Junior professor in Mechanical Engineering: digitisation for smart operations and maintenance of machines

Contenuto del lavoro

Research
You will develop a research programme at an international level in the field of machine design, monitoring and management focussing on the individual components of a machine fleet or production line. You will focus in particular on advanced digitisation concepts within industry 4.0. Focus lines are data- and model-based digital twins and their application in the monitoring of the operational behaviour of machines, as well as the use of the obtained insights in optimised management and maintenance of machines. Another core theme is the retrofitting/upgrading of traditional mechanical installations, to enable their integration in the industry 4.0 digital environment. You work with an application-oriented mindset and gear your research programme to the scientific state-of-the-art in this field on the one hand and the needs of the industry on the other. You use both experimental and modelling techniques in the development of your research activities, and focus on the synergy and/or integration of experimental and numerical data streams for dynamic machine-oriented applications. It is important that you make full use of the possibilities of the innovation labs "The Industry 4.0 Machine as Cyber-Physical System" and "The Ultimate Factory" (https://iiw.kuleuven.be/brugge/m-group/laboratories). Also the existing LMSD infrastructure related to Digital Twins can support the research (https://www.mech.kuleuven.be/en/mod/research/virtual-sensing).As an expert in your field, you will strengthen existing research lines both within the M-Group at Bruges Campus and within the Mecha(tro)nic System Dynamics (LMSD) research division of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. You work in close collaboration with and as a core member of both entities and strive for maximum complementarity within both environments when developing your research programme.You engage in targeted scientific research, resulting in PhD’s and publications that meet international standards and lead to broad international recognition, and support the development of a network of (international) academic as well as industrial organisations, a.o. through the valorisation of research results and by delivering industrial services, aimed at strengthening industrial innovation.
Teaching
The candidate will be the driving force behind the new advanced master’s program Smart Operations and Maintenance in Industry that KU Leuven is developing together with UGent and will be taught for the first time in 2023-2024. In addition to the general coordination of the study program (KU Leuven is the coordinating university), the candidate will also actively contribute to teaching basic and in-depth optional courses on the topics of Digital Twin, Smart Factory Design, Monitoring ... For more information see https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/jobs/60064039