Postdoc for distributed coordination in swarm robotics for underwater anomaly detection

Are you interested in distributed coordination and autonomous decision-making in robot swarms, and can you contribute to the development of the international ITEA 4 project ADVISOR – Cooperative Missions of Autonomous Vehicle Swarms for Surveillance Tasks? Then the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Aarhus University, Denmark, invites you to apply for a postdoc position. The position is fixed-term from 15 January, 2027 to 31 March, 2028.

This is a fixed-term position from 15 January, 2027, or as soon as possible thereafter, to end on 31 March, 2028.

ADVISOR brings together industrial and academic partners from across Europe and Korea to enable cooperative missions of heterogeneous autonomous vehicles – underwater, surface and aerial – for surveillance tasks such as the inspection of offshore wind turbines and other offshore infrastructure. Aarhus University contributes decision-making components that coordinate individual unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and entire swarms based on local information, for anomaly detection and infrastructure surveying in environments where communication is extremely limited.

As a postdoc in the project, you will:

• develop and implement cooperative mission planning for underwater infrastructure surveying and anomaly detection, including approaches for self-adaptation and re-planning of missions at runtime
• design distributed coordination and decision-making mechanisms that allow swarms of underwater vehicles to act on local information under severely limited communication
• validate the coordination approaches through autonomous multi-robot surveying of offshore infrastructure in a laboratory environment
• potentially apply co-simulation and digital-twin frameworks to develop and evaluate multi-robot collaboration
• These activities will be carried out in close collaboration with the Danish industrial partner EIVA and the wider international ADVISOR consortium.

Applicants should hold a PhD in computer science, computer engineering, robotics, electrical engineering or a related field.

Furthermore, you should have:

• experience with multi-agent systems, swarm robotics or distributed coordination of autonomous agents
• experience with multi-robot or mission planning, autonomous decision-making or self-adaptive systems
• experience with robot simulation, co-simulation or digital twins is an advantage
• experience with underwater, marine or field robotics is an advantage
• a track record of publications in relevant international conferences and journals
• strong programming skills
• the ability to work independently as well as in an international, interdisciplinary team with industrial partners
• excellent written and spoken English

The position is based at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Aarhus University, which conducts research and teaching in areas including computer engineering, robotics, autonomous systems and digitalisation, in close collaboration with industry.

You will join the research group of Lukas Esterle, which works on autonomous decision-making for collective behaviour in multi-robot systems, with particular strengths in autonomous coordination, multi-robot planning, simulation and digital twins. The work is connected to the Aarhus University DIGIT centre and the EDIH TechCircle. Read more at ece.au.dk.

The department offers:

• a well-developed research infrastructure, laboratories and access to shared equipment
• an exciting interdisciplinary environment with many national, international and industrial collaborators
• a research climate encouraging lively, open and critical discussion within and across different fields of research
• a work environment with close working relationships, networking and social activities
• a workplace characterised by professionalism, equality and a healthy work-life balance.
• the opportunity to work in a large international research and innovation project with leading industrial and academic partners

The place of work is the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aarhus University, Helsingforsgade 10, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark, and the area of employment is Aarhus University with related departments.

For further information, please contact: Lukas Esterle, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aarhus University, lukas.esterle@ece.au.dk.

Applications must be received no later than 3 November, 2026.

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self.

Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary and terms as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Unions at basic salary steps 4-8.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.