Three PhD Positions in AI-STEEL Project: Sustainable Design and Development of New Materials Using Experiments and Modeling

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is offering three fully funded PhD positions within the AI-STEEL Project, focused on the sustainable design and development of new steel materials by integrating experimental and modeling approaches. This interdisciplinary project aims to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to extract valuable information from legacy industrial and academic data, facilitating the design of innovative steel grades with improved sustainability. PhD1 will concentrate on developing agentic multi-modal models capable of reading, extracting, and acquiring knowledge from both textual and structured legacy data, such as physical measurements. The goal is to predict characteristics of new steel grades and provide prompt-based summarization and quantitative predictions. This position is based at the Institute of Informatics (IvI), working closely with Prof. Dr. Evangelos Kanoulas and the Information Retrieval Lab, which specializes in neural, generative, and conversational retrieval methods. PhD2 will focus on the inverse design of new steel grades, combining forward simulation models with novel inverse design techniques to identify optimal design parameters. The candidate will collaborate with Dr. Jan-Willem van de Meent (IvI) and Dr. Corentin Coulais (Institute of Physics), integrating predictions from information extraction models to navigate the design space. PhD3 is an experimental position, working with Dr. Shiju Raveendran at the Catalysis Engineering Group in the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS). The candidate will synthesize and characterize new materials, validate model predictions, and collaborate with consortium partners. The Catalysis Engineering Group focuses on sustainable chemical processes, including chemical recycling, CO2 conversion, and renewable fuels. All PhD candidates will participate in educational activities, such as teaching and supervising students, and will benefit from a vibrant research environment at UvA's Faculty of Science. The positions offer a temporary contract for 4 years, with a competitive salary (€3,059–€3,881/month), holiday and year-end allowances, tax benefits for non-Dutch applicants, pension contributions, and extensive fringe benefits including professional development courses and parental leave. Applicants must hold a relevant Master's degree and demonstrate strong communication skills, initiative, and motivation for sustainability-focused research. Experience in research projects, computational chemistry, and analytical techniques is desirable. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the positions are filled. For more information and to apply, visit the official application link.