Student Research Assistant in Mathematics and Computer Science

• 17/03/2025
• Englisch · Mathematik und Informatik · Offene Stellen

Located on a modern campus in Brig, UniDistance Suisse, an accredited university institute in accordance with the Swiss Higher Education Act (HEdA), has been offering bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes and further education in the faculties of Law, Psychology, Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics and History for over 30 years. These programmes meet the highest quality standards and are designed to fit around family life or a professional or sporting career through a flexible distance-learning model. The institute aims to obtain university status in 2027, becoming a Valais university and marking a major milestone in its history.

With over 2,400 students, UniDistance Suisse is the leader of distance higher education in Switzerland. It employs over 500 staff members from Switzerland and abroad, 450 of which are involved in teaching and research activities, and are recognised experts in their respective field.  

The recently approved SNF project entitled “Numerical Methods for Efficient Acoustic Metamaterial Design” aims to design acoustic metamaterials that can be used to manipulate sound waves, with the objective of, for instance, mitigating sound within the audible frequency spectrum. For the optimal design of such metamaterials our goal is to optimise models from (mixed) boundary/finite element discretisations. This leads to very rich structures in the underlying linear systems of equations. The aim of the project consists of fully exploiting these structures for efficient matrix storage as well as in the numerical solution techniques. These techniques will open up the possibility to apply parametric model reduction methods, which are the basis for the determination of an optimal acoustic metamaterial. The project will be carried with our project partner Prof. Dr Steffen Marburg (Chair of Vibroacoustics of Vehicles and Machines, Technical University of Munich, Germany).

We are looking for a:

Student Research Assistant (25%)

Place of work: Brig. Remote work is possible.
Start of work: 1^st August 2025 or by agreement.

Your tasks

• Support of the efficient implementation and testing of the methods for acoustic metamaterial design, e.g., in Python and/or Matlab.
• Close collaboration with the PhD students who are working in the project.
• A master thesiscan be written within the scope of the project (optional).

Your profile

• Advanced student at a Swiss higher education institution in (applied) mathematics, scientific computing or engineering with very good grades.
• Strong programming skills, e.g., in Python or Matlab.
• Strong interest in working on a highly applied mathematics project.
• Background in applied mathematics with a focus in one or more of the following subfields is a plus: numerical linear algebra (e.g., rank-structured matrices, tensor techniques), model reduction, numerical methods for partial differential equations, machine learning, numerical optimisation.
• Independent working style, stamina and curiosity.
• Very good knowledge of English.

We offer

• Versatile and varied work in a university environment.
• Attractive employment conditions.
• Collaboration in a motivated team with exciting further training opportunities.

We look forward to receiving your complete application by e-mail to Prof. Dr Matthias Voigt at matthias.voigt@fernuni.chby 30^th April 2025 at the latest.

A complete application package consists of the following documents: a cover letter indicating your motivation for the application, a CV, transcript of records, contact data of one potential reference (letters of recommendation will be solicited for shortlisted candidates).

Applications will be considered from candidates who are resident in Switzerland or who are considering moving to Switzerland. 

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr Matthias Voigt.