School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment
Organisation/Company Edinburgh Napier University Department School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment Research Field Computer science » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Country United Kingdom Application Deadline 9 Nov 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/London) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 1 Apr 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description
Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK with over 25,000 students from 109 countries. An innovative, learner centric university with a modern and fresh outlook, ENU is ambitious, inclusive in its ethos and applied in its approach.
Currently, we are accepting applications for 3 Doctoral Fellows as part of the GREET (Generative Explainee-aware Explainability and Transparency in Proactive Cyber-Physical Eco- Environments) Doctoral Network, funded by Horizon Europe’s MSCA Programme. The candidate will work as part of the Research Group of Intelligence-Driven Software Engineering within the school.
The Roles:
The GREET Doctoral Network is offering an exciting opportunity for an early-career researcher to contribute to shaping a new generation of Cyber Physical Systems, which will support generative cognition, explainee-aware explainability, and transparent proactivity in the highly secured CPS eco-environments.
Focused on the novel generative AI-driven CPS, GREET aims to deliver key insights into the science and models of the proposed CPS, set up its scientific foundation, and equip the DN’s recruited Doctoral Candidates with skills to drive the next innovative steps in this key area.
In partnership with 13 renowned institutions and industrial leaders across 9 countries, GREET will train 15 talented doctoral candidates (DCs) through an interdisciplinary co-design approach that integrates with ecosphere-driven, user studies, and agile methodologies.
The proposed new CPS will drive an economic and societal paradigm shift towards a trustworthy proactive smart world, it will bring in future smart services with its built-in holistic cognitive and trustworthy learning ability, deployed in many vital societal and economic services, such as smart cities, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and transport
As part of the programme, you will be employed as a full-time Research Fellow by Edinburgh Napier University and meanwhile registered for a PhD degree. Your salary and PhD tuition fees will be paid/exempted by the project.
We have 3 posts available:
Post 1 – You will create the eco-cognition model and the eco-cognition generator based on LLM and Multimodal Models for real-time and multimodal cognition capture. Pattern recognition algorithms will be designed to understand the eco-cognition. Generative AI, model-driven architecture and feature model will be used. You will also have the opportunity to study and develop the typical cognition patterns for CPS agents based on cognition theory, and study and develop typical multimodal interaction design methods for eco-cognition in Cyber Physical Systems.
* Experience of fundamental software design and development
* Competent in human computer interaction and digital media
* Knowledge of generative AI or cognition models
Post 2 – You will study and create a new architecture that engages the new abstraction concept of Generative Learning Cognitive Service in the autonomous continuum of development-evolution of CPS. The architecture will seamlessly integrate generative eco-cognition, proactivity learning, generative explainability and proactive adaptation, and make the CPS architecture microservice-oriented. You will also have the opportunity to develop the framework and integration mechanism for the GREET CPS, including the repository of all the enabling components, and apply the GREET framework to support developing the use case systems.
* Experience of fundamental software design and development
* Competent in design and development of software applications
* Knowledge of generative AI and explainable AI
Post 3 - You will first study and create the model-driven and semantics-based explainability repositories for CPS. You will then extract and define knowledge and patterns for typical explainability for proactivity and eco-cognition. Working with other doctoral fellows, you will support development of the generative AI algorithms for proactivity and eco-cognition and the creation and operation of the virtual explainability twins.
* Experience of fundamental software design and development
* Competent in the use and development of semantic models and design patterns
* Knowledge of explainable AI and digital twins
Please let us know which post or posts you are applying for in your application supporting statement.
Further requirements:
* Must not have a doctoral degree on the date of recruitment
* Enrolment on ENU doctoral programme during the project
* Must not have resided or carried out work/studies in the UK for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before starting work
* A first degree (at least a 2:1) ideally in Computer Science with a good fundamental knowledge of either Software Engineering, Explainable AI, Semantic Models or Cyber Physical Systems.
* IELTS score must be at least 6.5 (with not less than 6.0 in each of the four components). Other, equivalent qualifications will be accepted.
Essential attributes:
* Good written and oral communication skills
* Strong motivation, with evidence of independent research skills relevant to the project
* Good time management
For a full role description and comprehensive list of duties, please click here .
Benefits we offer:
We offer support and recognition wherever due, as well as fantastic benefits such as pension with employer contributions of 17.6% - 26%, a minimum of 46 days holiday and annual pay reviews.
There are professional development opportunities, discounted access to onsite sports facilities and a wide range of other staff discounts. For more information about our wide range of benefits, click here .
Additional information:
Salary: £41,064 - £47,389 per annum (depending on experience)
Informal enquiries about the roles can be made to Professor Xiaodong Liu (x.liu@napier.ac.uk )
The University holds Disability Confident, Carer Positive and Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champion status. More details can be found here. We are a flexible Employer.
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