PhD and Research Associate positions in Robotic Foundation Model

RMIT University, in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, invite applications for a Research Associate or PhD student to join our cutting-edge research on Robotic Foundation Models. The successful candidate will work at the intersection of robotics, AI, and multimodal learning, developing scalable and explainable models that integrate vision, language, and action for autonomous robotic systems. The project aims to advance foundation models for robotics that enable generalizable manipulation, perception, and reasoning skills, supporting applications in sustainability, disaster response, and human-robot collaboration.

Applicants should have a strong background in robotics, machine learning, or computer vision, with experience in deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch). Prior experience with robot learning, simulation environments (e.g., Isaac Gym, MuJoCo), or large-scale model training is a plus. This position offers opportunities to collaborate with leading international partners and contribute to high-impact research publications in top-tier venues such as ICRA, IROS, CVPR, and NeurIPS.

For the Research Associate position, applicants should hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a STEM discipline. For the PhD position, applicants must demonstrate English proficiency with an IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent. Both positions offer a competitive salary, commensurate with the candidate’s experience, and include a travel budget of up to USD 5,000 to support participation and presentation at leading international conferences.

Successful candidates will be co-supervised by faculty members, Dr. Hai-Nguyen Nguyen from RMIT University and Dr. Anh Nguyen from University of Liverpool. The research will be primarily conducted at RMIT Vietnam, with planned research visits to RMIT Australia and the University of Liverpool, UK.

Application Instructions

Candidates should send a detailed CV along with a motivation letter to Dr. Hai-Nguyen Nguyen (hainguyen.nguyen@rmit.edu.vn) and Dr. Anh Nguyen (anh.nguyen@liverpool.ac.uk). Applications will be reviewed in a rolling basis.

We look forward to your application!