PhD position in neuromorphic control (MSCA ELEVATE network): Event-based Model Predictive Control

A PhD research position is available at the KU Leuven, in the frame of the EU MSCA project “ELEVATE” (GA 101227453) coordinated by Prof. Rodolphe Sepulchre.
The PhD project “Event-based Model Predictive Control” will be co-supervised by Prof. R. Sepulchre (KU Leuven) and Prof. Y. Sandamirskaya (ZHAW). The researcher will be based in Leuven (Belgium) but the project will include an international secondment of at least six months at ZHAW (Switzerland).

The neuromorphic control group headed by Prof. Rodolphe Sepulchre is part of the STADIUS centre, itself part of the department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) at KU Leuven.
The group hosts about 10 international PhD and postdoc researchers and carries research with different funding sources, including the ERC advanced grant “SpikyControl” (2023-2028).
The key objective of the ongoing research is to develop a novel control theory for the scalable analysis and design of neuromorphic systems.
Website of the PI: https://sites.google.com/site/rsepulchre

The funded PhD will be part of the MSCA Doctoral network ELEVATE (2026-2030). The network has the ambition to educate a new generation of information engineers able to address those challenges through a unique environment combining leading international recognition in complementary scientific disciplines, a diverse range of companies at the forefront of event-based technology, and a culture of machine design inspired by the challenge of further digitalizing our societies with a focus on sustainability, security, and ethics.
Website of the ELEVATE project: https://www.elevate-dn.eu/

Scientific description of the PhD project “Event-based Model Predictive Control”: Model Predictive Control is a leading control algorithm for high-performance industrial control. Because of its demanding computational requirements, its application in robotics requires dedicated hardware implementations. The project will develop a dedicated event-based implementation of those online calculations on commercially available spiking hardware such as the Loihi Intel chip. Beyond the mere translation of digital computations into spiking hardware, the research will explore the great computational savings that can result from predicting online events rather than complete trajectories. Model Predictive Control is particularly suited to such exploration because of the natural coupling between violation constraint and event triggering. The research will aim at developing a provable methodological framework for online adaption of the event-based calculations. The driving application will be the control of a robot manipulator equipped with conventional and event-based vision sensors.

Project

The PhD researcher will:

• Carry out fundamental research on Event-based Model Predictive Control;
• Monitor the work plan of her/his individual research project and make sure that milestones are achieved and deliverables are finalized in a timely manner;
• Actively participate in research meetings and all training and network activities of the ELEVATE consortium.
• Enroll in a doctoral training program at the Arenberg Doctoral School, and adhere to the doctoral school’s coursework requirements for PhD researchers;
• Possibly  assist in the supervision of Master thesis students and perform a limited amount of teaching activities (max. 3h per week).

Profile

• Candidates must hold a Master degree in Electrical Engineering (or equivalent), have a solid mathematical background (e.g. in control theory and optimization) and have taken specialized courses in at least one of the following disciplines: advanced control design, event-based systems, active sensing, neuromorphic engineering, vision for robotics.
• Research experience (e.g. through Master thesis work or research internships) in control theory or event-camera sensing is considered a strong asset.
• Experience with scientific computing in Matlab, Python, or Julia is required.
• Excellent proficiency in the English language is required, as well as good communication skills, both oral and written
• Applicants must satisfy the mobility rule of the MSCA network funding scheme, that  is, not have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Belgium for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date. 

Offer

• An exciting international research environment at the forefront of neuromorphic control engineering.
• The international visibility,  excellence,  mobility opportunities, and competitive salary arrangements of doing a PhD in  a MSCA EU research.
• A PhD title from one of Europe’s top universities (after approximately 4 years of successful research).
• A thorough scientific education in the frame of a doctoral training program.
• The possibility to participate in local as well as international courses, workshops and conferences.
• The possibility to perform research visits to internationally renowned research labs in Europe.
• Networking opportunities with some of the leading industrial companies interested in neuromorphic engineering

https://www.elevate-dn.eu/

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. ir. Rodolphe Sepulchre, tel.: +32 16 32 53 33, mail: [email protected] or Mrs. Aldona Niemiro-Sznajder, tel.: +32 16 32 96 07, mail: [email protected].

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