PhD: Autonomous Lab for Accelerated Water-Electrolysis

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH; Wien; On-site; EUR 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

PhD community access

PhD supervision support

Inclusive work environment

Job summary

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH in Vienna seeks a PhD candidate to join the Center for Energy. You will help transform materials research into a fully digital, data-driven workflow, piloting automated research processes and collaborating across robotics, software, electrochemistry, and materials science.

You will develop robotic automation for accelerated stress testing and FAIR data pipelines, while applying ML and Bayesian optimization to improve testing strategies.

Qualifications

• Master's level or higher in a technical field with ability to defend within 3 months after start.
• Strong Python programming skills and data analytics experience.
• Hands-on experience with laboratory automation, robotics, and hardware-software interfacing.
• Experience with ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow) and data-driven workflows.

Responsibilities

• Support the ECHT team in transitioning materials research to a data-driven pipeline.
• Pilots end-to-end automated and autonomous research workflows within the ARA-ESM platform.
• Develop, assemble, and operate a robotic platform to automate AST protocols for water electrolysis cells.
• Collaborate with Data Steward to establish FAIR-compliant, automated data capture and structuring pipelines.
• Apply machine learning, surrogate modeling, and active learning to link testing with degradation and performance metrics.
• Implement closed-loop strategies (e.g., Bayesian optimization) to autonomously plan and refine tests.
• Publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present at international conferences.
• Collaborate with robotics, software engineering, electrochemistry, and materials science experts within ARA.

Skills

Python programming

Machine learning

Laboratory automation

Robotics interfacing

REST APIs

Data management (FAIR)

Independent scientific work

English language

German language

Education

Master's in Mechatronics / Materials Science / CS / EE / Physics / Chemistry

Tools

Python data libraries (Pandas, NumPy, SciPy)

PyTorch / TensorFlow

REST APIs

Job description

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH in Vienna seeks a PhD candidate to join the Center for Energy. You will help transform materials research into a fully digital, data-driven workflow, piloting automated research processes and collaborating across robotics, software, electrochemistry, and materials science.

You will develop robotic automation for accelerated stress testing and FAIR data pipelines, while applying ML and Bayesian optimization to improve testing strategies.