3-year PhD position in Biological Fluid Dynamics: Deciphering plankton behavior in flows

RESEARCHER PROFILE:  T PhD / R1: First stage Researcher

RESEARCH FIELD(S) AND DISCIPLINES1 : Engineering, Natural Sciences

JOB /OFFER DESCRIPTION

Context.

Copepods are millimetric crustaceans that live in all seas and oceans. These animals are blind, yet they are able to detect prey, predators, and mates by using highly-developed hydrodynamic sensing. How do they extract a meaningful signal from turbulence noise? How do they react to this information? Today, we do not know.

Objectives.

The objective of the project is to decipher how copepods exploit hydrodynamic sensing in turbulent flows. We hypothesize that deep reinforcement learning can reverse-engineer the algorithms used by copepods. To test this hypothesis, we will build a numerical environment, where virtual copepods are trained to reach a target in a turbulent flow. This machine-learning approach will be complemented by experiments on real copepods in different flows. We will use simple model flows (Couette shear flow, Taylor-Green vortices), as well as a turbulent flow (von Karman flow), with the goal of identifying a relationship between the local flow and the animal action. These behaviors will be compared to the policies learned by reinforcement learning.

Environment.

The ‘Institut de recherche sur les phénomènes hors équilibre’ (IRPHE) is located in Marseille, France. IRPHE is one of the leading French laboratories in fluid mechanics, with a strong interdisciplinary history. The candidates will join the international research group of Christophe Eloy as PhD scholars. They will contribute to the ERC-funded project C0PEP0D.

Funding. 

European Research Council, ERC Advanced Grant; project C0PEP0D

PI 

Gross annual salary: Between 23,808 and 26,472€ depending on experience

The Euraxess Center of Aix-Marseille Université informs foreign visiting professors, researchers, postdoc and PhD candidates about the administrative steps to be undertaken prior to arrival at AMU and the various practical formalities to be completed once in France: visas and entry requirements, insurance, help finding accommodation, support in opening a bank account, etc. More information on AMU EURAXESS Portal 

TYPE OF CONTRACT:  T TEMPORARY/ JOB STATUS:  T FULL TIME/ HOURS PER WEEK:  35

IS THE JOB FUNDED THROUGH AN EU RESEARCH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME? T YES

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  31/05/2023

ENVISAGED STARTING DATE:  01/10/2023

ENVISAGED DURATION:  36 months

QUALIFICATIONS, REQUIRED EDUCATION LEVEL, PROFESSIONAL SKILLS, RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

Candidates should hold a Master's degree in fluid dynamics, applied mathematics, soft matter physics, or biophysics, and have an outstanding track record. Candidates with a taste for interdisciplinary research will receive particular attention.

SOFT SKILLS:  Autonomy, critical thinking, adaptability

REQUESTED DOCUMENTS OF APPLICATION, SELECTION PROCESS

WHERE TO APPLY