Applications by 16 February 2024, via email (cv & motivation letter) to: Prof. George Yannis geyannis@central.ntua.gr
PhD #14 Road safety prediction on the basis of ethically sound physiological measurements
Vacancy description
Within the IVORY doctoral network, this PhD position aims to understand and predict how the psychophysiological state of the driver contributes to overall road safety, particularly by using measurements of physiological data, such as the electrocardiogram (ECG), photoplethysmogram (PPG), blood pressure, among others. The goal is to create machine learning models that relate individual physiological dynamics with road safety indicators, with the ultimate objective of accurately and reliably detecting and warning, in real-time, when the driver is unfit for the driving task, regardless of automation level. Deep learning methodologies, such as convolutional neural networks, should be considered, as well as privacy-by-design frameworks.The position contributes to road safety research by compiling a taxonomy of driver monitoring technologies, creating innovative algorithms for physiological-based, real-time prediction of driver capability and its impact on safety, in several real-world scenarios, and to explore and create frameworks to assess the ethical and privacy dimensions of the use of driver monitoring technologies.
Project description
IVORY (ivory-network.eu) is a Horizon Europe MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE ACTION Industrial Doctoral Network consisting of 22 partners (universities, industry, and non-governmental organizations). The project aims to develop a new framework for the integration of AI in road safety and train a new generation of leading researchers in the field, in order to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals target 3.6 (halving the number of traffic fatalities by 2030) and EC ‘Vision Zero’ strategy (eliminating traffic fatalities by 2050).
PhD students will obtain their PhD degree from the relevant academic partner, and spend at least 50% of their PhD time at the relevant non-academic partner.Academic host: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece
School of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering Months 19-36 of PhDIndustry host: CardioID Technologies Lda, Lisbon, Portugal Months 1-18 of PhD
Secondment(s):
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Delft, The NetherlandsDuration: 4 months
Research field(s): Transport engineering; Data science; Physiological computing; AI ethics
Type of contract: Fixed-term
Employment status: Full time (1.0 fte)
Eligibility criteria
- A Master’s degree (or equivalent);
- Not in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment;
- Recruited applicants can be of any nationality and must undertake trans-national mobility (i.e., move from one country to another) when taking up the appointment. In particular, at the time of selection, the recruited applicant for this position must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Portugal for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Short stays, such as holidays, are not taken into account.
- A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in biomedical engineering, transport engineering, computer science, or relevant fields; other Master’s degrees will also be considered if you have demonstrable expertise, for instance, in data science, signal processing, multi-variate analysis, modeling, or machine learning.
- Familiarity with signal processing techniques (filtering, linear systems, transforms, discrete signals).
- Strong conceptual and analytical skills.
- Strong capacity to undertake research.
- Excellent academic writing and presentation skills.
- The ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
- High level of proficiency in English.
- Willingness to work in a multi-national, diverse environment.
Optional skills (preferred but not required)
- Familiarity and hands-on experience with handling physiological signals (e.g., electrocardiogram, photoplethysmogram, electroencephalogram, electrodermal activity).
- Capacity to conceptualize and conduct experiments to collect physiological data.
- Familiarity with concepts related to human factors engineering.
- Familiarity with machine learning algorithms, deep learning, and dynamic modeling.
- Familiarity with advanced statistics (statistical tests and regression) and probability theory (probability distributions, Bayesian statistics).
- Familiarity with concepts related to ethical and fair use of machine learning systems.
- Familiarity with concepts related to data protection and privacy (e.g., GDPR).
- Coding skills in Python.
- Familiarity with Python libraries and frameworks for signal processing and machine learning (e.g., numpy, pandas, scikit-learn, tensorflow, keras, pytorch).
- Familiarity with Git version control.
Proof of English language proficiency at a Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level of C1, or an MSc degree in English, or IELTS: minimum 8.0 / TOEFL: minimum 110
Salary
The successful candidate will receive an attractive salary following the MSCA regulations for doctoral candidates. The exact salary will vary depending on the country of the host partner and will be confirmed upon appointment. The salary includes a living allowance, a mobility allowance, and a family allowance (if the recruited doctoral candidate has or acquires family obligations during the duration of the fellowship), and is very competitive overall.
Other benefits
In addition, the doctoral candidate will benefit from extensive training within the IVORY network, which includes internships/secondments in other laboratories, a variety of training courses (including transferable skills), and active participation in workshops and conferences.
