Research Fellow (m/f/d)

University for Continuing Education Krems

The University for Continuing Education Krems specializes in part-time academic continuing education. As a public university for continuing education, it works with its expertise in teaching and research to overcome societal challenges and tailors its study programs to address them. With 8,000 students coming from 85 countries, the University for Continuing Education Krems combines its many years of experience in university-based continuing education with innovation to provide outstanding quality in research and teaching at an international level. Situated 60 km from Vienna in the alluring world heritage region Wachau, Campus Krems is a highly attractive location.

The advertised position is part of the FFG project “AI-RoboSens” (Detection of energy waste in industrial factories using autonomous robots, sensor technology and AI evaluation) coordinated by Prof. Hubert Brückl. Modern production facilities and infrastructure contribute to unnecessary waste of resources in several ways and thereby contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The main challenge that exists today is how to economically detect all the different “sources of waste”. The typical production facility is very complex, hosts several thousands of different components as well as maintains a complex infrastructure to run the necessary production processes (e.g., steam, compressed air). The project aims to significantly reduce the effort to identify the sources of waste by fully automating the detection of “sources of waste” in facilities. This is done by using a modern and highly mobile robodog (Spot, Boston Dynamics) which will be equipped with multiple sensors (e.g., ultrasound sensor, infrared camera, microphone, gas sensor). Based on a multisensory and sensor-fusioning setup, the focus of the project will be to develop an Artificial Intelligence which can fully automatically identify “sources of waste” in order to provide the necessary basis of decision-making to the maintenance department to stop the unnecessary waste of valuable resources in real-time and 24/7.

We are looking for a (part-time) researcher or postdoc interested in such an experimental topic. The test facility is located in Vienna. Part of the work will be carried out there.

Research Fellow (m/f/d)
20 hrs./week Advertisement No. SB23-0177

Your tasks

• Independent research and research assistance in the “AI-RoboSens” project
• Documentation of the research and its results
• Publishing research findings in international peer-reviewed scientific journals
• Engaging in collaborative research

Your profile
We require evidence of the following qualifications for the application:

• Master's degree in technical field of study (e.g., computer science, physics, electrical engineering, mathematics, or similar)
• Experience in at least one of the topics: programming, evaluating large amounts of data, machine learning, sensor technology (proven e.g. in a publication, in a master's thesis etc.)
• Good communication skills and knowledge of German and/or English (min. B2)
• Willingness to work in a team

In addition, the following criteria are desirable:

• Previous work experience in academic research
• Programming skills, e.g., Python
• Experience in machine learning

Your perspective

• Part-time (20 hours/week), in a project funded by third parties, initially limited until 31 May 2026, with a minimum salary of EUR 3,277.30 gross per month on a full-time basis (classification as scientific project staff according to collective agreement of universities §49  VwGr. B1), willingness to overpay with corresponding qualifications and professional experience
• Innovative and modern working environment at the TFZ in Wiener Neustadt
• Possibility of homeoffice and mobile working (max. 42% of working hours)
• The opportunity to pursue a PhD and obtain a doctoral degree is available

Persons with disabilities who meet the required profile criteria are expressly invited to apply for this position.

The University of Continuing Education Krems sees high innovation potential in the diversity of its employees and is committed to diversity as a guiding principle.
At the same time, it aims to increase the proportion of women and expressly invites qualified women to apply. Women are given priority in the case of equal qualifications.

We look forward to receiving your online application by 30 September 2023 via our online tool via click on "Bewerben"!