Postdoctoral researcher - Advancing agent-based models for Digital Twins of Mobility

We are looking for a highly motivated Postdoctoral researcher to join the Center for Sustainable Future Mobility at ETH and work on the Innovation Project funded by Innosuisse. The researcher will focus on further developing eqasim and MATSim tools, enabling the use of real-time transport data streams and collaborating with a unique group of practitioners to develop state-of-the-art regional transport models to enable cutting-edge methodology for transport policy evaluation.

The Innovation project with three implementation partners (transports publics genevois, transports publics de la région lausannoise, Ville de Lausanne) seeks to develop an open-source collaborative platform for mobility analysis and forecasting. This platform will introduce several innovations: it will use state-of-the-art mobility data, automate data import, enable mobility data analysis, automate calibration, allow the study of complex integration of public transport with other modes, and enable policy-oriented visualization; it will use the state-of-the-art agent-based mobility simulation MATSim and national ORD infrastructure, as well as the Open Digital Twin Platform, to allow robust mobility digital twin development; it will create social and economic value by bringing state-of-the-art transport modeling tools to a broader public in a cost-efficient way. The approach will be applied to Geneva, with tpg as the implementation partner. The Lausanne agglomeration will demonstrate Generalizability and transferability, with the Ville de Lausanne and tl as the implementation partners.

This Postdoctoral researcher position includes the following key responsibilities:

• Further develop synthetic demand generation framework to enable scenario-based agent-based model development (i.e., seasonality, day of the week) by employing real-time passenger and vehicle data streams collected by tpg and tl
• Further agent-based simulation to enable more accurate public transport modeling
• Develop and document standards for agent-based model development and validation in collaboration with the group of practitioners
• Contribute to the development of regional models for Geneva and Lausanne
• Publish innovations in journals and present at conferences
• Tight collaboration with the other postdoctoral researchers working on the project
• Supervise the research assistants contributing to the project

This is a full-time position for 18 months (with a review after 12 months) with the possibility of an extension. The ideal start date is 01.03.2025.

• PhD degree in computer science, data science, physics, or engineering
• Very good knowledge of Java and Python 
• Very good knowledge of eqasim / or other activity-based models and/or MATSim tool 
• Languages: English; French is a plus
• Passion for open science and open data
• Ability to work in a team, good problem-solving skills, and ability to self-organize and take personal responsibility in the fulfillment of tasks

• Have the freedom to develop your research ideas
• Independent and modern working environment
• Opportunity to collaborate with other researchers at CSFM and ETH and practitioners within the project
• Participation at international conferences