Application process
Candidates should apply electronically using the link indicated in the PhD position(s) of their interest; Candidates should provide the following documents:- Detailed CV, including information on the candidate’s proficiency in English;
- Motivation letter (1 page), describing why the position fits the applicant
- Contact information of 2 references
Applications to be sent to: Prof. George Yannis: geyannis@central.ntua.gr
Academic host
The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest Engineering University in Greece and it plays a paragon role in the scientific, technical and economic development of Greece but also in Europe and worldwide, consistently ranking as the best Greek technical university. Currently, it is ranked among the top engineering and technology universities (3rd in Europe and 7th worldwide) by Shanghai World University Rankings. NTUA has been involved in more than 160 road safety research projects since the early 1990s, comprising 70 European Commission projects, 14 International Organisation projects (UN-ECE, WHO, EIB, World Bank, ITF, CEDR) and 76 Greek projects. NTUA has well established communication channels to promote research findings: more than 800 road safety scientific publications highly cited globally, including more than 220 in scientific journals and 550 in scientific conferences. The NTUA Road Safety Observatory (NRSO) (www.nrso.ntua.gr) has a widespread recognition at the global road safety community as a center of research and innovation excellence on road safety, having received during the last 10 years more than 150.000 road safety visitors and more than 2,800,000 visits (today steadily more than 3.000 visits per month).
Industry host
CardioID was born out of research on Physiological Computing, studying ECG signals for biometrics, health, and wellbeing purposes, on the premise that each cardiac signal is unique. CardioID has developed several collaborative projects aimed at integrating its technology in the most diverse environments, such as in the automotive industry, critical facilities, and hospitals.
For CardioID, please contact Dr. André Lourenço – arl@cardio-id.com
PhD #9 AI for road safety monitoring and crash prediction from micro to macro levels
Vacancy description
Within the IVORY doctoral network, this PhD position aims to investigate the effect of spatial scale on road safety monitoring and crash prediction, to develop a new state-of-the-art AI framework to observe and analyse road safety Key Performance Indicators and predict crashes by achieving transition from smaller scales (e.g., on a segment, intersection or neighbourhood level) to larger ones (e.g., highway corridor or prefecture/county level), taking into account the time dimension, and to assess the effectiveness and scalability of microscopic road safety models for macroscopic crash prediction and vice versa.
The position contributes to road safety research by evaluating several scaling combinations that will also feature capabilities of ‘zooming in/zooming out’ of study areas using different levels of telematics (e.g., trip-based, driver-based or network-based using several drivers) and synthesizing knowledge on comparable advantages and disadvantages for each analysis scale. A case study utilising driver telematics in an urban area will be conducted, with actionable results, compatible with the vision and activities of OSeven – showcasing the impact of using AI for micro-analysis based on driver telematics and integrating the findings to larger scales.
Project description
IVORY (ivory-network.eu) is a Horizon Europe MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE ACTION Industrial Doctoral Network consisting of 22 partners (universities, industry, and non-governmental organizations). The project aims to develop a new framework for the integration of AI in road safety and train a new generation of leading researchers in the field, in order to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals target 3.6 (halving the number of traffic fatalities by 2030) and EC ‘Vision Zero’ strategy (eliminating traffic fatalities by 2050).
PhD students will obtain their PhD degree from the relevant academic partner, and spend at least 50% of their PhD time at the relevant non-academic partner.Academic host: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece
School of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering Months 19-36 of PhDIndustry host: OSeven, Athens, Greece, Months 1-18 of PhD
Secondment(s): EIRA-SI, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Duration: 4 months
Research field(s): Transport engineering; Traffic safety; Data science; Spatial analysis
Type of contract: Fixed-term
Employment status: Full time (1.0 fte)
Eligibility criteria
- A Master’s degree (or equivalent);
- Not in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment;
- Recruited applicants can be of any nationality and must undertake trans-national mobility (i.e., move from one country to another) when taking up the appointment. In particular, at the time of selection, the recruited applicant for this position must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Greece for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Short stays, such as holidays, are not taken into account.
