Research Fellow - Industrial AI for Manufacturing Process Optimization

About the role

The NTI-NTU Corporate Laboratory at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is looking for a Research Fellow to carry out research on industrial AI for adaptive manufacturing process optimization and decision support. The work develops and validates data-driven methods that combine production data, predictive and state-estimation models, uncertainty-aware learning and constrained optimization to improve process consistency under process drift and equipment variability.

Key responsibilities

• Develop machine-learning models for process prediction, state estimation, adaptive optimisation and closed-loop decision support.
• Build structured and reproducible data pipelines for heterogeneous process, sensor, equipment, production and quality data.
• Develop robust methods for process drift, sparse or noisy data and equipment variability, including uncertainty-aware modelling and transfer learning where appropriate.
• Design constrained optimization and sequential decision strategies under engineering limits and human review.
• Validate methods rigorously and turn research outcomes into prototypes, technical reports and publications.

Required profile

• PhD in Computer Science, AI, Data Science or a relevant engineering or materials discipline.
• Strong background in machine learning and data science, with hands-on Python and experience with modern ML frameworks.
• Experience with heterogeneous engineering or manufacturing data and rigorous model validation.
• Manufacturing-process experience is advantageous; coating/thin-film or run-to-run process knowledge is a plus.
• Strong research record, independent problem-solving ability and effective multidisciplinary communication skills.

Required skills

• Hands-on Python and modern machine learning frameworks.
• Highly desirable: time-series or sequence modelling, state estimation, constrained or Bayesian optimization, uncertainty-aware modelling, transfer learning or adaptive experimentation.

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.