IMDEA Energía is opening a Predoctoral Researcher Position for an interdisciplinary project between the Photoactivated Processes and the Artificial Intelligence Units, looking for talented and motivated candidates to work on in Scientific AI for Autonomous Discovery at the BRAIN Lab.

This action aimed at training predoctoral research staff is associated with the priority research lines A.1.2 Clean Hydrogen & other energy vectors and A.2.2 Autonomous accelerated materials discovery, which are described in the strategic plan under the 'Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence' grant funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

Tasks Description:

• Review the scientific state of the art in AI software for autonomous laboratories.
• Identify and generalize experimental workflows, data requirements, physicochemical parameters, feasibility criteria, and objectives in materials design.
• Collect available data and structure it in a standardized computational database.
• Design and implement AI-based optimization models (e.g. Bayesian optimization, active learning, decision-focused learning, etc) to accelerate the different stages of materials discovery for catalytic applications
• Develop AI agents capable of proposing experiments and adapting their exploration strategies based on new results.
• Apply the developed computational system to a specific use case, such as Solar-to-X photoconversion for clean hydrogen or other carbon-neutral fuels.
• Communicate and disseminate research results through high-quality scientific channels including high impact scientific publications, presentations in conferences, etc
• Supervision of Master or undergraduate studies

Mandatoy Requirements:

• Official Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Science, or a related field, providing eligibility to undertake doctoral studies within the research line specified in this call.
• Bachelor’s degree in Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Data Science, Robotics, Mathematics, Physics or related engineering.
• Demonstrate experience of strong programming skills in Python.
• IMPORTANT: include academic records for BSc and MSc degrees in the "Other certificates and documents" section

Other merits to value:

• Academic record
• International mobility
• Solid understanding of applied AI, including modeling, optimization and data processing techniques.
• Experience training and evaluating AI/ML models on real-world datasets (beyond coursework or toy problems).
• Experience developing software and interfaces to collaborate with experimental scientists.
• Experience working with imperfect, noisy, or heterogeneous datasets.
• Knowledge of robotics.
• Knowledge of material design.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Motivation for research and interest in applying AI to autonomous and energy systems.
• Experience participating in research projects and interdisciplinary teams.

Criterion 1. Academic and/or scientific-technical background of the candidate (up to 50 points)

• Subcriterion 1.a): Scientific and technical contributions (up to 45 points). The candidate's academic record and other curricular merits will be assessed, as well as their suitability for the tasks to be performed based on their training and professional experience.
• Subcriterion 1.b): Mobility and internationalization (up to 5 points). The relevance and impact on the candidate's research career of stays at national and international centers and/or in the industrial sector will be assessed, considering the prestige of the host institution and the activities carried out there.

Criterion 2. Suitability of the candidate for the research activities to be carried out (up to 50 points)

• The candidate's suitability for the program, project, or research activities to be carried out will be assessed based on their prior training and experience. To this end, consideration will be given to the added value that carrying out research activities represents for their research career, as well as the value contributed to the center or unit and, where applicable, to the receiving team.

Remuneration: Gross annual salary 25.456,10€

Contract: Predoctoral contract for a maximum of 4 years, in accordance with Article 21 of Law 14/2011 of 1 June and Royal Decree 103/2019 of 1 March.

*The contract includes all the benefits of the Spanish Public Health and Social Security System.

IMDEA Energia Institute, Av. Ramon de la Sagra, 3. 28935 Mostoles, Madrid