PostDoc Project
Title:
Digital Ethical Twins and Ethical AI for Industrial Decision Support
Dates:
2026/04/01 - 2027/04/01
Supervisor(s):
Description:
Context
Industrial Digital Twins (DTs) are evolving toward systems capable of recommending⬔or even autonomously
steering⬔critical decisions (planning, resource allocation, maintenance, energy management, logistics).
This growing decision-making autonomy raises major ethical challenges: an industrially optimal decision may
conflict with non-negotiable requirements such as fairness, benevolence, safety, or human responsibility.
This postdoctoral position is part of the Digital Ethical Twin (DET) project, whose objective is to integrate Ethics by
Design into Digital Twins, ensuring that their decisions are traceable, explainable, and socially acceptable in real
industrial contexts.
Objectives
The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to:
⬢ Operationalizing ethical principles (fairness, benevolence, non-maleficence) within the decision-making
mechanisms of Digital Twins.
⬢ Identifying and localizing ethical risks and dilemmas along the DT pipeline (data, models, optimization,
human⬓system interaction).
⬢ Developing a systematic approach to detect and analyze ethical dilemmas based on industrial use cases.
⬢ Designing a knowledge engineering foundation (ontology, rules, domain-specific languages) to formalize,
analyze, and justify decisions.
Profile
⬢ PhD in Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Control Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields.
⬢ Strong interest in at least two of the following areas: Digital Twins, decision support systems, AI, knowledge
engineering, AI ethics.
⬢ Motivation for interdisciplinary approaches and industrial problem-solving.
⬢ Good command of scientific English.
Industrial Digital Twins (DTs) are evolving toward systems capable of recommending⬔or even autonomously
steering⬔critical decisions (planning, resource allocation, maintenance, energy management, logistics).
This growing decision-making autonomy raises major ethical challenges: an industrially optimal decision may
conflict with non-negotiable requirements such as fairness, benevolence, safety, or human responsibility.
This postdoctoral position is part of the Digital Ethical Twin (DET) project, whose objective is to integrate Ethics by
Design into Digital Twins, ensuring that their decisions are traceable, explainable, and socially acceptable in real
industrial contexts.
Objectives
The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to:
⬢ Operationalizing ethical principles (fairness, benevolence, non-maleficence) within the decision-making
mechanisms of Digital Twins.
⬢ Identifying and localizing ethical risks and dilemmas along the DT pipeline (data, models, optimization,
human⬓system interaction).
⬢ Developing a systematic approach to detect and analyze ethical dilemmas based on industrial use cases.
⬢ Designing a knowledge engineering foundation (ontology, rules, domain-specific languages) to formalize,
analyze, and justify decisions.
Profile
⬢ PhD in Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Control Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields.
⬢ Strong interest in at least two of the following areas: Digital Twins, decision support systems, AI, knowledge
engineering, AI ethics.
⬢ Motivation for interdisciplinary approaches and industrial problem-solving.
⬢ Good command of scientific English.
Keywords:
Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence, Decision Support, AI Ethics
Conditions:
Research Environment
The position is embedded in a multidisciplinary research environment, connected with:
⬢ Ethical Digital Twins,
⬢ Industry of the Future,
⬢ Responsible and Explainable AI,
⬢ Academic and industrial collaborations.
The position is embedded in a multidisciplinary research environment, connected with:
⬢ Ethical Digital Twins,
⬢ Industry of the Future,
⬢ Responsible and Explainable AI,
⬢ Academic and industrial collaborations.
Department(s):
| Modelling and Control of Industrial Systems |