Ph.D. Candidate in Reinforcement Learning for Project Scheduling Problems

This is NTNU NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim. At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world. You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.     Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KHQjc4ndas&t=41sAbout the position Are you motivated to take a step towards a doctorate and open up exciting career opportunities? As a PhD Candidate with us, you will work to achieve your doctorate, and at the same time gain valuable experience that qualifies you for a further career in higher education and research, in and outside academia. The position will specifically focus on Reinforcement Learning for Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP). The Ph.D. candidate will be a member of the group of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at NTNU and will tightly cooperate with other Ph.D./post-docs in projects (such as HEU-CIRCULess) and research groups at the department. The Ph.D. position will offer opportunities to develop high-quality research within the field of digitalization of circular construction. Your immediate leader will be the Head of Department. Duties of the position   • Develop learning-based algorithms or methods for deterministic scheduling optimization problems with the aim of achieving competitive performance against state-of-the-art approaches.  • Extend the developed framework to scheduling under uncertainty. Investigate how the proposed learning-based methods can be extended to uncertain and dynamic project environments. • Improve the scalability of learning-based scheduling methods and evaluate generalization, robustness, and computational performance. • Disseminate research outcomes. Publications in relevant high quality peer-reviewed journals  are needed.  • Complete the doctoral education until obtaining a doctorate • Carry out research of good quality within the framework described above • Academic publications and popular science dissemination • Participate in the research group  Civil Engineering and Geomatics Research group Civil Engineering and Geomatics - NTNU Be prepared for changes to your work duties after employment. Required selection criteria • You must have a relevant master’s degree in Computer Science and technology, computer system engineering or equivalent. Your course of study must correspond to a five-year Norwegian course, where 120 credits have been obtained at master's level.  • Experience in reinforcement learning, GNN, etc. • You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and have an average grade from your Master's degree study, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared to NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic foundation. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be considered if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education. • You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's Doctoral Programme https://www.ntnu.edu/studies/phiv • Applicants must have fluent skills in both written and oral English. Non-English native speaker applicants who do not have master in Europe must provide evidence of good English language skills, written and spoken. The following tests can be used as such documentation: TOEFL, IELTS or Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE). Minimum scores are: TOEFL: 600 (paper-based test), 92 (Internet-based test); IELTS: 6.5, with no section lower than 5.5 (only Academic IELTS test accepted); CAE/CPE: grade B or A. •  In extraordinary circumstances, formal documentation of language skills can be relinquished. In such cases, the candidate’s language skills will be assessed in a personal interview.   PLEASE NOTE: For detailed information about what the application must contain, see paragraph “About the application”.   The appointment is to be made in accordance with NTNUs guidelines for recruitment positions for general criteria for the position. Preferred selection criteria • Academic publication in relevant field.  • Experience in programming skills, and artificial intelligence. Personal characteristics To complete a doctoral degree (PhD), it is important that you are able to:  • Work independently • The applicant must be motivated to work closely with teams and external partners  • Work constructively under pressure or in the face of adversity  • Show curiosity and strong motivation for the subject Emphasis will be placed on personal qualities. We offer • An exciting job with an important mission in society • Developing tasks in a strong and international professional environment • Career guidance and follow-up during the PhD period • Open and inclusive working environment with committed colleagues • Working capital that can be used to implement the project • Mentor programme as a new employee at NTNU • Favorable terms as a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) • Free Norwegian language training at a basic level (A2) As a PhD Candidate at NTNU, you will have access to employee benefits. Diversity Diversity is a strength, and at NTNU we aim to be an employer that reflects the diversity in society and that makes use of the potential of the population's collective skills. Our vision is Knowledge for a better world and our values ​​are creative, critical, constructive and respectful. We believe that an organization that is equal, diverse and gender-balanced is essential for us to achieve our goals.  We strive to attract employees with different skills, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to even better problem solving of our societal mission in research and education.  If you think this position is relevant and interesting, we encourag