PhD position within infrared sensor technology for food quality assessment
Deadline: 15.06.2022
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
NMBU has a particular responsibility for research and education that secures the basis for the life of future generations. Sustainability is rooted in everything we do and we deliver knowledge for life. NMBU has 1,900 employees of which about 300 phd scholarships and 6,700 students. The university is divided into seven faculties.
NMBU believes that a good working environment is characterised by diversity.
We encourage qualified candidates to apply regardless of gender, functional ability, cultural background or whether you have been outside the labour market for a period. If necessary, workplace adaptations will be made for persons with disabilities. More information about NMBU is available at www.nmbu.no.
About The Faculty of Science and Technology
The Faculty of Science and Technology (REALTEK) develops research-based knowledge and educates civil engineers and lecturers needed to reach the UN's sustainability goals. We have approximately 150 employees, 70 PhD students and soon 1500 students. The education and research at REALTEK cover a broad spectrum of disciplines.
This includes data science, mechanics and process engineering, robotics, construction and architecture, industrial economics, environmental physics and renewable energy, geomatics, water and environmental engineering, applied mathematics as well as secondary school teacher education in natural sciences and use of natural resources such as in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture. The workplace is in Ås, 30 km from Oslo.
Do you wish to work with photonics technologies for food quality sensing?
Do you wish to work in an exciting multidisciplinary team in the field of photonics, data science and food science?
About the position
The Faculty of Science and Technology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has a vacant PhD–position related to to combining infrared photonic technologies with robotics for food quality measurements. The PhD position is for a period of 3 years, or up to 4 years if teaching and other work duties are agreed.
The PhD projects will be within the development and application infrared sensor technology in combination of robotics for quality measurement of foods.
Project and supervisor group
Prof. Dr. Achim Kohler, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Volha Shapaval and Prof. Pål From at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway and Professor Dr. Boris Mizaikoff at Ulm University in Germany.
An application for a PhD position at NMBU is at the same time an application for admission to a PhD programme at the institution. The documentation that is necessary to ensure that the admission requirements are met must be uploaded as an attachment.
Main tasks
Combine infrared LED or QCL based IR spectrometer with robotics for addressing one or several of the following challenges:
Measuring lipid composition in different food products
Detection of mildew on plant materials
Air monitoring in food production
Combine infrared sensing technologies with robotics
Analyze infrared data employing chemometrics and machine learning methods and correlate infrared data related to food quality and contamination.
The successful candidate is expected to enter a plan for the progress of the work towards a PhD degree during the first months of the appointment, with a view to completing a doctorate within the PhD scholarship period.
The candidate will need to have research stays at Ulm University for the development of infrared sensor test setups and prototypes for food quality applications.
Competence
The successful applicant must meet the conditions defined for admission to a PhD programme at NMBU. The applicant must have an academically relevant education corresponding to a five-year master’s degree or a cand.med.vet. degree, with a learning outcome corresponding to the descriptions in the Norwegian Qualification Framework, second cycle. Candidates submitting MSs thesis within 30. June 2022 may be considered. The applicant must have a documented strong academic background from previous studies and be able to document proficiency in both written and oral English. For more detailed information on the admission criteria please see the PhD Regulations and the relevant PhD programme description.The applicant must document expertise and interest in the research subject.
Required Academic qualifications
Master in Physics / Photonics / Mechatronics or similar
Fluent English both written and oral
Experience with photonics sensors or spectroscopic measurements
The following experiences and skills will be emphasized:
Experience with infrared spectroscopy.
Experience with advance motion planning for robotics manipulators or mobile robots. Visual servoing.
Experience in multivariate data analysis, such as Principal component analysis (PCA), Partial least squares (PLS), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), K-nearest neighbors (kNN), Multivariate curve resolution (MCR), Artificial neural networks (ANN), and Random forests (RF). Experience in usage of data analysis software, such as R, Matlab, Python, the Unscrambler, and Origin, will be considered as advantage.
Experience with application of spectroscopic sensors for chemical characterization, detection and identification in food or biomedical sciences.
You need to be able to work both independently and in a multidisciplinary research team and you need to describe these skills in the application.
Remuneration and further information
The position is placed in government pay scale position code 1017.
PhD fellows are normally placed in pay grade 54 (NOK 491.200,-) on the Norwegian Government salary scale upon employment and follow ordinary meriting regulations.
Employment is conducted according to national guidelines for University and Technical College PhD scholars.
For further information, please contact:
Professor Achim Kohler, E-mail: achim.kohler@nmbu.no; phone +4798418248 (do not use this e-mail for application, it is only for questions)
To apply online for this vacancy, please click on the 'Apply for this job' button above. This will route you to the University's Web Recruitment System, where you will need to register an account (if you have not already) and log in before completing the online application form.
Application deadline: 15.06.2022
In the application, the candidate must confirm that information and documentation (in the form of attachments) submitted via the job application can also be used by NMBU in a possible admission process.
Applicants invited for an interview are expected to present original diplomas and certificates.
The following documents must be attached to the application:
Motivation letter (maximum 1 page)
Complete CV
Certified copies of academic diplomas and certificates. (i.e. Di-ploma, transcript. Diploma supplement for both bachelor and master). Diplomas, transcripts and diploma supplements that are not in Norwegian or English must be uploaded in the original language. An English translation of these documents must also be attached.
Applicants from universities outside Norway are kindly requested to send a diploma supplement, or a similar document, which describes in detail the study program and grading system.
Additional relevant documentation of professional knowledge (for example, list of scientific works). If it is difficult to judge the applicant’s contribution for publications with multiple authors, a short description of the applicant’s contribution must be included.
