PhD Research Fellow in AI methods for robotic body-brain co-design
Deadline: 15.03.2026
Publisert
The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 26 500 students and 7 200 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.
The Department of Informatics (IFI) is one of nine departments belonging to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. IFI is Norway’s largest university department for general education and research in Computer Science and related topics.
The Department has more than 1800 students on bachelor level, 600 master students, and over 240 PhDs and postdocs. The overall staff of the Department is close to 370 employees, about 280 of these in full time positions. The full time tenured academic staff is 75, mostly Full/Associate Professors.
About the position
We invite applications for a PhD Research Fellow position in AI methods for robotic body-brain co-design, available at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo.
Expected start date 01.08.2026 (flexible).The fellowship period is three years. Depending on the candidate and the teaching needs of the department, the fellowship period can be extended either for compulsory work consisting of e.g. teaching and supervision duties and research assistance up top four years.
No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.
Place of work is Department of Informatics at Blindern, Oslo.
Project description
This position is part of The Norwegian Centre for Embodied AI (NCEI), one of Norway’s six national AI centres. NCEI brings together leading robotics and AI groups with key partners from industry and the public sector to study how intelligence emerges from the interaction between body, computation, and environment, across flying, ground, and aquatic robot configurations. Our mission is to chart a generalisable path for physical AI and transform how robot morphology and autonomy are co-designed, enabling new generations of systems tailored to their operational environments and missions. You will join an international community with world-class facilities and strong collaborations across Norwegian universities, research institutes, industry, public agencies, and leading global institutions.
The PhD Research Fellow will focus on enabling robust, intelligent robots through co-design of morphology and control. This can involve optimizing robots through techniques from Evolutionary Robotics in a simulator and then deploying robots for further training and subsequent testing in lab- or real-world- environments. Focus may be on legged, flying or underwater robots, depending on the background of the candidate and the needs of the research center.
More specifically, the candidate will work on the following topics, in collaboration with the rest of the team:
Develop and apply evolutionary algorithms to jointly optimize both the robot’s morphology and autonomy, and apply quality-diversity methods to discover a wide range of high-performing designs.
Work on genotype-to-phenotype mappings considering motion and fabrication constraints.
Integrate autonomy stacks (perception, learning, planning) in the co-design process and run experiments across classes of environments (e.g., forests, industrial facilities, underwater caves) and missions (e.g., exploration, object search and recovery).
Investigate mechanisms for reducing the computational load in the design process (e.g., surrogate models, policy inheritance, informed policy design).
Collaborate closely with the rest of the NCEI center working on simulation, learning, and planning to ensure successful transfer from virtual to real-world systems.
Document results, publish in top venues, and contribute to open-source tools where possible.
What skills are important in this role?
The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.
Required qualifications:
Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian Masters degree in robotics, computer science, artificial intelligence, or other relevant fields. The applicant is required to document that the degree corresponds to the profile of the post. Candidates without a master’s degree have until 1st of July 2026 to complete the final exam.
Strong programming and artificial intelligence/machine learning skills.
The candidate’s research proposal must be closely connected to the call and the research of NCEI.
Excellent skills in written and oral English.
Personal suitability and motivation for the position.
Desired qualifications:
Masters thesis or experience from other research projects relevant to the research in NCEI, as described in the Project Description above.
Experience with AI methods/algorithms such as evolutionary algorithms, quality-diversity methods, and evolutionary robotics.
Experience with programming, designing and/or building robots or mechatronics systems.
Experience with prototyping and open source development.
Experience with simulation tools like Isaac Gym and sim-to-real transfer.
Previous involvement in research projects (with or without publication).
Language requirement:
Good oral and written communication skills in English
The average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
The average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
The Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system
The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. For more information see:http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/
All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.
What are we looking for in you?
Personal skills:
Strong ability to work purposefully, systematically, and independently.
The applicant's estimated academic and personal ability to complete the project within the time frame
Very good collaboration skills and a strong interest in working in a multidisciplinary team.
Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.
We can offer you
Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
An exciting professionally stimulating working environment, including all the benefits of being part of a large Norwegian AI Centre and its many events, workshops, and career development programmes
A workplace with good development and career opportunities
Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes
Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
Salary in position as PhD Research Fellow, position code 1017 in salary range NOK from 550 800 - 595 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund
We need different perspectives in our work
UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.
We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues, could you be the next one?
We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.
We especially encourage women to apply.
If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).
The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here. We hope you will apply for the position with us.
How to apply
The application must include:
Cover letter - statement of motivation and research interests
Research proposal stating research questions and methodological approaches as well as a detailed and feasible progress plan (maximum 7000 characters)
CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records
List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
Documentation of English proficiency, if applicable
Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)
Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for this job".Foreign applicants should attach an official explanation of their University's grading system.
When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.
General information
The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.
