PhD Research Fellow in Multisensory Networked Interactions with Robotics Avatars

About the position

We invite applications for position as PhD Research Fellow in Multisensory Networked Interactions with Robotics Avatars available at Department of Informatics.

The fellowship period is three years. Depending on the candidate and the teaching needs of the department, the fellowship period can be extended either for compulsory work consisting of e.g. teaching and supervision duties and research assistance up top four years.

Starting date as soon as possible.

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

Place of work is the Department of Informatics at Blindern, Oslo.

Job description

The PhD fellowship position is located at the Department of Informatics and is hosted jointly by the Network and Distributed Systems Research Group and the Robotics and Intelligent Systems Research Group. The research groups consist of around 30 full- and part-time faculty members and several postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. The research groups conduct research in various areas of mobile network systems, multimedia and AR/VR/XR systems, robotics and machine learning, focusing on fundamental aspects as well as on applications in multidisciplinary contexts.

This position is part of the DRIVE project, funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN) (2026-2030), focusing on brain-driven multi-sensory robotic avatars for remote collaborative physical work. The DRIVE project involves Simula Research Laboratory and University of Texas at Austin, USA, as partners. In addition, this PhD candidate will be able to participate and exploit synergies with the National AI Centre for AI and Creativity (MishMash), led by University of Oslo, funded by the RCN (2025-2030).

The successful candidate will join the Sustainable Immersive Networking Lab (SINLAB), a multidisciplinary team working on systems that enable users to act in remote physical spaces and experience the effects of their actions through multimodal feedback (audio, video, haptics). While SINLAB addresses applications in health, industry, education, sports, entertainment and creative domains, the focus of the PhD candidate will be on remote collaborative physical work especially the real-time interaction among humans and between humans and a remote environment.

The main challenge with such networked interactions is that haptic feedback has very stringent delay requirements as low as 20 milliseconds. Therefore, performing such actions remotely with both action and reaction traversing long distances is far beyond our technical capabilities today. Even the developments in 5G and beyond networks that specifically target significant latency reductions are not sufficient due to physical as well as resource limitations.

The core research objective of this PhD is to design and evaluate “latency hiding” methods for immersive networked interactions. This involves (i) developing predictive machine learning models that forecast user actions and remote system responses across audio, video and haptic modalities, and (ii) jointly orchestrating network and computing resources to compensate for the gap between physical latency limits and human perceptual tolerances. The work will comprise designing networking and computing architectures that integrate prediction and control algorithms, optimizing data transformations, offloading and distributed computing, and exploiting mechanisms such as network slicing and multi-access edge computing. The overarching goal is to guarantee perceptual latency budgets and to devise embodiment recovery strategies when these budgets are exceeded, enabling consistent, realistic and cognitively coherent remote physical interaction with robotic avatars.

What skills are important in this role?

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Required qualifications:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in informatics, computer science/engineering, electrical/electronic engineering, cybernetics, robotics or a closely related field
• Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) corresponding to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system
• Documented experience in computer networks especially in mobile networks and/or edge-cloud continuum
• Document knowledge about the system performance evaluation of computer systems and networks for interactive applications, preferably with AR/VR/XR, robotics, haptics, multimodal or multimedia systems. Directly relevant areas are preferable
• Documented knowledge in machine learning methods, especially hands-on experience with time series data
• Documented hands-on programming experience
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English

Candidates without a master’s degree have until June 30, 2026 to complete the final exam.

Desired qualifications:

• It is an advantage if the applicant has developed working systems, prototypes, or emulators
• It is an advantage if the applicant has developed software in fields such as AR/VR/XR, robotics, haptics, multimedia systems or computer games requiring hand-eye-coordination
• It is an advantage if the applicant has experience in resource allocation aspects of 5G/6G networks, or relevant technologies such as edge computing
• It is an advantage to have experience with scientific writing and publication

Language requirement:

• Good oral and written communication skills in English
• English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/ EEA countries and exemptions from the requirements:
  https://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/regulations/regulations.html#toc8

Grade requirements:

The norm is as follows:

• The average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
• The average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
• The Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. For more information see:
http://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/

All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.

What are we looking for in you?

Personal skills:

• The applicant must be comfortable and capable working in an open, interactive, collaborative work environment
• The applicant must demonstrate the social responsibility and ethical awareness required to design, organize, and conduct user studies
• The applicant must demonstrate good communication and collaboration skills
• The applicant must demonstrate positive attitude and the ability to handle hectic periods
• You are a person who prefers being present at work and actively contributes to the professional and social environment you are a part of

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

We can offer you

• A pleasant and stimulating work environment
• Good welfare schemes
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities
• Career development programmes
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes
• Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
• Salary in position as PhD Research Fellow, position code 1017 in salary range NOK from 550 800 - 595 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund 

We need different perspectives in our work

UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.

We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues, could you be the next one?

We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.

If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).

The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here. 

We hope you will apply for the position with us.

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter - statement of motivation and research interests
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)
• Transcripts of records, copies of the original Bachelor and Master’s degree diploma (see below)
• Letters of recommendation
• Documentation of English proficiency if applicable
• List of publications and academic work (if any) that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for this job". Foreign applicants should attach an official explanation of their University's grading system.

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with

Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian), Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO (Norwegian) and Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Oslo.  

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.