Postdoc position in Computational Social Science / Multi-Agent Traffic Modeling and Simulation in Zürich

100%, Zurich, fixed-term

Research at the Professorship of Computational Social Science (COSS) is focused on:

1. bringing modeling and computer simulation of social processes and transportation phenomena together with technology, experimental, and data-driven work,
2. combining the perspectives of different scientific disciplines (e.g. social science, computer science, complexity science and sociophysics),
3. bridging fundamental and applied work,
4. developing digital tools to support people and studying the resulting behavior.

Information about the COSS team and its projects can be found on our website:  

The candidate would significantly contribute to an ambitious international research project that aims to create novel research breakthroughs connected to smart cities and digital societies, particularly a next-generation multimodal traffic and transportation management paradigm, requiring to:

1. develop an inclusive, generic, scalable, adaptable paradigm for the distributed management of transport systems and services,
2. analytically show the benefits of a distributed approach to mobility management, and identify preconditions for its effectiveness,
3. develop self-adaptive, self-calibrating methodologies and algorithms for smart, learning agents in traffic modelling, coordination, and control,
4. develop complex adaptive systems methodologies and an algorithmic self-organization approach to achieve multiple traffic-related goals simultaneously,
5. contribute to other work packages.

Please visit our webpages for more information about our projects. The initial contract would usually last for 2 years and may be extended.

The candidate should have an excellent research background in computational social science, complexity science, computer science, data science, socio-physics and/or transportation science, with a strong international publication track record in relevant areas mentioned above.

Excellent mathematical, modeling and computational (incl. programming) skills, English language skills, social skills, and international experience are required. A theoretical and computational physics background might also fit.

We expect the candidate to appreciate collaborating in a diverse, interdisciplinary and multicultural team to jointly and systematically address grand scientific challenges.

Please indicate, whether you are also skilled and willing to develop a software platform of reasonable complexity or a smartphone app, or able to develop parallel code for parallel processing on supercomputers, and what software environments you are using for this.

ETH Zurich is one of the world’s leading universities specialising in science and technology. We are renowned for our excellent education, cutting-edge fundamental research and direct transfer of new knowledge into society. Over 30,000 people from more than 120 countries find our university to be a place that promotes independent thinking and an environment that inspires excellence. Located in the heart of Europe, yet forging connections all over the world, we work together to develop solutions for the global challenges of today and tomorrow.