Back to search results

Research Assistant/Associate in Digital Twins for Automated Road Maintenance (Fixed Term)

University of Cambridge - Engineering

Location: Cambridge
Salary: £32,546 to £45,413
Hours: Full Time
Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract
Placed On: 7th July 2025
Closes: 31st July 2025
Job Ref: NM46523

Department/Location: Department of Engineering, Central Cambridge 

We are seeking a highly motivated Research Assistant/Associate to join EPSRC and industry funded Digital Roads (DR) Prosperity Partnership at the University of Cambridge. This programme is a collaboration between industry and academia, now in the final 24 months of a 60-month effort. 

The programme integrates research and innovation across both physical and digital technologies, to deliver a cyber-physical platform for the autonomous inspection, digital representation, and maintenance of highways. 

The successful candidate joins a vibrant research and development team, collaborating closely with our industry partners; Costain, National Highways, DfT and our spin-out, Didimi, and domain experts to contribute to the development of a scalable, interoperable, and secure digital product for the nation's roads. 

The post holder will be located in West Cambridge, UK. 

Key Responsibilities: 

  1. Create proposals for standards, covering Digital Twin (DT) communication protocols for interfacing with different types of systems and data sources.
  2. Using the DR research to create guidelines for the development of the ontological structure for the DT.
  3. Development of DT information modelling, data fusion, and forecasting guidelines and standards, and technology maturity benchmarks to derive cloud platform maturity level standards.
  4. Lead on the development of business models, financial analyses, and market adoption strategies for DT-based highway management solutions. An NDA protecting the commercially sensitive information of our industry partners will be required. Commercially sensitive research findings relating to our partners will not be published.
  5. Collaborate with researchers to compile inspection and repair standards.
  6. Develop similar business models to support commercialisation of a simulated autonomous road maintenance vehicle.
  7. Study CAV interfaces and propose and design a standard API for the cloud-based platform. 

Key Competencies: 

  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
  • Proven ability to work independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary environment.
  • Excellent communication skills, engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage iterative feedback cycles and refine deliverables accordingly. 

The skills, qualifications and experience required to perform the role are: 

  • A PhD in Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related field.
  • Familiarity with Digital Twin technologies, business modelling, and standardisation.
  • Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to engage with industry partners and facilitate discussions.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills for producing reports and collaborating with industry partners. 

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will be appointed at Research Assistant level, which will be amended to Research Associate once the PhD has been awarded. 

Salary Ranges:

Research Assistant: £32,546 - £35,116

Research Associate: £37,174 - £45,413 

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 12 months in the first instance. 

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click on the apply button above.

Please ensure that you upload your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a covering letter in the Upload section of the online application. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application. Please submit your application by midnight on the closing date. 

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society. 

We value your feedback on the quality of our adverts. If you have a comment to make about the overall quality of this advert, or its categorisation then please send us your feedback
Advert information

Type / Role:

Subject Area(s):

Location(s):

Job tools
 

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Ok Ok

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Account Verification Missing

In order to create multiple job alerts, you must first verify your email address to complete your account creation

Request verification email Request verification email

jobs.ac.uk Account Required

In order to create multiple alerts, you must create a jobs.ac.uk jobseeker account

Create Account Create Account

Alert Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your account is currently blocked. Please login to unblock your account.

Email Address Blocked

We received a delivery failure message when attempting to send you an email and therefore your email address has been blocked. You will not receive job alerts until your email address is unblocked. To do so, please choose from one of the two options below.

Max Alerts Reached

A maximum of 5 Job Alerts can be created against your account. Please remove an existing alert in order to create this new Job Alert

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your alert was not created at this time. Please try again.

Ok Ok

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

 
 
More jobs from University of Cambridge

Show all jobs for this employer …

More jobs like this
Join in and follow us

Browser Upgrade Recommended

jobs.ac.uk has been optimised for the latest browsers.

For the best user experience, we recommend viewing jobs.ac.uk on one of the following:

Google Chrome Firefox Microsoft Edge