Juliette Drupt

PhD opportunity in Marine Robotics at the University of Montpellier, France. The Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics of Montpellier (LIRMM) is recruiting a PhD student for a project on multi-modal co-localization and mapping for a heterogeneous fleet of underwater robots . The research focuses on multi-agent SLAM for underwater robots operating in a shared environment without inter-robot positioning measurements. The project combines camera-based visual observations with imaging forward-looking sonar to support robust mapping and localization in challenging underwater conditions. The topic is strongly oriented toward robotics, computer vision, image processing, sensor fusion, probabilistic mapping, and volumetric alignment . Supervision: Pr. Vincent Creuze (director), Dr. Juliette Drupt (advisor), Dr. Noura Faraj (advisor), and Dr. Frederic Comby (advisor). Location: LIRMM, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. Duration: 36 months, from October 2026 to September 2029. Funding: funding is currently to be confirmed. Eligibility highlights: applicants should hold a master’s degree or engineering degree in robotics, computer vision, or a related field; have strong mathematics and programming skills (Python, C/C++, ROS/ROS2, Linux); have basic knowledge of image processing and robotics; and demonstrate a very good level of English. OpenCV familiarity is a plus. Application deadline: 10 June 2026. Application note: candidates must provide the name and contact details of a referee (master thesis supervisor, head of master, or professor from the master). An interview and technical tests will be used for selection. This is a strong fit for students interested in underwater robotics, marine robotics, SLAM, sonar-camera fusion, multi-robot systems, and autonomous mapping .