PhD position in Decision Support at the Fleet Level

In this role, you will benefit from advanced training in various European universities and industry, participate in scientific discussions within the rich context of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Doctoral Network (MSCA DN) DIAMOND.

Doctoral candidate position A-DC1 will be hosted and matriculated at ETH Zurich, with planned secondments at Rambøll (RamG) and the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA). The doctoral candidate will work on distributed intelligence and decision support for fleet-level monitoring of critical infrastructure.

The objectives of this thesis include:

• developing graph-based and stochastic models for decentralized condition assessment and predictive maintenance across fleets of assets; and
• creating decision-support modules that integrate sensing, uncertainty quantification, and asset typologies to enable scalable, real-time evaluation and mitigation strategies.

This position is offered for 36 months, with the earliest starting date as agreed upon recruitment. The primary academic advisor is Prof. Eleni Chatzi (ETH Zurich, D-BAUG), under close collaboration with Dr. Michele Magno (ETH Zurich, D-ITET, supervisor of A-DC2, A-DC3), and additional mentorship provided during secondments.

Applicants must hold a

• M.Sc. Diploma (120 ECTS points) or equivalent in civil, mechanical or electrical engineering, geosciences, physics, applied mathematics, computer sciences or related fields, and be at the beginning of their research career.
• Principal qualifications include strong analytical and quantitative skills in numerical analysis, programming, high-performance computing, as well as skills in dynamics & structural health monitoring, data analysis and modelling, and interest in laboratory-based experimentation and engineering applications.
• A solid knowledge of English as the spoken and written language of work is mandatory.

We expect good interpersonal skills, the ability to thrive in a diverse, multidisciplinary environment, ability to present work in international conference, as well as the willingness to spend a number of months working with project collaborators at partner universities in this project.

Eligibility Criteria: Researchers can be of any nationality. At the time of recruitment, researchers:

• Should not have been awarded a title of PhD (Applicants who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will not be considered eligible.)
• Should not have resided or carried out your main activity in Switzerland, for more than 12 months within the last 3 years