"Postdoctoral Research Associate"

About us

King’s is a leading university providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. We are ranked sixth in the UK for the quality and quantity of research activity (Research Excellence Framework, 2021).

King’s has played a major role in many of the advances that shape modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of robots, radio, television, mobile phones and radar. King’s continues to lead the way on research and pioneers new ideas to make the world a better place.

The Department of Engineering at King’s is located on the Strand Campus of King’s College London where the post will be based.

About the role

A one-year Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available at the Robot Perception Lab led by Dr Shan Luo at the Department of Engineering, King’s College London. You will work on a project on robot manipulation with vision and tactile sensing.

The research will be conducted in collaboration with colleagues from King’s College London, international collaborators at MIT, TUM and industrial partners of the project.

The main objective of the project is to develop the next generation of dexterous robots that can perform contact-rich manipulation tasks in daily life and manufacturing environments.

This is a full time (35 Hours per week) post, offered on a fixed term contract for one year.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. PhD qualified in relevant subject area, e.g., Robotics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering (or a related field);
2. Proven research experience in the field of robotics and AI;
3. Sufficient depth and breadth of knowledge in the subject of Robotics to develop research in the field, e.g., robot design, control and mechatronics;
4. Publication record in robotics and machine learning, e.g., ICRA, IROS, RSS, CoRL, T-RO, CVPR, ICML;
5. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including academic conference presentations and journal papers;
6. Excellent mathematical and programming skills in Python or C++, and practical experience with deep learning libraries (e.g., PyTorch)

Desirable criteria

1. Research experience in one or more of the following areas: tactile sensing, robot grasping and manipulation, robot control, computer vision, deep learning, or deep reinforcement learning;
2. Hands-on experience with systems integration, including Robot Operating Systems;
3. Enthusiasm to supervise UG/MSc/PhD students.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held on 9th January 2026

Grade and Salary: £45,031 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
Job ID: 133985
Close Date: 04-Jan-2026
Contact Person: Dr Shan Luo
Contact Details:shan.luo@kcl.ac.uk