Research Associate / Doctoral Candidate – AI-based Surgical Understanding (m/f/d)

Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich); München; Vor Ort; EUR 52.000 - 70.000; Vollzeit

Benefits dieser Stelle

Interdisciplinary environment

Opportunity to pursue doctoral degree

Publish opportunities

TV-L remuneration

Zusammenfassung

The Technische Universität München (TUM) invites applications for a Research Associate / Doctoral Candidate in the MITI group at TUM University Hospital to advance AI-based understanding of surgical procedures. You will work on multimodal data infrastructure and real-time representations of surgeries, collaborating with clinicians and engineers in a highly interdisciplinary setting.

We offer a stimulating research environment, opportunities to publish at top conferences, and a pathway toward a

Qualifikationen

• Master's or equivalent in CS, Mathematics, Robotics, EE, or related field.
• Strong background in CV, ML, DL; graph neural networks desirable.
• Strong Python skills; PyTorch, PyTorch Geometric, OpenCV.
• Experience with time-series, graphs, 2D/3D data.
• Willingness to work in interdisciplinary clinical setting incl. OR.
• Fluent English; German helpful for clinical work.

Aufgaben

• Participate in innovative research projects at the intersection of medicine, computer science, and AI.
• Design and implement approaches for operating room understanding, e.g., scene graphs and graph models.
• Develop ML prototypes integrating multiple modalities (2D/3D vision, language, audio, sensors).
• Contribute to multimodal OR infrastructure for surgical AI applications.
• Publish research with colleagues and international partners.
• Pursue a doctoral degree at TUM as part of research activities.

Kenntnisse

Python programming

Computer vision

Machine learning

Graph neural networks

English proficiency

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Ausbildung

Master's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

PyTorch

PyTorch Geometric

OpenCV

Jobbeschreibung

Academic staff

The Research Group MITI at TUM University Hospital is seeking a Research Associate / Doctoral Candidate (m/f/d) to support our research on AI-based understanding and representation of surgical procedures in the operating room.

Position Overview

Our goal is to further develop our operating room into one of the most highly digitized and data-driven surgical environments in Europe. We are currently building a multimodal data infrastructure that captures data during real-world surgical procedures using multiple cameras, microphones, sensors, and other data sources. Based on this infrastructure, we develop machine learning methods and downstream applications designed to support surgeons and clinical teams in their everyday work. For this position, we are particularly interested in developing structured and real-time representations of ongoing surgical procedures, for example using scene graphs, geometric representations, and multimodal learning approaches. These representations should capture relevant entities, actions, spatial relationships, and temporal developments within the operating room and provide a foundation for intelligent surgical assistance systems.

14.08.2026, Academic staff

The Research Group MITI at TUM University Hospital is seeking a Research Associate / Doctoral Candidate (m/f/d) to support our research on AI-based understanding and representation of surgical procedures in the operating room.

Position Overview

Our goal is to further develop our operating room into one of the most highly digitized and data-driven surgical environments in Europe. We are currently building a multimodal data infrastructure that captures data during real-world surgical procedures using multiple cameras, microphones, sensors, and other data sources. Based on this infrastructure, we develop machine learning methods and downstream applications designed to support surgeons and clinical teams in their everyday work. For this position, we are particularly interested in developing structured and real-time representations of ongoing surgical procedures, for example using scene graphs, geometric representations, and multimodal learning approaches. These representations should capture relevant entities, actions, spatial relationships, and temporal developments within the operating room and provide a foundation for intelligent surgical assistance systems.

Tasks And Responsibilities

• Participate in innovative research projects at the intersection of medicine, computer science, and artificial intelligence, working closely with experienced clinicians, engineers, and scientists.
• Design and implement novel approaches for operating room and surgical procedure understanding, including scene graphs, graph-based models, and other structured representations.
• Develop machine learning prototypes that integrate multiple data modalities, including 2D/3D vision, language, audio, and sensor data.
• Contribute to the development and expansion of our multimodal operating room infrastructure, with a focus on supporting surgical AI applications and downstream tasks.
• Publish your research in collaboration with colleagues and (inter-) national research partners.
• Pursue a doctoral degree at TUM as part of your research activities.

Qualifications And Experience

• Successfully completed university degree (Master's or equivalent) in Computer Science, Mathematics, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or another relevant technical discipline.
• Strong background in computer vision, machine learning, and deep learning. Experience with geometric deep learning or graph neural networks is highly desirable.
• Strong programming skills, particularly in Python, and experience with relevant frameworks and libraries such as PyTorch, PyTorch Geometric, and OpenCV.
• Practical experience implementing machine learning, computer vision, robotics, or related projects, preferably with the following data types: time-series data, unstructured data, graph-structured data, 2D images/video, or 3D data.
• Ability and willingness to work in an interdisciplinary clinical research environment, including regular work in the operating room.
• Fluent written and spoken English; good German skills are required for working in the clinical environment.

Our offer

• Highly interdisciplinary research environment at the interface of AI, computer vision, medical technology, and surgery.
• Close collaboration with clinicians, computer scientists, engineers, and (inter-) national research partners.
• High degree of scientific freedom and responsibility to develop and pursue own research ideas within research projects.
• Opportunity to publish work at leading international conferences and journals and to participate in scientific conferences.
• Opportunity to pursue a doctoral degree at TUM.
• Employment and remuneration according to TV-L, based on the applicable requirements and qualifications.

Contact

Lars Wagner

TUM University Hospital

Department of Surgery – Research Group MITI

Trogerstr. 10

81675 München

Links

Research group MITI

LinkedIn

The position is suitable for disabled persons. Disabled applicants will be given preference in case of generally equivalent suitability, aptitude and professional performance.

Data Protection Information

When you apply for a position with the Technical University of Munich (TUM), you are submitting personal information. With regard to personal information, please take note of the Datenschutzhinweise gemäß Art. 13 Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (DSGVO) zur Erhebung und Verarbeitung von personenbezogenen Daten im Rahmen Ihrer Bewerbung. (data protection information on collecting and processing personal data contained in your application in accordance with Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)). By submitting your application, you confirm that you have acknowledged the above data protection information of TUM.

Kontakt: [e-mail]