- A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in computer science, mathematics, computer/electrical engineering; other Master’s degrees (i.e. physics, civil/transport/mechanical engineering) will also be considered, if you have experience in algorithm development
- Familiarity and hands-on experience with machine learning algorithms
- Familiarity with statistics (statistical tests and regression) and probability distributions
- Coding skills in Python
- Strong conceptual and analytical skills
- Proven capacity to undertake research
- Excellent research, academic writing and presentation skills
- The ability to work both independently and as part of a team
- High level of proficiency in English
- Commitment to undertaking multi-year (3 years or more) doctoral research
Optional skills (preferred but not required)
- Familiarity with data handling and manipulation, experience working with big data
- Passion about road infrastructure and transport safety fields
- Commitment to undertaking multi-year (3 years or more) doctoral research
English requirements
Proof of English language proficiency at a Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level of C1, or an MSc degree in English, or IELTS: minimum 8.0 / TOEFL: minimum 110
Salary
The successful candidate will receive an attractive salary following the MSCA regulations for doctoral candidates. The exact salary will vary depending on the country of the host partner and will be confirmed upon appointment. The salary includes a living allowance, a mobility allowance, and a family allowance (if the recruited doctoral candidate has or acquires family obligations during the duration of the fellowship), and is very competitive overall.
Other benefits
In addition, the doctoral candidate will benefit from extensive training within the IVORY network, which includes internships/secondments in other laboratories, a variety of training courses (including transferable skills), and active participation in workshops and conferences.
Application process
Candidates should apply electronically using the link indicated in the PhD position(s) of their interest; Candidates should provide the following documents: Detailed CV, including information on the candidate’s proficiency in English; Motivation letter (1 page), describing why the position fits the applicant Contact information of 2 references Application deadline: 16 February 2024Applications to be sent to: Prof. George Yannis: geyannis@central.ntua.gr
Academic host
The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest Engineering University in Greece and it plays a paragon role in the scientific, technical and economic development of Greece but also in Europe and worldwide, consistently ranking as the best Greek technical university. Currently, it is ranked among the top engineering and technology universities (3rd in Europe and 7th worldwide) by Shanghai World University Rankings. NTUA has been involved in more than 160 road safety research projects since the early 1990s, comprising 70 European Commission projects, 14 International Organisation projects (UN-ECE, WHO, EIB, World Bank, ITF, CEDR) and 76 Greek projects. NTUA has well established communication channels to promote research findings: more than 800 road safety scientific publications highly cited globally, including more than 220 in scientific journals and 550 in scientific conferences. The NTUA Road Safety Observatory (NRSO) (www.nrso.ntua.gr) has a widespread recognition at the global road safety community as a center of research and innovation excellence on road safety, having received during the last 10 years more than 150.000 road safety visitors and more than 2,800,000 visits (today steadily more than 3.000 visits per month).
Industry host
OSeven is a VC backed, high technology company and part of Endeavor Global network. The company provides world-class telematics solutions for insurance companies, banks, telecom, automotive, leasing, and fleet management companies around the globe. OSeven’s AI-enabled, Big-Data telematics solution analyses data collected from different sources (smartphones, OBD devices, Beacons, connected vehicles) to assess the risk associated with driving behaviour and record the vehicle’s mileage. Leveraging advanced Machine Learning, OSeven achieves with great accuracy the detection of several risk factors, including harsh braking and acceleration events, speed limit violations and mobile use while driving.
PhD #8 Proactive risk mapping and infrastructure safety management
Vacancy description
Within the IVORY doctoral network, this PhD position aims to create an AI framework to process, harmonise, analyse and model an array of different available datasets and provide outputs in the form of risk mapping and network-level evaluations. It will develop new AI algorithms for road attribute collection, along with methodologies to assess and quantify their accuracies, suitable for network applications and including hybrid, e.g., manually collected data and will use the AI-augmented dataset creation effort for a suitable working methodology for the generation of hybrid road attribute data and enhanced proactive risk mapping.
The position contributes to road safety research by formulating a functional framework with the use of AI to exploit road risk information in a meaningful manner, transferable between networks. It will assess and quantify the influence of each examined factor on the output of AI algorithms for safety management. A case study with actionable results will be conducted, compatible with the mission and activities of iRAP – namely, a proactive risk mapping and evaluation of a network and comparison with existing risk-mapping results, and quantification of transferability to a second network.
