Högskolan Väst, Institutionen för ingenjörsvetenskap

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is University West’s overarching profile and basic principle applied to learning, the exchange of ideas, and educational development. The government has assigned the distinguished task of developing WIL to University West. Work integrated learning in education and research develops new, relevant and advanced knowledge both within the academy and among its partners, which also benefits society in general. University West offers a wide variety of study programs, has a good number of applicants and the students show a high entry rate on the labor market. The main research environments at University West are Production technology, Learning in and for the new working life and Child and youth studies and is conducted in collaboration with the surrounding society. Campus is centrally located in Trollhättan with about 13,000 students and 700 employees.

University West is offering a PhD Studentship in Production Technology – Specializing industrial automation

The research in the automation group aims at developing new methods for launching safe, collaborative and flexible automated applications. This can be tackled and investigated from many different viewpoints using both experimental setups and simulations. In a new project in cooperation with Swedish industry we seek a PhD student for a position at University West.

The scientific work in the project

The general research question is how to obtain adaptable and reconfigurable production systems, where humans can be easily integrated in safe, collaborative and flexible automated applications. Human/machine collaboration supports a smooth transition into more flexible systems, and facilitates for rapid reconfiguration, but it requires a new methodology. The challenge is to integrate the safety logic into existing flexible concepts in one common methodology. The novelty is that we address real industrial cases with real safety PLC and industrial sensors, fulfilling directives on both national and European/International level. This is in line with initiatives such as Industry 4.0, Smart Factories, Cyber Physical Systems and Digitalisation, which are aiming for a paradigm shift in the abilities and possibilities for production technology.

Example of specific research question to be considered could be;

  • How to handle safety when humans are part of and collaborates with the automation system?
  • How to generate control programs and logics for a flexible industrial system in the context of safe collaborative automation?
  • How to handle a true flexible automation system where the configuration of resources and humans will change on a daily basis?


PhD degree program: Production Technology

Research center: Doctoral students in Production Technology become members of the research group PTW (Production Technology West). The group collaborates with the engineering industry in the region at the Production Technology Centre, which houses an advanced research laboratory. For more information about our research center, go to: Production Technology Centre

Job description: The research program includes, in addition to participation in third-cycle courses and other activities, implementation of an independent thesis work. Doctoral students shall primarily devote themselves to their own education. A doctoral student may, however, be engaged to a limited extent in education, research and administration, mainly within Production Technology. Such duties, before a doctorate has been conferred, may not occupy more than 20 per cent of full-time working hours. (Higher Education Ordinance (SFS 1993:100) Chapter 5 section 2).

Qualification requirements: The basic eligibility requirements for doctoral programs as set out in the Higher Education Ordinance are as follows:

  • A degree at master’s level,
  • completed courses totaling at least 240 university credits of which a minimum of 60 at master’s level or,
  • substantially equivalent knowledge gained in some other way whether in Sweden or abroad.

To fulfil the special eligibility requirements for a doctoral degree in Production Technology, a student must hold a degree at master’s level in a subject relevant to the doctoral degree subject. This degree may be in Production Technology, Automation, Robotics or some related discipline. The eligibility requirements may be fulfilled by studies in Sweden or abroad.

For more information please read 3.1 and 3.2 in General syllabus for the third-cycle programme in Production Technology, Ref. No 2015/1343 B 25: https://www.hv.se/en/research/research-education/courses/production-technology/

Selection: The basic factor for selection from among qualified applicants is the ability to profit from such a program. For more information please read 3.3 in General syllabus for the third-cycle programme in Technology in Production Technology, Ref. No 2015/1343 B 25.

To be successful in this project the applicant should be highly motivated, have an accurate way of working, and have good communicative and collaborative skills. The applicant should have a strong aptitude for analysis and problem solving of industrial related automation problems.

The selection process comprises different stages. In addition to the evaluation of the qualification requirements, interviews, referencing, proofreading or individual tasks might be included to assess the candidates.

Qualifications of merit for this position:

Documented skills of advanced programming in e.g. C/C++/C# and the ability to communicate orally and in written English is highly qualifying. Further, experience from both PLC and robot programming and deep understanding of automation system design and multi-agent control are qualifying. Experience of research work and scientific writing and the ability to communicate orally in English (documented).

Duration and terms of employment: Employment as a doctoral student shall be on an open-ended basis but not for longer than to a specific point in time and never for a period extending more than one year after receiving the doctoral degree. The initial appointment must not be for more than one year. The appointment may be renewed for no more than two years at a time. A person may be employed as a research student for a total of not more than eight years. The total period of employment, however, may not exceed the equivalent of four years of full-time study at the third level of higher education. (Higher Education Ordinance (SFS 1993:100) Chapter 5 section 7).

Applications are to be submitted electronically through the University West web-based recruitment tool, MyNetwork. Go to https://www.hv.se/en/meet-university-west/job-opportunities/.

The application must include:

  • CV/Personal qualifications
  • Personal letter containing: - Interest in the research topic. - Previous experience regarding the proposed research topic and its research methods and scientific theories. - Motive to pursue Doctoral studies.
  • Degree project of second level of higher education
  • Degree certificate of first and second level of higher education
  • Other documents which the applicant wishes to invoke

Approved written languages regarding papers, diplomas, grades and other relevant documents are the Scandinavian languages and/or English, or translations into any of those languages. Attach the original when submitting translated documents.

The application should reach University West no later than 2019-09-01

Documents that cannot be sent digitally, should be sent to:

University West
HR department
461 86 Trollhättan
Sweden

Mark the application with ref.no: R 2019/159

Type of employment Temporary position
Employment expires 2014-02-28
Contract type Full time
First day of employment 1st of January 2020 / By agreement
Salary Monthly pay
Number of positions 1
Full-time equivalent 100%
City Trollhättan
County Västra Götalands län
Country Sweden
Reference number 2019/159
Contact
  • Bo Svensson, +46520-22 32 87, bo.svensson@hv.se
  • Fredrik Danielsson, +46520-22 33 16, fredrik.danielsson@hv.se
  • Chamara Kumara, +46520-22 33 59, chamara.kumara@hv.se
Union representative
  • Victoria Sjöstedt, OFR, +46721-60 01 57
  • Henrik Johansson, SACO, +46520-22 33 25
Published 29.Jul.2019
Last application date 01.Sep.2019 11:59 PM CEST

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