ERC Synergy Grant PhD Student Scholarship

The KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence at the University of Cyprus announces one full-time PhD Student Scholarship. The KIOS CoE operates within the University of Cyprus, in collaboration with Imperial College London.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to conduct research at the state-of-the-art KIOS CoE facilities, with Prof. Marios Polycarpou towards the goals of the flagship ERC Synergy Grant entitled Water-Futures: Designing the Next Generation of Urban Drinking Water Systems (https://waterfutures.eu), funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The enrolled student will conduct research in the application area of smart water systems, using tools from applied mathematics, optimization, machine learning, systems and control. Motivated candidates with strong mathematical and/or algorithm development backgrounds are especially encouraged to apply.

The selected student will be enrolled in either the Electrical Engineering or the Computer Engineering PhD program of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Cyprus. The ECE Department conducts top-quality research at an international level, offering up-to-date academic programs in multiple areas of research.

KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence
The KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence is the largest research center at the University of Cyprus. Currently, the Center employs more than 180 people, who are supported by externally funded research and innovation projects. KIOS provides an inspiring environment for carrying out top-level research in the area of Information and Communication Technologies, with emphasis on the Monitoring, Control and Security of Critical Infrastructure Systems. The Center instigates interdisciplinary interaction and promotes collaboration between industry, academia and research organizations in high-tech areas of global importance. The KIOS CoE operates in a diverse environment as an equal opportunities’ employer.

ERC Synergy Grant Water-Futures (https://waterfutures.eu)
The world population living in urban areas is expected to increase to 70% by 2050. Historically, as cities grew, new water infrastructures followed as needed. However, these developments had less to do with real planning than with reacting to crisis situations and urgent needs, due to the inability of urban water planners to consider long-term, deeply uncertain and ambiguous factors affecting urban development and water demand. These, coupled with increasing uncertain climate conditions, indicate the need for a more holistic and intelligent decision-making framework for managing water infrastructures in the cities of the future.

This project aims to develop a new theoretical framework for the allocation and development decisions on drinking water infrastructure systems, so that they are socially equitable, economically efficient and environmentally resilient, as advocated by the UN Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development Goals. The framework will integrate real-time monitoring and control with long-term robustness and flexibility-based pathway methods, and incorporate economic, social, ethical and environmental considerations for sustainable transitioning of urban water systems under deep uncertainty with multiple possible futures. Specifically, we focus on the theory and application of monitoring and control in urban water distribution systems, while considering their evolution in time, unpredictable events such as contamination, device faults and failures, as well as the evolution of risk in the system and the presence of humans-in-the-loop.

Job details:
Short Description – Duties and Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to conduct fundamental and/or applied research in the area of Information and Communication Technologies, with emphasis on the Monitoring, Control and Security of Smart Water Systems. The successful candidate is expected to publish his/her research results in high-impact international conferences and journals.

Profile of the ideal candidate:
The ideal candidate must be able to work independently and/or in a team in fundamental and/or applied research. The ideal candidate must be able to produce, publish, and present research results in high-quality conferences and journals, attend academic and/or other conferences and seminars for further personal and professional development, present periodically to KIOS personnel the progress of their research, and assist in the education, and dissemination activities of the KIOS CoE.