With the uncertain prospects of climate change, improving the understanding of related geophysical, chemical, and biological implications for ocean spaces and ecosystems is essential. Simultaneously, to attain the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), in particular SGD11, SDG13, and SDG14, ocean industries are increasingly engaged in activities such as renewable energy generation and sustainable aquaculture and fisheries. Furthermore, climate-change related impacts of oceans to coastal zones, such as coastal erosion and flooding, need to be better understood and monitoring systems developed to support mitigation measures.

Various ocean sensors, platforms, and communication systems have been developed, and are being further improved, to facilitate understanding ocean and ecosystem processes and the impacts that ocean industries have on these. To advance monitoring and decision-support, a large-scale project under the Transforming Climate Action program (https://www.ofi.ca/programs/transform-climate-action) is currently underway. This project aims to develop a framework and models for a Digital Twin for Ocean Industries, for optimal deployment to support strategic and operations decisions for selected ocean industries, such as aquaculture.

Our Industrial Engineering Department is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) in Digital Twin technologies for Ocean Sensor Systems to play a pivotal role in research implementation, coordination, and management of a project focusing on these topics. The postdoc will join a dynamic, dedicated group working with Prof. Ronald Pelot, Prof. Floris Goerlandt and Prof. Hamid Afshari in the Maritime Risk and Safety (MARS) Research Group at Dalhousie University, in further collaboration with professors from Dalhousie’s Faculties of Engineering, Computer Science, and Science.

The PDF will perform cutting-edge research to develop advanced Decision Support Systems (DSS) to support sustainable human uses of ocean spaces. This will require new conceptual and technical research, advancing the state of the art in Digital Twin Engineering by applying operations research, systems engineering and simulation to offshore technologies, including those which help mitigate climate change such as offshore wind farms. Applying and advancing techniques such as Deep Learning (ANN), Reinforcement Learning (RL), and Deep Reinforcement Learning (ANN+RL) would be beneficial. Based on ocean sensor networks’ inputs, the developed DSSs will support the monitoring, prediction, environmental impacts and technical engineering management of ocean industry designs and operations (ex. offshore wind, aquaculture, tidal energy, etc.).

The successful candidate will work closely with the project team to: (i) plan the research and refine research questions in a coherent framework; (ii) collect, integrate, and manage data, models and knowledge to answer the research questions; (iii) develop frameworks, modeling approaches, and the technical implementation thereof through coding and programming work; (iv) support and provide scientific and technical advice to graduate students working in the project; (v) write journal articles, conference articles, and book chapters to disseminate the research findings; (vi) support the development of specific models for the selected case studies; and (vii) perform project management tasks such as coordinating stakeholder engagement activities, preparing reports, and disseminating the results to diverse audiences.

The PDF will be employed by Dalhousie University (www.dal.ca) and must be physically based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The PDF will have opportunities to develop his or her own research agenda associated with the Transforming Climate Action program, and have the opportunity for extending his or her professional network through various relevant research and stakeholder networks. Participation in academic career development programs offered by Dalhousie University is encouraged. Renumeration will be in line with competences and experience, with a starting salary of $65,000 (CAD) annually, with additional benefits including pension and health and dental insurance be available according to Dalhousie University’s benefits package for grant-based employees.

The position is available from September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2026 (24 months), with a 6-month probation period. This position is funded by the Transforming Climate Action program, through a grant by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.