. The goal is to enable stable, adaptive, and data-efficient mobile manipulation in redundant robotic systems operating in real-world environments. The research is conducted within the ELLIIT project “Learning Robot Control from Expert Demonstrations and Self-Experience”.

Learning-Based Predictive Decision-Making for Autonomous Systems under Uncertainty:

This PhD project focuses on developing proactive decision-making in autonomous multi-agent systems by leveraging and combining deep learning-based motion predictions with optimization-based motion planning. Key research questions include awareness of multimodal uncertainty as well as generalization and transferability across different scenarios. The research is conducted within the ELLIIT project: “Learning-Based Predictive Decision-Making for Uncertainty-Aware Autonomous Systems”.

Responsibilities

You will primarily engage in your doctoral education, which includes participation in research projects as well as doctoral courses, seminars, and conferences.

The main task for a PhD student is to dedicate themselves to their doctoral studies.

The PhD position consists of three main components, and the responsibilities include:

• research projects, including writing articles, traveling to conferences, seminars, etc.
• doctoral courses, local, national as well as international courses (90 credits)
• teaching (max 20% of working time), including lab supervision, exam responsibilities, and development work. This part also includes departmental duties, e.g., work on diversity and equal treatment, organizing events at the department, etc.

Qualifications

To be admitted and employed as a PhD student, you must meet the requirements below.

Eligibility Requirements

You meet the basic eligibility for doctoral education if you have:

• completed a master's degree or
• completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits at the master's level or
• acquired equivalent knowledge in some other way.

Specific eligibility for control engineering is met if you have:

• knowledge equivalent to “FRTF05 Control Engineering, general course (formerly FRT010)”, as well as a master's level specialization relevant to the subject area, and
• a master's degree in engineering or equivalent competence.

Other Requirements

To benefit from the current doctoral education, the following is also required:

• very good knowledge of English, both spoken and written.
• good linguistic analytical ability.
• good creative ability to come up with new ideas and approaches.
• good ability to collaborate with colleagues and network with external contacts.
• self-driven and structured, taking personal responsibility for advancing studies and research projects.
• good ability for independent work and ability to formulate and tackle scientific problems.
• good ability for written and oral communication.

Meritorious

The following are considered meritorious for the current doctoral education:

• Good knowledge in advanced control engineering and robotics,
• learning-based control, especially focusing on robotics and autonomous systems,
• is particularly meritorious.

Consideration will be given to good collaboration skills, drive, and independence, as well as how the applicant, through their experience and competence, is assessed to have the ability needed to succeed in the doctoral education.

We Offer

Lund University is a government authority, which means you receive special benefits, generous vacation, and a favorable occupational pension.

Read the full announcement on Lund University's website: lu.se (https://www.lu.se/om-universitetet/jobba-hos-oss).

LTH – Lund University of Technology – is the engineering faculty at Lund University. At LTH, we educate people, build knowledge for the future, and work hard to develop society. We create space for brilliant research and inspire the creative development of technology, architecture, and design. Nearly 10,000 students study here. Each year, our researchers – many of whom operate within world-leading profile areas – publish around 100 dissertations and 2,000 scientific findings. A number of research results and student projects are refined into innovations. Together we explore and create – for the benefit of the world.

We kindly decline all contacts from advertising sellers, recruitment, and staffing companies due to government procurement regulations.