PhD Candidate in Risk monitoring and Visualization for Human Supervisors of Autonomous Systems

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NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

   

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About the position

Would you like to contribute to safe human-autonomy interaction in complex robotic operations?

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree. 

The Department of Marine Technology has a vacant 3-year PhD position at the Faculty of Engineering in fundamental research on risk assessment and decision support for autonomous systems. The position is funded by the ERC AdG Breach, and will focus both on researching theory and performing experiments. The goal of Breach is to realize risk-based rationality in autonomous systems to achieve more proactive and intelligent behaviours, improve system safety, and leave the human supervisor with enough time to react and intervene efficiently when needed. 

Close cooperation is expected with the other Post Doc and PhDs in the interdisciplinary project.

Your immediate leader is the supervising Professor, and your Line Manager is Head of Department.

Duties of the position

• To develop methodology for risk assessment and modeling providing early warnings on the risk level and risk-based recommendations on LoA for a specific time horizon or phase of operation to human supervisors of autonomous systems, providing sufficient response time and safe take-over control when needed.
• To develop methodology for improved HMI and risk-based decision support for autonomous systems.
• The position will be responsible for developing scientific journal and conference publications related to the above-mentioned topics.

Be prepared for changes to your work duties after employment.

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant background in Marine Technology; Reliability, Availability, Maintenance, Safety (RAMS), Human factors, Human-Robotics collaboration or similar.
• You must have documented knowledge through courses, projects, or former professional experience in two or more of the listed subjects: control engineering, systems engineering, marine technology, statistics, system modelling and simulation, safety/risk science, human factors.
• 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 of Engineering´s Doctoral Programme
• Master's students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented by October 2025.
• Very good English skills, written and spoken.
• Experience in scientific computing within development environments such as Matlab and/or Python
• This position is restricted by acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. This means that candidates from countries subject to export restrictions or listed in threat assessments from national security authorities will normally not be eligible. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with these criteria will be removed from recruitment to this position. 

PLEASE NOTE: For detailed information about what the application must contain, see paragraph “About the application”.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with NTNUs guidelines for recruitment positions and Regulations for the degrees philosophiae doctor (ph.d.) and philosophiae doctor (ph.d.) in artistic development work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)for general criteria for the position.

Preferred selection criteria

• Experience with risk analysis, human reliability, and risk modeling (any sector)
• Experience with experimental work
• Experience with robotics/autonomous systems
• Knowledge about marine technology
• Norwegian oral and written language skills

Personal characteristics

• Structured
• Thourough
• Trustworthy
• Innovative, creative and open minded

Emphasis will be placed on motivation, personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• An exciting job with an important mission in society
• Developing tasks in a strong and international professional environment
• Career guidance and follow-up during the PhD period
• Open and inclusive working environment with committed colleagues
• Favorable terms as a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK)

As a PhD Candidate at NTNU, you will have access to employee benefits.

Diversity

Diversity is a strength, and at NTNU we aim to be an employer that reflects the diversity in society and that makes use of the potential of the population's collective skills. Our vision is Knowledge for a better world and our values ​​are creative, critical, constructive and respectful. We believe that an organization that is equal, diverse and gender-balanced is essential for us to achieve our goals. 

We strive to attract employees with different skills, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to even better problem solving of our societal mission in research and education. 

If you think this position is relevant and interesting, we encourage you to apply, regardless of gender, functional ability and cultural background, or whether you have been out of work for a period of time.

At NTNU we want to increase the proportion of women in scientific positions. We have a number of measures to promote equality. 

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 550 800 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 appointment is carried out in accordance with the principles of the State Employees Act, and Export control (legislation that regulates the export of knowledge, technology and services). Candidates who, after assessment of the application and attachments, are considered to bein conflict with the criteria in the latter act, will not be able to be employed.

After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

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

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.
• PhD project proposal (1 page)
• Name and contact information of three referees (including email addresses and telephone number)
• If you have publications or other relevant research work (published or unpublished)
• A cover letter (0.5-2 pages), indicating
  • Your motivation for a PhD study
  • How you envisage your contribution within the specified position
  • Why you are suited for the position

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

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. If your institution uses “diploma supplement” (normal for most European institutions), you must attach this. A description of the documentation required can also be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir), please attach this as well.

Joint work will be considered. If it is difficult to identify your contribution to joint work, you must attach a brief description of your participation.

When assessing the best qualified, we emphasize necessary qualifications such as education, experience and personal suitability. Motivation for the position, ambitions, and potential for research will also count when assessing the candidates.

NTNU recognizes a wide range of academic contributions and has committed itself to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment and CoARA (responsible assessment of research and recognition of a greater breadth of academic contributions in accordance with NTNU's social mission).

General information

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you wish to be exempt 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 exemption is not granted.

If you think this position looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, you are welcome to apply.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Professor Ingrid Bouwer Utne, telephone +47 982 22 465, email: Ingrid.b.utne@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Marit Gjersvold, e-mail: marit.gjersvold@ntnu.no.

Application deadline: 22.01.2026

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For practical information about working at NTNU, please visit this webpage. 
 

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the tech 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.