Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with Focus on Cyber-Physical Systems

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the worlds top universities. The University has around 46 000 students and 8 500 staff based in Lund Helsingborg and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand explain and improve our world and the human condition.

We are seeking candidates for the position Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with focus on Cyber-Physical Systems. Automatic control cyber-physical systems and embedded real-time systems are central to the analysis design and operation of modern engineered systems. These fields combine fundamental theory with methods for the implementation integration and validation of control and decision-making algorithms in real-world environments. They play a key role in technologies where computational and physical processes interact closely including autonomous vehicles robotics industrial automation smart infrastructure and interconnected sensing and actuation systems. As society and technology evolve toward increasingly autonomous distributed and software-intensive systems the need for reliable resource-efficient secure and scalable solutions becomes increasingly important both in research and in education.

At the Department of Automatic Control LTH research and teaching are conducted in an international environment with around 60 employees including doctoral students postdocs and faculty with broad subject expertise. The department has a strong tradition in systems and control theory including cyber-physical systems embedded and networked control systems robotics and intelligent autonomous systems. The work environment is characterized by an open and ambitious atmosphere with collaborations both within academia and with industrial partners nationally and internationally.

Lund University and the Department of Automatic Control welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We view gender equality and diversity as strengths and assets. The department currently has three female professors including a Lise Meitner Professor and one female senior lecturer. Of our 15 faculty members five have an international background. Diversity equity and inclusion are important to us.

We are now seeking an excellent early-career researcher for a position as Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with focus on Cyber-Physical Systems. We particularly welcome candidates whose research combines automatic control with areas such as embedded and real-time systems distributed and networked systems robotics and mechatronics Internet of Things (IoT) cloud and edge computing infrastructures or implementation of control systems in industrially relevant applications. The research may for example concern control implementation in resource-constrained environments real-time and embedded control architectures networked and distributed control sensing and actuation systems or software-hardware integration for autonomous and cyber-physical systems.

The position includes conducting research of high international quality developing an independent research profile contributing to the acquisition of external research funding and teaching and supervising students at the undergraduate advanced and doctoral levels within automatic control and computer engineering including cyber-physical systems embedded and real-time systems and related areas. A central aspect of the position is to contribute to education that bridges theory and practice through the development of a hands-on learning environment.

Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with Focus on Cyber-Physical Systems.

The position lies at the intersection of control and computer-systems engineering and centers on the development deployment and evaluation of control algorithms in real-world systems. Cyber-physical systems integrate computational and physical processes through sensing communication and actuation. These systems often operate under constraints related to communication computation timing and energy and may rely on real-time software embedded hardware sensoractuator integration and systems-level design and analysis.

Key areas of interest include:

• Cyber-physical systems which combine computational components with physical processes often interacting through sensors and actuators
• Implementation of control systems in real-world environments including industrially relevant applications
• Real-time systems where control decisions must be made within strict timing requirements to ensure safety and performance
• Embedded systems where control software is tightly integrated with hardware in compact resource-constrained devices
• Distributed and networked control systems where control functions are shared across interconnected components including cloud- and edge-based architectures for monitoring computation and control
• Internet of Things (IoT) where interconnected devices and systems collaborate to monitor analyze and control physical environments

Employment as an assistant professor is a tenure track position which aims for the holder to develop their independence as a researcher and educator. The work duties mainly involve research and teaching. The position includes the opportunity to undertake five weeks of training in teaching and learning in higher education.

• Research within the subject area.
• Teaching in the first second and third cycles of studies.
• Supervision of degree projects and doctoral students.
• Actively seeking external research funding.
• Collaboration with industry and wider society.
• Administration related to the work duties listed above.

Qualification requirements for employment as an assistant professor are fulfilled by someone who has been awarded a doctorate or has the corresponding research competence.

Primary consideration should be given to someone who has been awarded a doctorate or achieved the equivalent competence within seven years of the deadline for application for employment as an assistant professor. However someone who has been awarded a doctorate or achieved the equivalent expertise at an earlier date may also be considered if there are special grounds. Special grounds are sick leave parental leave or other similar circumstances.

For appointment to assistant professor the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• A good ability to develop and carry out high quality research.
• Teaching ability.

• Very good oral and written proficiency in English.
• Documented research experience including the integration and experimental validation of control systems on cyber-physical platforms.
• Collaborative skills initiative and the ability to solve work tasks independently as well as a demonstrated interest in leadership.

• Significant documented research experience (e.g. from postdoc or doctoral studies) from another university/institute or relevant experience from industry/public sector.
• Teaching experience from courses within the subject and related areas of the position.

The extent to which the applicant through their experience and skills may complement and strengthen ongoing research undergraduate education departmental innovation and how they can contribute to the future development of the department will also be taken into consideration.

This is a full-time fixed-term employment of 6 years. The employment is regulated in accordance with Chapter 4 Section 12a HEA. The purpose of the appointment is for the teacher to be given the opportunity to develop research autonomy and acquire the scholarly and teaching qualifications required for eligibility for appointment as a senior lecturer.

Lund University is a public authority which means that employees get particular benefits generous annual leave and an advantageous occupational pension scheme. Read more on the University website about being a Lund University employee: on how to apply

Applications shall be written in English. Please draw up the application in accordance with LTHs Academic qualifications portfolio see link below. Upload the application as PDF-files in the recruitment system. Read more: welcome your application!

*****************************************************************

During the period of employment an assistant professor can apply for promotion to a permanent position as Senior Lecturer if he or she has the required qualifications listed below and is deemed suitable. An assistant professor can only apply for promotion once.

Appointment to senior lecturer requires that the applicant has:

• A PhD or corresponding research competence or professional expertise considered important with regard to the subject matter of the position and the work duties it will involve.
• Demonstrated teaching expertise.
• Completed five weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning or acquired equivalent knowledge by other means.

The assessment criteria specify the aspects to be considered and the level to be achieved for the assessment criteria to be deemed fulfilled. The following assessment criteria must be fulfilled for appointment to senior lecturer:

• A good national and international standing as a researcher. The requirement for international experience shall be assessed with consideration to the character and traditions of the subject.
• Good teaching ability including a good ability to conduct develop and lead teaching and other educational activities on different levels and using a variety of teaching methods.
• An ability to supervise doctoral students to achieve a PhD.
• An ability to collaborate with wider society and communicate his or her activities.
• A general ability to lead and develop activities.

• Good ability to collaborate independence and drive.
• Progression in research and teaching expertise.
• Demonstrated ability to attract external research funding in competition.

LTH is Lund Universitys Faculty of Engineering. At LTH we educate people build knowledge for the future and work hard for the development of society. We create space for brilliant research and inspire creative advancements in technology architecture and design. We have nearly 12000 students. Every year our researchers many of whom work in world-leading profile areas publish around 100 theses and 2 000 scientific addition a number of research results and degree projects are transformed into innovations. Together we explore and create to benefit the world.

We kindly decline all sales and marketing contacts.