Phd Position F - M Optimal Control And Experimental Design Project Ocarina H/F

INRIA

PhD Position F/M Optimal Control and Experimental Design (Project OCARINA)
Le descriptif de l'offre ci-dessous est en Anglais
Type de contrat : CDD

Niveau de diplôme exigé : Bac +5 ou équivalent

Fonction : Doctorant

A propos du centre ou de la direction fonctionnelle

Inria is the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science, of which the Inria Côte d'Azur University Center is a part. With strong expertise in computer science and applied mathematics, the research projects of the Inria Côte d'Azur University Center cover all aspects of digital science and technology and generate innovation. Based mainly in Sophia Antipolis, but also in Nice and Montpellier, it brings together 47 research teams and nine support services. It is active in the fields of artificial intelligence, data science, IT system security, robotics, network engineering, natural risk prevention, ecological transition, digital biology, computational neuroscience, health data, and more. The Inria Center at Université Côte d'Azur is a major player in terms of scientific excellence, thanks to the results it has achieved and its collaborations at both European and international level.

Contexte et atouts du poste

The thesis is part of the OCARINA project, which is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

Mission confiée

Project OCARINA (Optimal Control frAmework for Robust Iterative NonlineAr experimental design) is an ANR-funded research project aiming to advance experimental design through applications of optimal control theory, motivated by collaborative research on retinal experimentation with computational and experimental neuroscientists. Experimental design seeks to maximize the information obtained from experiments while minimizing cost, time, and material use. In model-based systems, this often involves reducing uncertainty in parameter estimates, which is particularly crucial
when experiments are expensive or limited in duration.

When the system dynamics are described by a dynamical model, experimental design can be naturally formulated as an optimal control problem. Controls (such as light stimuli) are chosen to optimize a criterion related to the Fisher information. This perspective enables the use of geometric and functionalanalysis to derive qualitative insights and guide the design of effcient experimental protocols.

The project focuses on three main challenges:
- Control-theoretic perspective: develop the geometric theory of experimental design based on optimal control, formalizing experimental design problems and analyzing qualitative properties of optimal solutions (e.g., structure of singular trajectories, Hamiltonian formulation).
- Ensemble control and uncertainty: represent unknown parameters as distributed ensembles and develop robust strategies that account for variability and incomplete knowledge applying recent advances on optimal control in in nite dimension (such as measure-valued dynamics).
- Neuroscience application: apply these methods to retinal experiments, where each preparation istime and resource-limited, so that e cient design has immediate, tangible impact.

Principales activités

The PhD candidate is expected to focus primarily on the first two theoretical and methodological challenges, using the neuroscience application as a rich source of motivation and a validation ground for the developed framework. This position o ers an opportunity to engage in deep mathematical analysis, explore emerging theoretical frameworks, and connect rigorousmathematics to impactful research.

Avantages

- Subsidized meals
- Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
- Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
- Possibility of teleworking (after 6 months of employment) and flexible organization of working hours
- Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
- Social, cultural and sports events and activities
- Access to vocational training
- Social security coverage

Rémunération

Gross Salary per month: 2300 €