Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with Focus on Cyber-Physical Systems Full-time

Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with Focus on Cyber-Physical Systems

Department of Automatic Control, LTH, Lund University invites applications for a position as Assistant Professor.

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the world's top universities. The University has around 46,000 students and 8,500 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg, and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain, and improve our world and the human condition.

We are seeking candidates for the position Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with focus on Cyber-Physical Systems. Automatic control, cyber-physical systems, and embedded real-time systems are central to the analysis, design, and operation of modern engineered systems. These fields combine fundamental theory with methods for the implementation, integration, and validation of control and decision-making algorithms in real-world environments. They play a key role in technologies where computational and physical processes interact closely, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, industrial automation, smart infrastructure, and interconnected sensing and actuation systems. As society and technology evolve toward increasingly autonomous, distributed, and software-intensive systems, the need for reliable, resource-efficient, secure, and scalable solutions becomes increasingly important both in research and in education.

At the Department of Automatic Control, LTH, research and teaching are conducted in an international environment with around 60 employees, including doctoral students, postdocs, and faculty with broad subject expertise. The department has a strong tradition in systems and control theory including cyber-physical systems, embedded and networked control systems, robotics, and intelligent autonomous systems. The work environment is characterized by an open and ambitious atmosphere, with collaborations both within academia and with industrial partners, nationally and internationally.

Lund University and the Department of Automatic Control welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We view gender equality and diversity as strengths and assets. The department currently has three female professors, including a Lise Meitner Professor, and one female senior lecturer. Of our 15 faculty members, five have an international background. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to us.

We are now seeking an excellent early-career researcher for a position as Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with focus on Cyber-Physical Systems. We particularly welcome candidates whose research combines automatic control with areas such as embedded and real-time systems, distributed and networked systems, robotics and mechatronics, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and edge computing infrastructures, or implementation of control systems in industrially relevant applications. The research may, for example, concern control implementation in resource-constrained environments, real-time and embedded control architectures, networked and distributed control, sensing and actuation systems, or software-hardware integration for autonomous and cyber-physical systems.

The position includes conducting research of high international quality, developing an independent research profile, contributing to the acquisition of external research funding, and teaching and supervising students at the undergraduate, advanced, and doctoral levels within automatic control and computer engineering, including cyber-physical systems, embedded and real-time systems, and related areas. A central aspect of the position is to contribute to education that bridges theory and practice through the development of a hands-on learning environment.

Subject

Assistant Professor in Automatic Control with Focus on Cyber-Physical Systems.

Subject Description

The position lies at the intersection of control and computer-systems engineering and centers on the development, deployment, and evaluation of control algorithms in real-world systems. Cyber-physical systems integrate computational and physical processes through sensing, communication, and actuation. These systems often operate under constraints related to communication, computation, timing, and energy, and may rely on real-time software, embedded hardware, sensor–actuator integration, and systems-level design and analysis.

Key areas of interest include:

• Cyber-physical systems, which combine computational components with physical processes, often interacting through sensors and actuators
• Implementation of control systems in real-world environments, including industrially relevant applications
• Real-time systems, where control decisions must be made within strict timing requirements to ensure safety and performance
• Embedded systems, where control software is tightly integrated with hardware in compact, resource-constrained devices
• Distributed and networked control systems, where control functions are shared across interconnected components, including cloud- and edge-based architectures for monitoring, computation, and control
• Internet of Things (IoT), where interconnected devices and systems collaborate to monitor, analyze, and control physical environments

Work Duties

Employment as an assistant professor is a tenure track position, which aims for the holder to develop their independence as a researcher and educator. The work duties mainly involve research and teaching. The position includes the opportunity to undertake five weeks of training in teaching and learning in higher education.

Work Duties Include:

• Research within the subject area.
• Teaching in the first, second, and third cycles of studies.
• Supervision of degree projects and doctoral students.
• Actively seeking external research funding.
• Collaboration with industry and wider society.
• Administration related to the work duties listed above.

Qualification Requirements

Qualification requirements for employment as an assistant professor are fulfilled by someone who has been awarded a doctorate or has the corresponding research competence.

Primary consideration should be given to someone who has been awarded a doctorate or achieved the equivalent competence within seven years of the deadline for application for employment as an assistant professor. However, someone who has been awarded a doctorate or achieved the equivalent expertise at an earlier date may also be considered if there are special grounds. Special grounds are sick leave, parental leave, or other similar circumstances.

Assessment Criteria

For appointment to assistant professor, the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• A good ability to develop and carry out high quality research.
• Teaching ability.

Additional Requirements

• Very good oral and written proficiency in English.
• Documented research experience including the integration and experimental validation of control systems on cyber-physical platforms.
• Collaborative skills, initiative, and the ability to solve work tasks independently, as well as a demonstrated interest in leadership.

Other Qualifications

• Significant documented research experience (e.g., from postdoc or doctoral studies) from another university/institute or relevant experience from industry/public sector.
• Teaching experience from courses within the subject and related areas of the position.

The extent to which the applicant, through their experience and skills, may complement and strengthen ongoing research, undergraduate education, departmental innovation, and how they can contribute to the future development of the department will also be taken into consideration.

Terms of Employment

This is a full-time, fixed-term employment of 6 years. The employment is regulated in accordance with Chapter 4 Section 12a§ HEA. The purpose of the appointment is for the teacher to be given the opportunity to develop research autonomy and acquire the scholarly and teaching qualifications required for eligibility for appointment as a senior lecturer.

We Offer

Lund University is a public authority which means that employees get particular benefits, generous annual leave, and an advantageous occupational pension scheme. Read more on the University website about being a Lund University employee: https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/about-university/work-lund-university.

Instructions on How to Apply

Applications shall be written in English. Please draw up the application in accordance with LTH's Academic qualifications portfolio – see link below. Upload the application as PDF-files in the recruitment system. Read more: http://www.lth.se/english/working-at-lth/to-apply-for-academic-positions-at-lth/

We welcome your application!