Job Descriptions

advancing the automation of electronically assisted agricultural systems. The candidate is expected to manage researchers and postgraduate students within the agricultural signal processing group and contribute to ongoing research in related domains within the Connacht Automotive Research (CAR) laboratory. The position requires regular communication with the industrial partners of the project, therefore previous experience of leading a project with an industrial stakeholder and excellent communication skills are mandatory.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• The candidate will be a research leader and manage the research and administration of a four-year research project in agricultural machinery monitoring.
• Manage a project budget and procure mechanical and electronic hardware in accordance with national procurement guidelines.
• Develop and apply signal processing, machine learning and related technologies (including data management and communications) to several use cases of interest to the host laboratory’s ongoing research programme.
• Liaise weekly with an industrial partner to propose and develop hardware systems for prolonged live measurement campaigns in local and international territories.
• Develop novel and patentable technologies, through the regular collaborative virtual and physical meetings with commercial partners.
• Publish in high-impact journals as appropriate.
• Organise and conduct meetings with industrial partners, research staff and postgraduate students to schedule project deliverables, communicate progress and mentor team members.
• Contribute to the further development and evolution of the host laboratory’s research programme by identifying new and innovative research opportunities.
• Liaise with local farmers and machinery contractors to discuss their requirements, with a particular focus on rural Irish agricultural stakeholders in the West Galway and East Galway regions, adjacent to the University.
• Successfully communicating their research nationally as well as develop an international research reputation.
• Engage in appropriate continuing professional development activities to support their own career development.
• Contribute to the development of research strategies within the Electrical and Electronic Engineering discipline and contribute to teaching, where appropriate.
• Draft and submit grant and award applications to national and international funding bodies.

Essential Requirements:

• Applicants should have a PhD in a relevant technical area.
• Applicants should possess a Principal Investigator grant or award that was funded within the last four years and have experience in leading projects with industrial stakeholders.
• Possess the capability to develop independent research activity and expertise with the design, initiation, and implementation of project goals from grant conception to final deliverable stage.
• Have expertise with data acquisition, hardware development and analysis in multiple application domains, including environments where ambient vibration, dust pollution and moisture are expected.
• Demonstrated expertise in signal processing, with a particular focus on feature development, optimisation, machine learning, using measurements obtained “in the wild”, i.e. over a significant period from unsupervised subjects or industrial settings.
• Demonstrated ability to adapt to support projects with diverse technical requirements and have experience with the mechanical and electronic systems present in an agricultural mobile machine.
• A driving licence is required and applicants should have experience of tractor and implement navigation.
• Knowledge of Matlab or Python, and related signal processing development tools.
• Experience of working in an academic research environment.
• Evidence of Intellectual Property application or publication.
• Evidence of primary/senior authorship of peer-reviewed journal publications in relevant areas, or other equivalent output.
• Familiarity with national procurement guidelines including training in national tendering procedures.
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills.

Desirable Skills:        

• Evidence of multiple awards where the candidate is listed as a Principal Investigator.
• Experience of leading a research group with support from an academic mentor.
• Familiarity with grassland harvesting processes in Northern Europe.
• Knowledge of vehicle communication systems and a familiarity with firmware coding for vehicular Electronic Control Units (ECU).
• Knowledge of the legal requirements regarding data protection and confidentiality data protection requirements.
• The candidate should have experience with IP transfer, ideally as a listed inventor on a published patent in EU or US territories.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary academic research environment.
• Experience of mentoring students at undergraduate or graduate level (e.g. teaching/instruction, project supervision etc.).
• Possess excellent communication skills to liaise in outreach programs with native English and Irish speaking agricultural land-owners within the Galway region.
• Evidence of working relationships with agricultural machinery stakeholders and members of the public, through ethical recruitment campaigns and/or collaborative work.

Skills

• Communication Skills
• Management Skills
• Project Planning
• Teamwork Skills
• Agricultural Economics
• Python

Experience

• 4