Doctoral Positions MSCA Doctoral Network REALISE

Position: 15 Doctoral Candidate Positions in the MSCA Doctoral Network REALISE
Location: Town of Italy

Organisation/Company University of Perugia Department Department of Physics and Geology Research Field Geosciences » Geology Chemistry » Instrumental analysis Computer science » Programming Physics » Computational physics Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Final date to receive applications 31 Mar 2026 - 17:00 (Europe/Rome) Country Italy Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time 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

REALISE - Bridging Igneous Petrology and Machine Learning for Science and Society

About the REALISE Doctoral Network

REALISE will train 15 Doctoral Candidates at the interface of igneous petrology, volcano logy, critical raw materials, and machine learning / AI. The network combines advanced petrological observations and multimodal analytical data with modern ML (including physics-informed and generative AI approaches) to improve:

• Volcanic hazard assessment and risk mitigation, and
• The understanding and exploration of critical raw materials in magmatic systems.

Doctoral projects address magma lifecycle processes, multimodal data fusion, physics–ML hybrid modelling (from CFD to atomistic simulations), and AI-assisted hypothesis formulation.

MSCA Doctoral Candidate eligibility criteria

Applicants must comply with the Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Doctoral Network eligibility rules, including:

• Applicants must not hold a PhD degree at the time of recruitment.
• At the time of recruitment, the applicant must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the host country for more than 12 months in the 36 months prior to the recruitment date.

Other requirements

• Applicants must meet the doctoral admission requirements of the recruiting host institution.
• Excellent motivation for interdisciplinary research combining Earth Sciences and ML/AI is expected.
• Strong English communication skills are required.

Overview of the Doctoral Candidate positions DC1 – Deciphering the genesis of critical ore deposits in the Bushveld Layered Intrusions

• Host/PhD: University of Perugia (Italy) |
  Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Petrelli
• Secondments: BGR (Germany);
  UvA (Netherlands)

DC2 – Pre‑eruptive dynamics at Campi Flegrei: multimodal petrology + physics‑informed AI

• Host/PhD: University of Perugia (Italy) |
  Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Petrelli

DC3 – ML‑assisted atomistic simulations: partitioning of critical raw elements in magmas

• Host/PhD: University of Perugia (Italy) |
  Supervisor: Prof. Maurizio Petrelli
• Secondments: IPGP (France); LUH (Germany)

DC4 – Generative AI for super‑resolution & artificial 3D tomography of crystal zoning

• Host/PhD: Leibniz University of Hannover (Germany) |
  Supervisor: Prof. Monika Sester

DC5 – Data‑driven investigations of magma plumbing systems at active volcanoes

• Secondments: KUL (Belgium);
  UvA (Netherlands)

DC6 – Multi‑phase ML thermo‑chemo‑barometry of volcano plumbing systems

• Secondments: LUH (Germany); UNIPG (Italy)

DC7 – AI‑assisted mineralogical/textural characterization of LCT pegmatites

• Secondments: BGR (Germany); UORL (France); LUH (Germany)

DC8 – Deep Eruptive: AI for eruptive parameter estimations (petrology + CFD + tephra maps) DC9 – Melt inclusions: ML analysis of hyperspectral data for magma reservoir conditions

• Host/PhD: CNRS/University of Orleans (France) |
  Supervisor: Dr. Giada Iacono‑Marziano
• Secondments: Teledyne Photon Machines; INFN (Italy)

DC11 – AI‑supported hypothesis formulation on metal‑rich granites (critical metal prospectivity)

• Host/PhD: CNRS/University of Orleans (France) |
  Supervisor: Dr. Fabrice Gaillard
• Secondments: BRGM (France); UNIPG (Italy)

DC13 – ML for hypothesis formulation + trace‑element thermodynamic insights in silicic systems DC14 – DEGAS: ML‑based atomistic simulations of volcanic degassing

• Secondments: INFN (Italy); UORL (France)

DC15 – Large Language Models for automated data explanations in petrology (incl. multimodal fusion)

• Host/PhD: University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) |
  Supervisor: Prof. Blaž Zupan
• Secondments: UNIPG (Italy);
  UvA (Netherlands)

Required profile (general)

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