PhD position in Electrical Engineering - Automatic Control

Electrification and digitalisation are among the largest areas for the future in the conversion to sustainable societies. The Department of Electrical Engineering conducts successful research and education in the areas - renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, industrial IoT, 6G communication and wireless sensor networks as well as research and education within Life Science, smart electronic sensors and medical systems. The Department of Electrical Engineering is an international workplace with around 150 employees that all contribute to important technical energy and health challenges at the Ångström Laboratory.

The position will be at the division of Signals and Systems, at the Department of Electrical Engineering.

Project description:  Autonomous vehicles for mining and mobile robotics for industrial processes require complex motion planning as well as safe model-based predictive control and reinforcement learning for edge-cloud-based computation. In both cases, vehicles and robots must be able to navigate around obstacles and manage safety constraints along the planned trajectory, even in situations with restrictions on state variables and input signals as well as uncertainties in the models. The project is part of a larger collaborative effort between ABB Corporate Research, Ericsson, Boliden, KTH, and Uppsala University, funded by VINNOVA.

We have an exciting work environment designed by the doctoral student and the research team together. The doctoral student will be supervised by at least two supervisors. The Department of Electrical Engineering also gives a salary supplement in addition to the local guidelines for doctoral students at Uppsala University.

Read more about our benefits and what it is like to work at Uppsala University

Duties:

• The doctoral student’s main tasks consist of research in the field of autonomous vehicles and mobile robotics, with a focus on safe model-based predictive control and reinforcement learning supported by an edge-cloud-based wireless communication environment. The doctoral student will work on data-driven theory and method development in simulation environments, laboratory settings, and real process environments. The duties also include taking doctoral courses, writing scientific publications, and presenting research at project meetings, international conferences, and workshops.
• The duties further include participation in teaching and other departmental tasks, corresponding to a maximum of 20% of the working time.

Qualifications requirements:

• Master of Science in Engineering, or a foreign degree deemed equivalent, in Electrical Engineering or related fields, or equivalent competence considered relevant by the employer.
• Strong knowledge in control and optimization theory, signal processing and/or wireless communication.
• Basic knowledge of and/or experience in working with reinforcement learning/other machine learning algorithms
• Excellent command of spoken and written English.
• Solid programming skills in Matlab, Python, or C/C++.
• Great emphasis will be placed on personal qualities such as strong collaboration and communication skills with other researchers and project partners. You should be goal-oriented, structured, and able to work efficiently both independently and in a team.

Meriting qualifications:

• Good knowledge of spoken and written Swedish.
• Experience in experimental work.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

Application: Please use the link below. You should include a brief description of your research interests and relevant experience, a CV, copies of diplomas and certificates, thesis (or a draft thereof) and other relevant documents. You are encouraged to provide contact information to reference.

Salary: Individual salary.

Starting date: 1 January 2026 or as otherwise agreed.

Type of employment: Fixed-term employment in accordance with Chapter 5, Section 7 of the Higher Education Ordinance.

Scope of employment: 100%

For further information about the position, please contact:
Prof. Subhrakanti Dey, subhrakanti.dey@angstrom.uu.se
Prof. Anders Ahlén, anders.ahlen@angstrom.uu.se

We welcome your application no later than 17 November 2025. UFV-PA 2025/3110.