School of Computer Science

Location:  Lincoln
Salary:   From £34,304 pro rata
Please note that this role full time at 1.0 FTE and fixed term until 28 November 2023.
Closing Date:   Tuesday 02 November 2021
Interview Date:   Friday 19 November 2021
Reference:  COS848

Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems Research (L-CAS) is looking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Human-Robot Interaction to work on mobile manipulator robots that can operate as part of a human-robot team to complete complex tasks. This post offers considerable scope for the post holder to define the direction of the work. The successful candidate will have relevant experience and/or a strong interest in one or more of the following research areas: Human-robot interaction; Social robotics; and Multi-robot systems.  

The post is fixed term with strong support for career development and progression, in a growing research group with opportunities for contract extension. We are looking for a highly motivated individual who is interested in helping to build our capacity in this area, exploring creative solutions, defining future research directions, and bringing in additional research funding as a researcher co-investigator.

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. The University of Lincoln is home to Lincoln Agri-Robotics (LAR), a £6.3m award from the UK Government’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) Fund, which bridges L-CAS and the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT), another research centre within the university’s College of Science. Members of L-CAS and LAR collaborate closely with the Lincoln International Institute for Rural 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, in safe and environmentally sustainable ways.

Applicants should have, or expect to soon obtain, a PhD in a relevant area and have experience conducting robotics research and strong software skills. 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. This position offers 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. The post-holder will also have opportunities to interact with postgraduate students in a mentoring role and provide guest lectures on taught modules, if they are seeking to enhance their career portfolio and gain some teaching experience.

Informal enquiries about the post can be made to Prof Simon Parsons (email: sparsons@lincoln.ac.uk) or Prof Elizabeth Sklar (email: esklar@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.