Research Associate in 3D multimodal vision for underwater

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our Heriot-Watt Online team as an Enrolment Advisor. The Enrolment Advisor will be responsible for attracting, converting, and reengaging students on our online postgraduate programmes. The successful candidate will be dedicated to providing excellent customer service to prospective students. They will work to support and encourage a prospect onto the correct programme of study to meet their personal and career goals.

We are actively looking for a talented researcher in robotics and machine learning to work on the Prosperity Partnership project between Heriot-Watt and Seebyte Ltd.

We are seeking to appoint to TWO roles at either Assistant or Associate Professor level in Operations and/or Project Management. These roles will be either Teaching and Scholarship (T&S) or Teaching and Research (T&R) depending on candidate profile.

The successful candidates will be required to lead a range of postgraduate and undergraduate teaching, learning and assessment activities across our various delivery modes including our three global campuses, approved learning partners and online. Specific courses that are offered include Project Management (PG and UG), Strategic Project Management (PG) and Operations Management (PG, UG and online).

In addition, the successful candidate will support our plans to grow our Executive Education, consultancy, and knowledge exchange activities in the areas of Sustainability and Digital Technology and other related topics.

The Global Registry and Academic Support Directorate are seeking to recruit an Administration Assistant to join their Student Life division to provide administrative and clerical support to the Unitemps Branch Manager, provide advice and guidance on Unitemps matters to students and staff and to promote Unitemps within Heriot-Watt.

The School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society is seeking an Assistant Professor in Sport and/or Exercise Science with specific interests and experience in Physiology and/or Nutrition.

The School is looking to appoint an enthusiastic person to undertake the role of Administrative Assistant in our busy School Executive Support Office. As part of the Executive Support Office team, this role is designed to assist in providing executive support to Senior Academic Leaders and the wider School Leadership Team. This role is also responsible for supporting the Head of Department in Languages and Intercultural Studies. The role holder will be responsible for a range of key duties, including diary management, general administration, and operational support for senior positions across the School. This post reports to and provides comprehensive and confidential administrative support to the Executive Office of the School of Social Science and the Edinburgh Business School. The role also requires outstanding organisational skills, providing administrative support to other members of the executive team.

The Research Assistant will work within the AOP research group supporting the EPSRC (Part of the UK national research council) project EP/V01269X/1 “Ultra-short pulsed laser welding “.

We are actively looking for a talented researcher in robotics perception and manipulation to work on the UNITE project. You will join the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, a joint venture between Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh which has established itself as one of the largest and most visible robotics research centres in the UK, building on a strong tradition in robotics in each university.

We are actively looking for a talented researcher in robotics perception and manipulation to work on the UNITE project. You will join the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, a joint venture between Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh which has established itself as one of the largest and most visible robotics research centres in the UK, building on a strong tradition in robotics in each university.

A new opportunity has arisen to join our Information Services Directorate team as a Audio-visual Technician. The main focus of the role will be on IT aspects of AV system design, configuration, maintenance, and support, including IP address management, network device configurations, AV over IP, and USB3.0/USB4.0 utilisation. The role holder will work closely with the IS Network & Desktop Development Teams and with other relevant IT colleagues.

The Administrative Executive – Accounts Receivable will be the strategic partner in the successful delivery of the University’s Strategy 2025 and the strategic theme of Achieving Efficiency and Effectiveness.

The Marketing, Recruitment, Admissions and Communications directorate are looking for passionate and imaginative content creators who have a talent for producing captivating videos to join our Student Social Media Ambassador programme over the summer.

Exciting and challenging opportunity to provide strategic leadership in development of innovative and leading-edge management education and research programmes. The position also offers significant strategic development opportunities in relation to knowledge exchange, executive education and industry-focused research.

Under the leadership of the Head of the Department for Marketing and Operations, Dr Kathryn Waite, this role is intended to provide teaching and leadership support for the EBS Consultancy Bootcamp and will include large and small group teaching, online delivery, tutorials and assessment activities. In addition, the role-holder will be expected to undertake a 4-year PhD programme, for which a fee waiver will be provided.

LINCS is now looking to recruit a full-time member of staff to join the Department on a Teaching & Scholarship contract. The new staff member will contribute primarily to teaching German, Translation and Interpreting courses at various levels. They will also have the opportunity to contribute to courses for other languages taught in the Department (BSL, Chinese, French and Spanish) where qualified, across a range of programmes, as well as cultural studies-related courses. They will be required to be involved in relevant administration tasks.

The Global Registry and Academic Support Directorate are looking for an experienced Administrative Assistant to join their Off-Campus Students division.

