PhD position (m/f/d)

NEU

Teilzeit

Forschung und Lehre

The Systems Control and Optimization Laboratory at the University of Freiburg offers a PhD position (m/f/d)

Bewerbungsfrist: 30. Juli 2025

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 14. Juli 2025

Eintrittstermin: 1. September 2025

Arbeitsumfang: Part-time position (90 %)

Kennziffer: 00004429

Beschreibung

The Systems Control and Optimization Laboratory at the University of Freiburg (team of Prof. Dr. Moritz Diehl) has one open PhD position that is part of the project cluster "ALeSCo - Active Learning for Systems and Control" funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2025-2029.

The PhD project is tentatively entitled "Active learning for stochastic economic model predictive control - Nonlinear optimization formulations and numerical methods" and the PhD candidate is expected to mainly conduct research in Freiburg and to represent Freiburg at the joint ALeSCo activities taking place in Hannover, Munich, Hamburg, Ilmenau, and Singapore. Participation at international conferences and research visits at other top research centers are supported and highly welcome. Aim of the PhD project is to develop novel model predictive control (MPC) and nonlinear programming (NLP) formulations and algorithms for the online solution of constrained stochastic optimal control problems whose state cannot be measured directly but can only be obtained by use of an estimator. The MPC formulations shall thus be based on the observer state that does not only include the mean but also e.g. the covariance of the state estimate. The research will be at the interface of control engineering, numerical mathematics, and machine learning. A slightly more detailed project description can be found on the Project P5 Page ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alesco.uni-hannover.de%2Fen%2Fresearch-projects%2Fp5&module=jobs&id=207081" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> ?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alesco.uni-hannover.de%2Fen%2Fresearch-projects%2Fp5&module=jobs&id=207081" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.alesco.uni-hannover.de/en/research-projects/p5 The ideal candidate has a strong background in mathematical optimization and control theory as well as good programming skills. Also, one should be interested in interacting with other researchers from control engineering and computer science, in real-world applications, and in development of open-source software. The starting date should be between September 2025 and March 2026. If you are interested, please apply before July 30, 2025, and compile - a letter of motivation (max. 1/2 page) - short description of master thesis results, and other relevant experience such as programming projects (max 2 pages) - short CV (max. 2 pages) - Master’s degree certificate incl. grades (if available, otherwise most current transcript of grades) - Bachelor’s degree certificate (incl. transcript of grades) - A-Level and Abitur (incl. grades) - names of two reference persons including phone numbers and email addresses (e.g. master thesis supervisors) Please send your application material in the form of a single PDF to Christine Paasch . For questions about research in the team you can also contact a PhD candidate in the Systems Control and Optimization Laboratory, e.g. Jakob Harzer or directly contact Prof. Dr. Moritz Mathias Diehl .

The position is limited to 31. August 2028. The salary will be determined in accordance with E13 TV-L.

We will be particularly pleased to receive applications from women for the position advertised here.

Bewerbung

Please send your application in English including supporting documents mentioned above citing the reference number 00004429, by 30. Juli 2025 at the latest. Please send your application to the following address in written or electronic form:

Universität Freiburg IMTEK - Systemtheorie Christine Paasch Georges-Köhler-Allee 102 79110 Freiburg Germany

For further information, please contact Christine Paasch on the phone number +49 761 203-67849 or E-Mail christine.paasch @ imtek.uni-freiburg.de .