Postdoc Position - Revealing Urban Waste Dynamics from Images with AI

Job Description

The city of Amsterdam is actively developing new policies and pilot projects to transform how it manages urban waste. In collaboration with AMS (Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions), the city seeks innovative solutions to tackle the growing issue of waste and litter, particularly in its city center. To support this effort, the AMS Institute and the Municipality of Amsterdam have launched the “Clean Inner City” project to create, test, and evaluate advanced solutions for sustainable urban waste management. This postdoctoral position, funded under the “Clean Inner City” initiative, focuses on developing a smart sensing and monitoring system to better understand urban waste dynamics in Amsterdam.

Key Tasks

• Developing a camera-based AI system to collect images at several field sites in Amsterdam.
• Collecting and curating image data (e.g., street-view images, hydrometeorological images) and potentially generating simulated datasets.
• Designing and training specialized deep learning models for waste-objects detection, classification of different waste types, and identifying waste patterns and actors contributing to these waste patterns.
• Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams and stakeholders to integrate the AI model into a real-world waste monitoring system.

Job Requirements

• A PhD degree (or can be expected in the coming months) in computer science, artificial intelligence, environmental science/engineering, civil engineering, geosciences, or a related discipline.
• Passion to work on an emerging research topic with high societal relevance.
• Interest and expertise in object detection from images and/or classification using deep learning, preferably with a strong publication record.
• Experience in plastic (or waste in general) detection or classification is a plus but not mandatory.
• Affinity and motivation to plan and conduct (field) experiments in the Netherlands.
• Demonstrated enthusiasm and proficiency in working with (complex) observational datasets.
• Good command of English (oral and written).
• Excellent programming (Python or/and C++) skills.
• Communication and presentation skills.
• Affinity with working in multi-disciplinary teams across institutes in an internationally oriented environment.
• Enthusiasm and ability to publish research results in peer-reviewed academic journals/conferences.

Research Group

The postdoc will be based in the 3D Geoinformation research group at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), and it is a joint position with the River Plastic Team of the Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics group (HWM) at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). The candidate will be supervised by Dr. Liangliang Nan (TU Delft), Dr. Tim van Emmerik (WUR), and Prof. Jantien Stoter (TU Delft).

Conditions of Employment

• Duration of contract is 2 years.
• Hrs per week: 36 - 40.
• Salary range: €3345 - €5278.