Research Assistant

Location AE

Organization Name KUCARS - Khalifa University

About University

The newly-established Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KU) combines the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MI), the Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR) and the Petroleum Institute (PI) into one world-class, research-intensive institution, seamlessly integrating research and education to produce world leaders and critical thinkers in applied science and engineering. Khalifa University endeavors to be a leader among research intensive universities of the 21st century, while catalyzing the growth of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s rapidly developing knowledge economy.

Brief Description

The MBZIRC Research Assistant will support technical, administrative, and organizational matters relating to MBZIRC. 

Detailed Description

Strategic Responsibilities

NA

Operational Responsibilities

MBZIRC Challenge development

• Developing MBZIRC Challenges. Testing and fine tuning challenge parameters.
• Developing challenge description publicity material content – Flyers, videos etc
• Scoring Developing, testing and implementing the MBZIRC scoring scheme
• MBZIRC Documentation Producing technical and organizational documents related to MBZIRC  (Challenge description, rules, scoring, FAQs, team agreements, safety protocols, communication protocols etc)
• Recruiting faculty, staff and students for the KU beta testing team
• Supporting and project managing the KU beta testing team (including procuring equipment, technical support etc)
• Venue testing for suitability GPS etc

MBZIRC Teams

• Publicizing MBZIRC Challenges in the international, regional and local robotics communities
• Supporting team selection 
• Supporting team sponsorship administration Contracts, payments, progress reports, communication with sponsored teams etc
• Assist in monitoring progress of sponsored and other teams 
• Day to day engagement with MBZIRC teams including responding to technical questions 

Project management 

• Supporting MBZIRC project management related matters.
• Committees Coordinate meetings of MBZIRC committees (Organizing, Event Management, Technical, International Advisory, Jury etc).
• Juries liaising with juries and other event related personnel, including assisting with travel arrangements when required 
• Events Organizing and supporting MBZIRC activities at dissemination and publicity events (ICRA, IROS etc)
• Budgets assisting in managing budgets related to MBZIRC and estimating budget requirements. 
• Web Content Developing, monitoring and updating MBZIRC web content
• KPIs Collecting and disseminating MBZIRC KPIs

Event Management 

• Planning and coordinating activities between various entities engaged in MBZIRC (KU, MBZIRC Teams, Vendors, Public, Sponsors, Event Management Company)
• Event Management Coordinating with KU entities (Procurement, Finance, ER etc) all aspects related to event management (support prepare and submit tender documents, issue PRs, interface with vendors etc)
• Event Management Support liaising with event management company and arena construction company, including providing information and progress monitoring 
• Stakeholder Engagement coordinating external stake holder engagement 
• Publicity Coordinating with KU External Relations on publicity and dissemination related activities (media, events, mail shots, MBZIRC web pages, publicity material, promotional videos, advertisements etc)
• Engagement with KU community
• Coordinating outreach activities 
• Perform any other tasks assigned by the line manager.

Supervisory Responsibilities 

NA

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications

• A very good Masters or Bachelor’s Degree in an Engineering discipline with relevance to Robotics. Experience in Robotics and Robotics related competitions will be an added advantage. 

Required Experience

Technical Experience: 

• Robotics experience 
• Computer programming languages (Python, C++, R and MATLAB)

Organization Experience - The following will be an added advantage:

• Robotics related competitions (e.g. Robocup etc) 
• Project and event management

How To Apply

Please attach CV and research interest statement

Should you require further assistance or if you face any issue with the online application, please feel to contact the Recruitment Team (recruitmentteam@ku.ac.ae).