MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship – Experimental Seakeeping and Operability

Keywords: free-running model experiments; experimental seakeeping; irregular waves; motion and acceleration responses; response spectra; statistical response levels; speed loss; mission-oriented operability; event-based analysis; wave-group selection; course keeping; control effort; operational performance envelope; uncertainty analysis

Context and Hosting Environment

Yildiz Technical University invites expressions of interest from experienced researchers who wish to jointly prepare an application for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 call, hosted by YTU-MARINE and the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in Istanbul.

YTU-MARINE conducts research on the hydrodynamics, manoeuvring, seakeeping, propulsion and autonomous operation of ships and marine vehicles. Its recently established and operational free-running facility, for which operational responsibility has been formally assigned to the centre, supports controlled model tests in calm water and waves, with simultaneous measurement of position, orientation, velocity, acceleration and vehicle response.

The research environment includes operational free-running marine vehicle models with controllable propulsion and steering systems, optical motion capture, onboard inertial sensing, wave-elevation measurements and synchronized acquisition of motion, propulsion and control data. Computational resources are available for hydrodynamic modelling, CFD, signal processing and data-driven analysis within a multidisciplinary group spanning naval architecture, hydrodynamics, mechatronics and control.

An operational free-running model and established measurement infrastructure are available from the outset, allowing the fellow to begin experimental research without waiting for the development of an entirely new platform. A funded infrastructure-enhancement project is currently under way that will further expand these capabilities — including additional propulsion and load instrumentation — over the coming months.

The Fellowship

A European MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship has a standard duration of 12–24 months and provides a country-adjusted living allowance, a mobility allowance and, where applicable, family, long-term leave and special-needs allowances in accordance with the MSCA rules. The proposal may also include a project-relevant secondment and/or an additional non-academic placement of up to six months at the end of the fellowship with a suitable civil-maritime partner, subject to the official MSCA conditions and the needs of the jointly developed project.

Potential non-academic links may include commercial maritime operations, port and waterway management, classification, hydrographic surveying, environmental monitoring or offshore inspection.

Indicative Research Direction

Experimental seakeeping and event-based assessment of the mission-oriented operability of free-running marine vehicles in irregular waves.

Conventional seakeeping assessments commonly focus on individual motion responses, response amplitude operators or long-term statistical quantities. For a free-running marine vehicle, however, operational capability depends on the combined effects of wave-induced motions, speed loss, path deviation, heading stability, control activity, actuator limitations and — where instrumentation permits — propulsion and energy use.

The project will connect established seakeeping measures — including motion and acceleration responses, response spectra, statistical response levels, speed loss and the occurrence of critical events — with free-running performance indicators such as heading and path-keeping errors, control activity and actuator limitations. The aim is not to replace conventional seakeeping assessment, but to extend it towards a physically interpretable and mission-relevant evaluation of operational capability.

This challenge becomes particularly important in finite-length experimental facilities. A long irregular-wave realization cannot necessarily be sampled in full during a single free-running test, and the available observation period may vary with vehicle speed and test configuration. Consequently, the selection of wave encounters, test duration, initial conditions and repetitions can significantly affect the measured performance. Representative encounter windows will be used to estimate typical operational performance, whereas critical windows will be evaluated separately as stress-test cases for identifying operational limits and failure modes.

The proposed research will develop an experimental and analytical framework for determining whether short-duration free-running tests can provide reliable information about the mission-oriented operability of marine vehicles in irregular waves. A central requirement is that operability be expressed through quantitative, threshold-based and reproducible metrics derived from predefined mission requirements, safety criteria or performance constraints, with the sensitivity of the resulting operational limits to threshold selection explicitly assessed.

Representative research questions include:

• How can established seakeeping quantities — including motion and acceleration statistics, response spectra, speed loss and critical-event indicators — be combined with free-running trajectory and control metrics to define physically interpretable, threshold-based operability criteria?
• How can long irregular-wave realizations be segmented into representative, average and critical encounter windows for free-running experiments?
• What test durations, numbers of repetitions and initial conditions are required to obtain statistically reliable performance estimates in a finite-length basin?
• How do wave characteristics, encounter angle, forward speed and control mode affect the operational performance of a free-running vehicle?
• Can event-based experimental results be used to construct a reliable wave-conditioned operational performance envelope?
• How should uncertainty arising from wave realization, wave-group selection, initial phase, measurement error and experiment-to-experiment variability be quantified?

The final mission scenarios, performance criteria, experimental matrix and analytical methodology will be developed jointly with the selected candidate in accordance with their expertise, research interests and career-development goals.

Expected Role of the Fellow

The fellow will take a leading scientific role throughout the research programme. The fellowship is not intended to be limited to processing pre-existing test data or calculating conventional seakeeping statistics from predefined experiments. The fellow is expected to:

• Co-formulate the scientific questions, mission scenarios, operability criteria and evaluation framework, linking conventional seakeeping measures with free-running performance indicators;
• Develop the methodology for selecting representative and critical encounter windows from long irregular-wave realizations;
• Design the experimental programme, including wave conditions, encounter angles, vehicle speeds, control modes, test durations, initial conditions and repetitions;
• Take an active and leading role in wave characterization, experimental preparation, free-running tests and data-quality assurance;
• Develop synchronized processing, response-spectrum, event-detection, statistical and uncertainty-assessment methods for motion, acceleration, trajectory, propulsion and control data;
• Construct and validate wave-conditioned seakeeping and operational-performance envelopes and lead publications, graduate-research activities and follow-on proposals.

