Research Assistant Positions in Electronics Engineering or Computer Science

About the Lab

The ‘Sustainability, Agriculture, and Technology’ (SAT) lab aims to contribute towards solving one of the main global challenges: to provide food, fibre, and energy sustainably in existing and new agricultural production systems. As an international team striving for excellence, our work is global, we embrace new technologies and methods, and collaborate openly across disciplines ranging from (agro)ecology to artificial intelligence and economics. We have and encourage collaborations in China and internationally. Agriculture and ecology rely on high-throughput technologies to accurately monitor animals and environmental drivers that affect the production of agricultural commodities and our biodiversity capital. We need to be able to measure those to understand how they affect us.

Research Assistant Positions

First position: Designing hardware for sampling animals and measuring the environment

Job Responsibilities

• Combine existing electronic components to monitor the environment (temperature, humidity, wind, etc.) and animals.
• Build and test prototypes in the field.
• Refine devices by designing dedicated components, outsource the assembly.
• Be involved in scientific publications and a pro-active member of the SAT lab.

Job Requirements

We are looking for a highly motivated Research Assistant with:

• Electronics engineering degree or related.
• Chinese and English language skills.
• Experience with printed circuit boards or electronic sensors.

Second position: Designing software for biodiversity and environmental data

Job Responsibilities

• Starting from an existing online tool (https://github.com/nperezg/biosounds), develop it to manage photos, analyse data, run machine learning algorithms.
• Manage community of open-source contributors.
• Be involved in scientific publications and a pro-active member of the SAT lab.

Job Requirements (software development)

We are looking for a highly motivated Research Assistant with:

• Computer Science or Web engineering degree.
• One or more of the following coding skills: PhP, Python, Java, object-oriented programming.
• Chinese and English language skills.

Compensation and Benefits

Competitive Research Assistant Salary. Start date: as soon as possible. We offer membership in an international research team and modern facilities. The candidates are expected to work well both individually, in a team, and to integrate in an interdisciplinary and international group. These positions will be based in the SAT Lab, Westlake University, China.

How to apply

Applications will be considered until positions are filled. English applications should include a motivation letter, CV, certificates, and the names (with email addresses) of one or two potential referees. Interviews of invited candidates will be held as soon as possible. Please send your materials to Prof. Thomas Cherico Wanger ([email protected]) and Dr. Kevin F.A. Darras ([email protected]).