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Our team and mission
The Advanced Concepts & Studies Office ensures the overall coordination, coherence and performance of programme and corporate studies in support of the preparation of the Agency’s future activities, in line with its long-term strategic objectives and priorities. This includes the Advanced Concepts Team (ACT), ESA’s in-house research think-tank.
The ACT performs beyond-the-horizon multidisciplinary research for space, exploring new approaches to space-related R&D (including competitions, prizes, games), research for disruptive innovation, developing an expert network at academic level and providing a capability for fast first look analysis of problems, challenges and opportunities. The Team engages in collaborative research relations with university institutes and research centres, focusing on advanced research topics of potential strategic interest to the space sector and experimenting with new forms of teamwork. To achieve its goal, a multidisciplinary research environment is provided in which young scientific and engineering post-doctoral and postgraduate researchers work on emerging technologies and innovative concepts.
More information on the Team is accessible on the ACT website (www.esa.int/act ).
Candidates interested are encouraged to visit the ESA website: www.esa.int
Field(s) of activity
You will carry out most of the activity in the field of complex systems, i.e. composed of many interacting elements whose large-scale behaviour emerges from simple rules governing the behaviour of its constituent parts. Examples are ecosystems, stock markets, economies and human societies. The field of complex systems science is highly interdisciplinary. To study and understand them, two broad approaches are typically used:
You will work on applying the above methodologies, in particular agent-based modelling, for analysis of future complex space systems and scenarios.
Tasks will depend on your expertise and motivation and may include:
Selected references:
[1] Newman, M. E. J., “Complex Systems: A Survey”, arXiv.org, 2011, arxiv.org/abs/1112.1440v1
[2] Siebers, P. O., Aickelin, U., “Introduction to Multi-Agent Simulation”, arXiv.org, 2008, arxiv.org/abs/0803.3905
[3] Julius, P. “What would an interplanetary economy look like?”, Human Economics Blog post, 2016, patrickjuli.us/2016/01/09/wh..
[4] Acquisti, A. et al., “Agent Based Modeling of Collaboration and Work Practices Onboard the International Space Station”, NASA report, ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/c..
Depending on the nature of the project, you may be required to interface with the academic community in these fields. You will be a full member of the ACT and therefore expected to contribute to the development and assessment of new concepts and technologies for space applications in close interaction with ACT researchers who work on a broad range of disciplines, including: informatics, artificial intelligence, climate modelling, energy systems, fundamental physics, biomimetics, computational management science and mission analysis. Based on your detailed background and interests and Team opportunities and needs, you will be involved in a number of other ACT initiatives including studies conducted via the Ariadna scheme (www.esa.int/ariadna ) and will also participate in reporting and communicating the Team results internally and externally.
Technical competencies
Knowledge of relevant technical domains
Relevant experience gained during internships/project work
Breadth of exposure coming from past and/or current research/activities
Knowledge of ESA and its programmes/projects
Behavioural competencies
Self Motivation
Communication
Continuous Learning
Cross-Cultural Sensitivity
Teamwork
Education
You should have just completed, or be in the final year of a university course at Master's level (or equivalent) in a technical or scientific discipline specifically in complexity science, informatics, computer science, economics or any other relevant field.
Additional requirements
You should have an interdisciplinary mindset and systems thinking.
Excellent programming experience (e.g. Python, C++, C) is required.
The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.
You should demonstrate good interpersonal skills and the capacity to work both independently and as part of a team.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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