We are currently recruiting for an enthusiastic Assistant Professor with experience of teaching and research. The successful candidate will be an experienced lecturer and researcher in the field of Human Resource Management. Preference will be given to candidates with professional HRM&D experience, as postholders will be expected to engage with HR professionals to develop, enhance and augment our undergraduate and postgraduate programme offerings. Candidates must be able to show evidence of prior academic experience in areas related to organisational behaviour and talent and resourcing management. Preference will also be given to those candidates with a strong track record of publication in high-quality, scholarly journals.

The post holder is required to provide a fair, friendly and customer focused service to MACS staff, students and visitors in relation to all financial matters (travel, expenses claims, catering and other purchasing requirements). They will provide support and advice to new and current members of staff and students in all aspects of MACS & HWU Finance, giving information on financial procedures and policy in a clear and concise manner.

Exciting and challenging opportunity for you to join our teaching and learning activities in the Chemical & Process Engineering discipline at our Edinburgh campus and collaborate with colleagues at our overseas campuses in Dubai and Malaysia.

Exciting and challenging opportunity in support of the Health and Care Engineering Global Research Institute (GRI), to deliver strategic project management across all schools, services and campuses.

The Food and Beverage team is part of Hospitality Services and has responsibility for all aspects of the planning, preparation and service of retail and events catering both on and off the Edinburgh Campus. The team is looking for a General Assistant to actively contribute to the successful delivery of excellent service to all students, staff and visitors across the university.

We are delighted to present an exciting opportunity to join our Development & Alumni team as an Alumni Content & Social Media Co-ordinator.

If the identification and implementation of energy efficiency /energy management / renewable energy related emission reduction is your passion, then the Net Zero Support Officer role could be ideal for you. The role holder will provide development and implementation support across a range of programmes and projects designed to assist achievement of the University’s Net Zero objectives and improve the environmental sustainability of our operations.

2 new Research Fellows will work on developing a national capability in Digital Twinning to enable transport decarbonisation, by informing a large consultation on its structure, membership and research agenda. With the opportunity for an immediate start, we seek experienced and organised researchers to support an extensive range of consultation activities, including focus groups, open and semi-structured interviews, as well as workshops. The applicant will be part of a unified Heriot-Watt and University of Glasgow team, consisting of academics, researchers, business development staff and expert consultants. The successful applicants will support stakeholder engagement, coordination of activities and analysis of qualitative and quantitative feedback. The role provides a unique and high profile opportunity to establish extensive and valuable network connections, and to be central to the co-creation of a strategic national research agenda in Digital Twinning for Transport.

Salary: Grade 7, £35,308 – £43,155

Contract Type: Full Time (1FTE) 12 months, Fixed Term

Rewards and Benefits: 33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday) for all full time staff. Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and leading-edge, relevant research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for innovation, business and industry.

Nearly 30,000 students study with Heriot-Watt across business, engineering, design and the social, physical, biological and sports sciences. Our student body is roughly split evenly between the UK, our two campuses in Dubai and Malaysia, and online, with the latter being distributed across almost all the countries of the world. We also have many partnerships with other institutions world-wide who award Heriot-Watt degrees.

Detailed Description 

We are actively looking for a talented researcher in robotics perception and manipulation to work on the UNITE project.

The UNITE prosperity partnership project brings Fugro Ltd, a major Tier 1 offshore service provider, together with a world-leading robotics research team from Heriot-Watt University and Imperial College London to address key open research challenges for safe and robust robotic solutions in the offshore renewable sector. It specifically focuses on the development and deployment of perception-enabled, risk-aware underwater intervention techniques, which are critical for the widespread adoption of robotics solutions in this rapidly expanding sector. The vision of the UNITE project is to develop a holistic solution to autonomous and semi-autonomous underwater intervention applied to the maintenance and repair of offshore wind farms, remotely monitored from shore and safely operated worldwide. UNITE’s research vision and programme aim at reducing the use of crewed support vessels for operation, keeping offshore turbines more productive with less downtime and more timely and cost-effective maintenance and repair. This will also support the industry to cut costs and carbon footprint while dramatically improving health & safety.

You will join the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, a joint venture between Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh which has established itself as one of the largest and most visible robotics research centres in the UK, building on a strong tradition in robotics in each university. Since its creation in 2013, we have secured £100M of investment in infrastructure, a Centre for Doctoral training (EPSRC), enabling us to recruit over 15 PhD students per year and very recently the £30M ORCA Robotics Hub (EPSRC) in Robotics and AI for Offshore Asset integrity management. There has therefore never been a better time to join us and be part of a truly unique endeavour in the UK and probably in the world. Details on the activities of the centre can be found at http://www.edinburgh-robotics.org/ . We have also recently established the National Robotarium, a new research centre working at the interface of academia an industry to promote adoption of leading-edge robotics solutions in the real world.

