Early-Stage Researcher (ESR) - GECKO Project - Fixed Term Contract
Intracom Telecom, Greece
Job Description
Intracom SA Telecom Solutions is seeking to hire an Early-Stage Researcher (ESR) for a 3 year full time contract in the context of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Action - Innovative Training Network (MSCA-ITN) project GECKO (Grant agreement ID: 955422), with parallel enrollment into a Ph.D. program at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece.
The GECKO project (https://gecko-project.eu/) scope is built around interpretable and explainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) and explores alternative methods to build machine learning (ML) models, drawing on the latest developments in information and social sciences. An inter-disciplinary approach will be adopted to tackle exemplary applications where ML and social science must be considered together, such as sustainable energy and energy efficiency.
The objective of this PhD fellowship is to investigate different, machine learning-guided methodologies for a flexible energy approach towards distributed energy-related assets integration in flexibility markets. The ultimate objective will be to integrate the best approaches into an IT solution that i) aggregates and analyzes data from smart home-related Internet of Things (IoT) platforms and smart devices, therefore establishing a comprehensive basis for precise energy disaggregation, ii) considers the outcome of this analysis along with the household habits and comfort levels towards forecasting the energy demand and flexibility, iii) calculates the available capacity of local storage and the forecasted generation of small-scale (residential) renewable sources, and iv) combines the above outcomes towards determining optimal consumption patterns when sourcing a household’s energy flexibility in flexibility aggregation and management schemes and novel energy markets.
The expected results include:
- A set of novel ML-based forecasting methodologies for households’ energy consumption, generation and flexibility. The novelty of the methods has to be documented by at least two publications in international journals with impact factor with the PhD candidate as a main author.
- A software platform that manages the pre-processing, analysis and presentation of data from existing IoT platforms, smart devices and smart meters, and applies the methodologies of (1) towards the formulation of an optimal strategy for sourcing a household’s energy flexibility in flexibility aggregation and management schemes and novel energy markets.
What is in it for you:
Being part of the GECKO ITN the ESR will have the opportunity to work within a multidisciplinary team, enhance his/her knowledge on machine learning techniques and help addressing urgent energy related needs. Exciting benefits are also part of the program, such as:
- Doing secondments in other organizations participating in GECKO
- Multiple training and career development opportunities, such as training events, networking events and conferences
- Being part of a vast PhD network of 15 researchers across 9 European academic and industrial institutions
- Competitive remuneration package
Requirements
- The candidate is expected to hold a Master's degree in Engineering (e.g. in Electrical and Computer Engineering), good knowledge of Energy Systems, and strong background in the fundamentals of machine learning and big data processing.
- Programming skills are also desired (e.g. in Java and/or Python), as well as machine learning frameworks. Knowledge of additional programming languages is always a plus.
- The candidate must be fluent in English (both written and oral). Being conversant in Greek is also a plus.
For this particular position there are some further special requirements concerning eligibility. In particular, at the first date of contractual employment (appointment), the applicant must:
- Be at the date of recruitment an ‘early stage researcher’. This means having less than four years -i.e. 48 person months- of total research experience (i.e. involvement in research activities) since the end date of their BA-BSc.
- Not have a Doctoral degree, but have a Master’s degree if their Bachelor was 4-years.
- Not have resided or carried out her/his main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Greece for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays, and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.
The qualifications of the applicant will be assessed by Intracom Telecom and also by an assessment committee from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) for the part related to the enrollment into its Ph.D. progr