PhD Position: IIoT-powered quality assessment and certification in the production of bone screws Politecnico di Milano in Italy

Politecnico di Milano is offering a fully funded PhD position in the Mechanical Engineering Department within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Networks project MicroMan4Health (Data-Centric Micromanufacturing Platform Towards Added Value in the Health Sector). The project explores the shift from process-centric to data-centric micromanufacturing, with a strong focus on advanced manufacturing, digitalisation, and health-sector applications.

The specific topic is IIoT-powered quality assessment and certification in the production of bone screws. The research aims to build an IIoT-enabled framework for quality assessment and certification in the industrial production of titanium bone screws, linking manufacturing data from operators, CAM software, and machines via Product Manufacturing Information (PMI). The work targets real-time monitoring, tool-wear prediction, machining traceability, and digital workflows that can predict and certify screw quality based on machine-signal analysis.

The project is hosted by Politecnico di Milano, a leading Italian technical university, and benefits from the expertise of the Mechanical Engineering Department, which offers advanced manufacturing and smart manufacturing environments. The department’s laboratories include high-precision micromachining centres and optical metrology systems, supporting experimental research in microproduction and measurement.

This PhD is embedded in an international network with strong academic and industrial relevance. Planned secondments include WatAJet for industrial integration and validation, UIUC for chip-removal modelling in precision machining, and Cochlear for insights into IP management, regulation, and medical-device development. The project also includes international doctoral training activities across Europe and aims to deliver practical outputs such as SME guidelines, a reliable data-driven prediction and certification system, and data-tracking guidelines aligned with EU Digital Product Passport requirements.

Eligibility is strict because the position is funded under MSCA rules: applicants must not already hold a doctoral degree and must satisfy the mobility rule, meaning they must not have lived or carried out their main activity in Italy for more than 12 months in the 36 months before recruitment. Applicants should hold, or soon complete, a master’s degree in biomedical engineering or a closely related field, with very good results.

Applications must be submitted by 25 August 2026 via the online form, together with a single PDF containing the required documents. The planned start date is 1 October or November 2026, with some flexibility depending on funding availability.