General information
Offer title : Postdoctoral Contract in Data Fusion and Machine Learning Applied to Hydrodynamics (M/F) (H/F)
Reference : UMR6164-GURJOD-001
Number of position : 1
Workplace : BRUZ
Date of publication : 23 October 2025
Type of Contract : Researcher in FTC
Contract Period : 12 months
Expected date of employment : 1 December 2025
Proportion of work : Full Time
Remuneration : from €2,991 gross depending on experience
Desired level of education : Doctorate
Experience required : 1 to 4 years
Section(s) CN : 07 – Information sciences: processing, integrated hardware-software systems, robots, commands, images, content, interactions, signals and languages
Missions
At the Institute of Electronics and Digital Technologies, a joint project focused on sensor systems for movement analysis brings together the OASiS and SyEnsCES teams, located at the École Normale SupĂ©rieure de Rennes. Specifically, as part of a project funded by the Human Frontier Science Program Organization, the consortium involving Cambridge University and Westlake University forms a trio of expertise combining electronics, ethology, hydrodynamics, and information processing. This project aims to discover how fish use hydrodynamic traces left in the wake of other fish to guide their movement decisions in search and navigation tasks. The project is divided into three stages: (1) measuring the hydrodynamic cues produced in the wake of swimming fish, (2) determining how fish respond to these cues, and (3) determining how the perturbation or imitation of these signals affects the fish’s responses. In the first year, the team—composed of researchers, engineers, and PhD students—built an experimental arena equipped with high-speed cameras and pressure sensors, allowing them to measure the movements of the fish and detect pressure signatures in their wake. Numerical simulations were developed to predict the hydrodynamic signatures generated by the fish and their persistence in the water. In the second year, the team completed experiments to investigate the generation of hydrodynamic signals and evaluate the fish’s ability to follow these signals. A complete pipeline for processing experimental video data was developed, and significant progress was made in developing new pressure sensors and collecting data on the information generated by moving foils. Today, a digital twin of the fish swimming in the tank with the estimation of vortices is being realized and validated. Pressure measurements are validated and available. It remains to process the quantity of experiments conducted with one or more fish swimming simultaneously, on the one hand; and on the other hand, to implement a data fusion algorithm to improve the overall precision. These two objectives are the focus of the current recruitment.
Activities
The postdoctoral researcher will participate in conducting experiments within the Rennes team. They will lead the development and use of signal and video processing algorithms resulting from the experiments. The goal is to extract hydrodynamic traces following the passage of a first fish and to estimate the sensations of a second individual. The design, testing, and validation of this algorithm constitute a first scientific contribution, independent of its application. The use of this tool to extract important information for analysis by ethologists constitutes a second task, to be carried out in collaboration with the relevant colleagues. This second multidisciplinary task will also be valued through one or more publications. It is expected that the recruited colleague will be involved in the team’s activities: by showing interest in and occasionally advising PhD students, participating in the organization of the team and the experimental platform, and/or helping with funding searches. Depending on their interests, they may also participate in teaching within a department of teaching and research at ENS Rennes.
Skills
The recruited individual must hold a PhD in electrical engineering, signal processing, or fluid mechanics. This position requires multidisciplinary experience. Knowledge in applied computer science, particularly in machine learning; in fluid mechanics, especially in hydrodynamics; and in electronics, particularly in instrumentation and industrial computing, is sought. Additional qualifications, such as training and supervising master’s students, as well as proficiency in Python, are valuable assets.
Work Context
The work will take place within the IETR laboratory at ENS Rennes, Ker Lann campus. You will be integrated into the SyEnsCES (Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems and Transducers) and OASiS (Organic and Silicon Systems) teams. These teams consist of researchers and professors, as well as about a dozen PhD students, postdocs, and research engineers. The members of these research teams are also part of the Mechatronics Department of ENS Rennes. This department brings together a team of about twenty permanent members and more than twenty PhD students and interns. The work environment and atmosphere are particularly pleasant. The position is located in a restricted regime zone (ZRR), and therefore, in accordance with regulations, your arrival must be authorized by the competent authority of the MESR.