The UNITE project is a collaboration between Heriot-Watt University, Imperial College London and Fugro Ltd, a world leader in inspection and maintenance. Sponsored by EPSRC, this 3 years project will explore fundamental research in advanced autonomy for underwater manipulation.  The multidisciplinary research team currently being assembled between (6 people) will address key scientific challenges including 3D perception of UUVs on both geometric and semantic understanding with even a limited amount of underwater data, providing accurate object semantics and grasping affordance to support planning and control (O1), novel motion planning architectures that merge machine autonomy and human decision making, to harmoniously control USVs, UUVs, and manipulators thus allowing the advanced human-machine shared autonomy (O2) and advanced techniques (time-delay control, model predictive control) for autonomous whole-body control of vehicle-manipulator systems to physically interact with assets in the presence of disturbances and time-delays in the control loop (O3).

UUVs and USVs can rely on 3D geometric models/maps of environments to plan paths and navigate autonomously, for instance, performing inspection tasks. However, for underwater intervention missions, solely 3D geometric information is inadequate for manipulation because richer object-level semantic information is required for planning a physical interaction, e.g., grasping planning and control strategy are different for turning valves versus connecting cables. 

The position advertised here (O1) and will try to address the following research questions:

• RQ1.1: How should underwater 3D perception be designed to fully support autonomous navigation of USV/UUV, and manipulation and grasping using underwater manipulators? Which information should it encode and how to make it versatile and lightweight?

• RQ1.2: Given the fact that there is a very limited amount of underwater data, how can a machine

learning model be effectively trained, even online, for robust 3D perception?

• RQ1.3: How can 3D maps of large-scale offshore sites enable object interaction and grasping in

real-time operation?

Key Duties and Responsibilities

The Research Associates and Investigators will closely collaborate: there will be regular meetings throughout the project, as well as larger project management meetings that the Research Associates will be expected to attend. The Research Fellow/Associate shall:

• take responsibility for co-ordinating his or her own work within the framework defined by the project, and as defined by the Investigators;
• organise his or her own work and time in order to meet the deadlines and milestones as defined within the project, or as modified after discussion with the Investigators;
• keep the Investigators and other relevant individuals informed of progress;
• collaborate with Investigators in writing research proposals to seek further funding and technology pull through;
• interact with potential PhD students who will be collaborating on the project;
• interact with other Research Associates and Ph.D. students working on related projects;
• support the reporting of progress to our sponsors and industrial partners via reports, website updates and any other means as defined by the investigators;
• engage positively with our industrial collaborator;
• support the organisation of workshops and conferences as necessary;
• support the development of technology demonstrators for your work and the collaborative work undertaken with other RAs;
• Participate in the setup and maintenance of a shared code and data base to foster collaborative work with other RAs in our research group.

The researchers will be supported by an experienced professional team for project management, outreach, and industry liaison. You will also receive complementary training in a range of areas (robot ethics, outreach, commercialization, etc…) and will be offered numerous professional development opportunities to maximize your career development.  

Candidates will have a PhD in engineering, computer science or a related area or equivalent research experience. You will be working as part of a large team of researchers and we expect excellent communication and teamwork ability from any candidates to these positions. 

Education, Qualifications and Experience

Essential:

• Excellent mathematical skills in devising and analysing robotics algorithms. 
• Hold a PhD, or equivalent research experience
• Demonstrated research ability in motion planning, manipulation and computer vision
• Demonstrated ability to publish in major international journals in the field.
• Ability to carry out independent research
• Ability to work in a diverse team of researchers and engineers
• Excellent written and oral presentation skills
• Software programming skills appropriate for simulation work and algorithmic development
• Experience of ROS environment

Desirable:

• Previous experience in marine robotics. 
• Experience in working in large collaborative projects.

 

Supervision

You will be supervised by Prof Yvan Petillot, Dr Sen Wang, Dr Carlos Mastalli and Dr Suphi Erden. 

‘How to Apply’

Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on 25th June 2023

Please must submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing their interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV that includes the list of publications

It is recommended to contact Professor Yvan Petillot by email at [email protected]  for any informal inquiry, prior to a formal application. .

At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities.  Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm  and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/  .

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm  to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.