Two PhD positions in AI-driven polymer design

Publiceringsdatum: 2025-12-01

Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB är på jakt efter en skicklig doktorand och du kan vara rätt person för jobbet. Om du vill arbeta heltid hos Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB, har de just nu en tjänst 6 månader eller längre som kan passa dig. För detta jobb är Göteborg den angivna tjänsteorten.

Företaget Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB erbjuder just nu spännande karriärmöjligheter. Om du vill jobba som doktorand har de nu två lediga jobb - kolla in annonsen för att se om du har rätt erfarenhet. Sök jobbet som doktorand hos Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB och ta chansen att ta din karriär till nästa nivå. Ansök senast söndag den tjugoåttonde december 2025.

Jobbannons

We are currently offering two doctoral student positions focused on developing novel AI-driven methods for polymer design and engineering, with an emphasis on the discovery and design of polymeric materials. The first position will focus on developing novel representations for polymers, both for more data efficient polymer property prediction and polymer generation, and the second position will focus on developing synthesizability-aware generative AI for polymer engineering. The positions are for full-time employment at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, and based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

About us 

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) is a joint department between Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg and is internationally recognized for its excellence in research and education. We host around 300 employees from over 40 countries in a stimulating, collaborative environment. Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city, consistently ranks as one of the world’s most sustainable and livable cities.

The project will be based in the AI Laboratory for Molecular Engineering (AIME), led by Assistant Professor Rocío Mercado Oropeza, where researchers develop new machine learning (ML) methods to tackle challenging molecular engineering problems in life sciences and materials design. Situated in the Data Science and AI division, our group advances generative models, molecular simulations, and molecular design pipelines to meet pressing challenges in data-driven molecular sciences. The environment is highly collaborative, bringing together researchers from diverse backgrounds who share a commitment to rigorous, open, and impactful science.

About the research project  

These positions are funded by an ERC 2025 Starting Grant, POLYGEN, which focuses on the development of new paradigms for deep generative modeling of polymers. Current representations and polymer design strategies are non-scalable, non-modular, and fail to capture the complex binding patterns and phase space of polymers, hindering breakthroughs in the field of polymer engineering. The central aim of POLYGEN is to develop novel paradigms for polymer representation learning and engineering that address these gaps, enabling data efficient and scalable design of polymers for pressing societal applications.

Who we are looking for

The following requirements are mandatory:

• To qualify as a doctoral student, you must have a Master's degree (Masterexamen) of 120 credits or a Master’s degree (Magisterexamen) of 60 credits in computer science, computational chemistry, or a related field. For students with an education earned outside of Sweden, a 4-year Bachelor’s degree is accepted.
• You will need strong written and verbal communication skills in English. 
• Solid knowledge of Python and libraries like PyTorch and RDKit. 

The following experience will strengthen your application: 

• Knowledge in deep generative models, AI/ML, polymers, and/or materials science.
• A documented track record of research in the area of the project.

What you will do

As a PhD student at Chalmers, you will:

• Take courses at an advanced level within the Graduate School of Computer Science and Engineering,
• Develop your own scientific concepts and communicate the results of your research verbally and in writing,
• Teach courses at Chalmers' undergraduate level, performing teaching duties corresponding to 20% of working hours,
• Design and implement deep learning (DL) workflows for extracting, curating, and learning from structured and non-structured polymer data,
• Develop data-efficient representations for polymers for use in ML models,
• Develop ML models to predict polymer properties, with a particular focus on synthesizability,
• Create generative models for the inverse design of novel polymers in both unconditional and conditional settings,
• Benchmark generative models for polymers,
• Collaborate with other members of AIME on model development and validation,
• Present findings at scientific meetings and peer-reviewed ML conferences.

Contract terms  

• The doctoral student positions are fully funded from the start. 
• The position is a fixed-term appointment of four years, with the possibility to teach up to 20%, which extends the position to five years. 
• The starting salary is 34,550 SEK per month (valid as of 25 May 2025).
• Doctoral studies require physical presence throughout the entire study period. A valid residence permit must be presented by the study start date; otherwise the admission may be withdrawn. 

What we offer 

• As a doctoral student at Chalmers, you are an employee and enjoy full employee benefits. Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees. 
• A dynamic and inspiring working environment in the coastal city of Gothenburg. 
• Read more about the benefits of working in Sweden at Move To Gothenburg. 

Chalmers is dedicated to improving gender balance and actively works with equality projects, such as the GENIE Initiative for gender equality and excellence. We celebrate diversity and consider equality and inclusion as fundamental aspects of all our activities. 

If Swedish is not your native language, Chalmers offers Swedish courses to help you settle in.

Find more general information about doctoral studies at Chalmers here.  

Application procedure 

To read about the application instructions and appply to this position, please click here to go to Chalmers' vacancy page. 

We welcome your application no later than 28 December 2025.

Interviews will be conducted between 5–16 January 2026.

For questions, please contact:  

Assistant Professor Rocío Mercado Oropeza

Main supervisor and head of the AI Lab for Molecular Engineering

Email: rocio.mercado@chalmers.se

We look forward to your application! 

• ** Chalmers declines to consider all offers of further announcement publishing or other types of support for the recruiting process in connection with this position. ***