PhD Position on Structural Analysis and Control of Complex Ecological Systems (to Support…
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands
Deadline:02 Dec 2020
Project description
The SYNERGIA research project, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), contributes to the UN Sustainability Development Goals for the environment (depletion of scarce resources, global warming, acidification, eutrophication, nutrient losses, and biodiversity loss), labour (availability of skilled workers), and society (consumer/societal acceptance of novel technology and production methods). SYNERGIA goes beyond current precision agriculture and is developing the new concept of “Technology-4-Ecology-based farming” (T4E) where biological/ecological principles in farming lead the development of new farming systems, and of the required technological knowledge, principles and tools. Our multi-disciplinary team with biology, ecology, agronomy, technology and social science backgrounds will devise farming technologies to enable and support truly ecology-based farming systems. Click here for the Technology for Ecology website.
We are looking for a talented, motivated and outstanding Ph.D. candidate with enthusiasm for interdisciplinary research challenges at the interface of Systems and Control Theory, Optimisation, and Biological and Ecological Modelling.
The successful candidate will be supervised by Giulia Giordano (University of Trento) and Tamas Keviczky (TU Delft), and will conduct theoretical and algorithmic research on the structural analysis and control of nonlinear dynamical networks in biology/ecology, with application to intercropping design in arable farming, within the research project SYNERGIA: SYstem change for New Ecology-based and Resource efficient Growth with high tech In Agriculture.
We offer the opportunity to perform scientifically challenging research in a multi-disciplinary research group in collaboration with several key academic and industrial partners in next-generation agricultural production systems. The PhD student will also be able to participate in the research school DISC.
Department
The department Delft Center for Systems and Control (DCSC) of the faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, coordinates the education and research activities in systems and control at Delft University of Technology. The Centers’ research mission is to conduct fundamental research in systems dynamics and control, involving dynamic modelling, advanced control theory, optimisation and signal analysis. The research is motivated by advanced technology development in physical imaging systems, renewable energy, robotics and transportation systems.