Possible extensions include autonomous path following in waves, comparison of alternative control strategies, propulsion and energy-performance assessment, extreme-response events, manoeuvring–seakeeping interactions and the development of control-oriented wave-disturbance models.

Expected Scientific Outcomes

• A unified experimental seakeeping and operability assessment framework linking conventional hydrodynamic response measures with quantitative, threshold-based and reproducible free-running performance criteria;
• A systematic method for identifying representative and critical wave-encounter windows from long irregular-wave records;
• A validated methodology for short-duration free-running experiments in finite-length basins, benchmarked through independent wave realizations, repeated tests and long-record wave statistics;
• Wave-conditioned seakeeping and operational-performance envelopes incorporating motion, acceleration, speed, trajectory and control-related criteria;
• Reproducible analysis workflows, experimental datasets and peer-reviewed publications.

Two-Way Knowledge Transfer and Training

A central objective of the fellowship is the two-way exchange of knowledge between the fellow and YTU-MARINE. Depending on their background, the fellow is expected to bring expertise in areas such as experimental seakeeping, irregular-wave and response-spectrum analysis, stochastic processes, event-based signal processing, extreme-response assessment, uncertainty quantification or operational-performance evaluation.

YTU-MARINE will provide training and hands-on experience in the design and execution of free-running model experiments, controlled wave-basin testing, optical motion capture, inertial sensing, synchronized propulsion and control measurements, manoeuvring–seakeeping interactions, experimental quality assurance and multidisciplinary marine-vehicle research. The fellow will also gain experience in graduate supervision, research-infrastructure use, international proposal preparation, scientific communication and collaboration with academic and non-academic maritime stakeholders. A personalised Career Development Plan will be prepared at the start and reviewed throughout the project.

Candidate Profile

Essential

• PhD (or a doctoral thesis successfully defended before the call deadline) in Naval Architecture, Marine/Ocean Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mechanics or a closely related field;
• Strong background in seakeeping, marine hydrodynamics, wave–vehicle interactions or marine vehicle dynamics;
• Experience in experimental, numerical or analytical investigation of responses in regular or irregular waves;
• Competence in signal processing, statistical and response-spectrum analysis and scientific programming (MATLAB, Python or comparable);
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, with a publication record appropriate to career stage;
• Excellent written and spoken English, and willingness to take an active role in experimental planning and execution.

Advantageous

• Free-running, captive-model, towing-tank or wave-basin experiments;
• Irregular-wave generation, spectral and response-spectrum analysis, wave groups or extreme-response statistics;
• Assessment of speed loss, course keeping, manoeuvring in waves or operational performance;
• Uncertainty quantification, repeatability and statistical experimental design;
• Motion capture, IMU, wave-probe or synchronized multi-sensor data;
• Autonomous marine vehicles, guidance and control, energy-performance analysis or coordination of experimental work.

Candidates are not expected to meet every preferred item. Researchers with a strong core background and a convincing complementary research vision are encouraged to apply.

While the scientific core of this fellowship is experimental seakeeping and operability, the facility and the centre's ongoing work also support manoeuvring studies of multi-actuated vehicles; candidates who would additionally welcome the opportunity to engage with manoeuvring experiments and to relate seakeeping and manoeuvring performance are especially encouraged to apply.

MSCA Eligibility

Applicants must meet the official eligibility conditions of the MSCA-PF 2026 call. In particular:

• Hold a doctoral degree by the call deadline (candidates who have successfully defended but not yet formally received the degree may also be eligible);
• Have no more than eight years of full-time-equivalent research experience since the PhD award (eligible career breaks and periods outside research may be deducted);
• Be of any nationality;
• For a European Fellowship hosted in Türkiye, not have resided or carried out their main activity in Türkiye for more than 12 months during the 36 months immediately preceding the call deadline;
• Meet any additional eligibility or resubmission conditions in the official 2026 call documents.

Candidates are responsible for verifying their eligibility against the complete official call conditions.

How to Express Interest

Submit a single PDF to tcosgun@yildiz.edu.tr containing:

1. Academic CV — education and employment, full publication list, projects and grants, experimental or computational experience, supervision and relevant international activities;
2. One-page research concept — briefly describing:
   • The scientific problem and gap in the state of the art;
   • The proposed mission or operational scenario;
   • The candidate's approach to combining seakeeping response measures with free-running performance in irregular waves;
   • How short-duration basin experiments could be used to obtain reliable operational information;
   • The expertise the candidate would bring to YTU-MARINE;
   • The knowledge and skills the candidate aims to acquire during the fellowship;
3. Up to three representative research outputs, preferably related to seakeeping, irregular waves, experimental hydrodynamics, marine vehicle dynamics or operational-performance assessment;

Important Notice

This is a hosting offer for the joint preparation of an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship proposal — not an advertisement for an already funded position. Any appointment is conditional on the successful evaluation and funding of the jointly submitted proposal under the MSCA-PF 2026 call.

Yildiz Technical University is committed to equal opportunity, academic integrity and an inclusive research environment. Applications are welcome without discrimination based on nationality, gender, ethnic or social origin, religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation or other characteristics unrelated to academic merit and eligibility.