School of Computer Science

Location:  Lincoln
Salary:   From £33,797 per annum
This is a full time post of 1 FTE for 14 months from start date
Closing Date:   Sunday 18 October 2020
Interview Date:   Tuesday 03 November 2020
Reference:  COS755A

Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems Research (L-CAS) is looking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate as part of the Assuring Autonomy International Programme, a multi-institution effort to assure the safety of robotics and autonomous systems. The project involves mobile robots that operate in an agricultural setting, working with our world-leading fleet of soft-fruit harvesting robots. The successful candidate will have relevant experience and/or a strong interest in one or more of the following research areas: Long-term autonomy for mobile robots; Human-robot interaction; Formal modelling and verification; Safety engineering; and Systems integration. The post is fixed for 14 months, with strong support for career development and progression, in a growing research group will many opportunities for contract extension.

Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems Research (L-CAS) specialises in technologies for perception, learning, decision-making, control and interaction in autonomous systems particularly in the application domains of agri-food and healthcare. We participate in many collaborative research projects, funded by the UK Research Councils, Innovate UK and Horizon 2020. We lead the £6.9m EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Agri-Food Robotics, with the Universities of Cambridge and East Anglia, and are co-leads of a £6.3m award from the UK Government’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) Fund to create Lincoln Agri-Robotics. We also collaborate closely with the Lincoln Institute for Health and the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, which are focussed on delivering real-world impact in those domains, and SAGA Robotics, originators of the Thorvald robot family. Our joint facilities include dedicated robotics research labs, a demonstration farm, an experimental food factory, a fleet of diverse mobile and social robots, advanced compliant robotic manipulators, a swarm of microrobots, and state-of-the-art agricultural robots. Our objective is to become one of the world’s great robotics labs, working on technologies for enhancing the quality of life, our health, wellbeing and the food we eat. 

Applicants should have, or expect to soon obtain, a PhD in a relevant area and have excellent mathematical and coding skills (C++/Python, ROS). Successful candidates will be expected to design, conduct and manage original research. Evidence of authorship of research outputs of international standing is essential, as is the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, including excellent written and spoken communication skills. The fellowships offer the opportunity to engage in collaboration within an ambitious team, to work with state-of-the-art robotic hardware and software, and to benefit from excellent support to produce and disseminate original research contributions. 

Informal enquiries about the post can be made to Prof Simon Parsons (email: sparsons@lincoln.ac.uk) or Prof Marc Hanheide (email: mhanheide@lincoln.ac.uk)

As an institutional Athena SWAN Bronze Award holder we are committed to advancing gender equality in STEM, therefore female applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.

If you have any queries, please email jobs@lincoln.ac.uk or telephone 01522 886 775. Please quote the job reference number and title in all correspondence.