15 Funded PhD Positions in Cognitive Robotics (MSCA Doctoral Network CAVECORE)

We are seeking highly motivated doctoral candidates for 15 fully funded PhD positions in the new Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network CAVECORE (Continuous, Automated Validation, and Evaluation of Cognitive Robots in Open-Ended Environments).

Doctoral Candidates will develop novel methods for evaluating and validating safety, reliability, and performance of AI-enabled robots, combining robotics & AI (manipulation, control, HRI) with cutting-edge validation techniques (automated testing, diagnosis, AI metrology). Through secondments across academia and industry, they will gain hands-on experience and international perspectives.

Doctoral topics include the following:

- Shared models for reliable and safe human-robot collaboration, and efficient decision-making under uncertainty and partial observability (Positions #1 and #3) - Learning-enabled safe and reliable hybrid controllers, and pro-active behavioural adjustment of RL-based manipulation skills (Positions #4 and #5) - Digital twin-based behavioural specification, adaptive safety monitoring, and uncertainty quantification for risk-informed decision-making (Positions #2, #10, #13) - Measures of human preferences for responsible robot behaviour in prosocial dilemmas and psychometric evaluation of cognitive robots (Positions #8 and #9) - Automated robotic mission assessment with digital twins and scenario-based testing in virtual worlds (Positions #6 and #7) - LLM-assisted scenario generation for safety validation, data-driven test scenario selection using measured sim2real gap, and replicable evaluation based on provenance models (Positions #11, #12, #14, #15)

Partners include: University of Bremen, Bielefeld University, IT University of Copenhagen, University of York, TU Graz, Cyprus University of Technology, Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais (LNE), PAL Robotics, EIVA A/S, and Cellumation GmbH.

Start date: February 2026 | Duration: 36 months | Deadline: October 20, 2025

Application procedure, requirements, and official announcement: https://cavecore.eu/how-to-apply/