Project description
IVORY (ivory-network.eu) is a Horizon Europe MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE ACTION Industrial Doctoral Network consisting of 22 partners (universities, industry, and non-governmental organizations). The project aims to develop a new framework for the integration of AI in road safety and train a new generation of leading researchers in the field, in order to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals target 3.6 (halving the number of traffic fatalities by 2030) and EC ‘Vision Zero’ strategy (eliminating traffic fatalities by 2050).
PhD students will obtain their PhD degree from the relevant academic partner, and spend at least 50% of their PhD time at the relevant non-academic partner.Academic host: National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece
School of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering Months 19-36 of PhDIndustry host: iRAP, London, United Kingdom, Months 1-18 of PhD
Secondment(s): FRED Engineering, Rome, Italy, Duration: 4 months
OSeven, Athens, Greece, Duration: 9 monthsResearch field(s): Transport engineering; Traffic safety; Data science; Spatial analysis
Type of contract: Fixed-term
Employment status: Full time (1.0 fte)
Eligibility criteria
- A Master’s degree (or equivalent);
- Not in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment;
- Recruited applicants can be of any nationality and must undertake trans-national mobility (i.e., move from one country to another) when taking up the appointment. In particular, at the time of selection, the recruited applicant for this position must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the United Kingdom for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Short stays, such as holidays, are not taken into account.
- A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any technical science
- Familiarity and hands-on experience with machine learning algorithms
- Familiarity with statistics (statistical tests and regression) and probability distributions
- Coding skills in Python or R
- Strong conceptual and analytical skills
- Proven capacity to undertake research
- Excellent research, academic writing and presentation skills
- The ability to work both independently and as part of a team
- High level of proficiency in English
Optional skills (preferred but not required)
- Familiarity with data handling and manipulation, experience working with big data
- Passion about road infrastructure and transport safety fields
- Commitment to undertaking multi-year (3 years or more) doctoral research
Proof of English language proficiency at a Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level of C1, or an MSc degree in English, or IELTS: minimum 8.0 / TOEFL: minimum 110
Salary
The successful candidate will receive an attractive salary following the MSCA regulations for doctoral candidates. The exact salary will vary depending on the country of the host partner and will be confirmed upon appointment. The salary includes a living allowance, a mobility allowance, and a family allowance (if the recruited doctoral candidate has or acquires family obligations during the duration of the fellowship), and is very competitive overall.
Other benefits
In addition, the doctoral candidate will benefit from extensive training within the IVORY network, which includes internships/secondments in other laboratories, a variety of training courses (including transferable skills), and active participation in workshops and conferences.
Application process
Candidates should apply electronically using the link indicated in the PhD position(s) of their interest; Candidates should provide the following documents:- Detailed CV, including information on the candidate’s proficiency in English;
- Motivation letter (1 page), describing why the position fits the applicant
- Contact information of 2 references
Applications to be sent to: Prof. George Yannis: geyannis@central.ntua.gr
Academic host
The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) is the oldest Engineering University in Greece and it plays a paragon role in the scientific, technical and economic development of Greece but also in Europe and worldwide, consistently ranking as the best Greek technical university. Currently, it is ranked among the top engineering and technology universities (3rd in Europe and 7th worldwide) by Shanghai World University Rankings. NTUA has been involved in more than 160 road safety research projects since the early 1990s, comprising 70 European Commission projects, 14 International Organisation projects (UN-ECE, WHO, EIB, World Bank, ITF, CEDR) and 76 Greek projects. NTUA has well established communication channels to promote research findings: more than 800 road safety scientific publications highly cited globally, including more than 220 in scientific journals and 550 in scientific conferences. The NTUA Road Safety Observatory (NRSO) (www.nrso.ntua.gr) has a widespread recognition at the global road safety community as a center of research and innovation excellence on road safety, having received during the last 10 years more than 150.000 road safety visitors and more than 2,800,000 visits (today steadily more than 3.000 visits per month).
Industry host
The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a registered charity dedicated to saving lives by eliminating high risk roads throughout the world. Like many life-saving charities working in the public health arena, we use a robust, evidence-based approach to prevent unnecessary deaths and suffering. iRAP works in partnership with governments, road authorities, mobility clubs, development banks, NGOs and research organisations to:
- Inspect high-risk roads and develop Star Ratings, Risk Maps and Safer Roads Investment Plans
- Provide training, technology and support that will build and sustain national, regional and local capability
- Track road safety performance so that funding agencies can assess the benefits of their investments.
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentation:
NTUA actively contributed with the following presentations:
