PhD in AI-Driven Human Body Modelling and Injury Biomechanics for Traffic Safety at KTH (with Autoliv)

Job Description

KTH’s Neuronics group is recruiting a doctoral student in AI-driven finite element human body modelling for traffic safety. The project builds an AI platform that personalises finite element human body models and positions them automatically in realistic occupant postures, as vehicle safety ratings and regulations move towards these models. It also enables reconstruction of real-world crashes from images and video. It is funded by Vinnova’s FFI programme and run with Autoliv.

At a glance

• Position: Doctoral student (1 post), up to four years full time
• Subject: Technology and Health
• Supervisors: Xiaogai Li, Svein Kleiven and Shiyang Meng (proposed)
• Contact: Assoc. Prof. Xiaogai Li, xiaogai@kth.se
• Start: 1 December 2026 or by agreement
• Reference: PA-2026-2847
• Apply by: 1 October 2026
• Apply: 1 October 2026

About the injury biomechanics PhD

• Develop AI methods to personalise finite element human body models
• Automatically position models in realistic occupant postures
• Reconstruct real-world accidents from image and video data
• Set evidence-based quality criteria for using different human body model families, with data-driven PCA-based methods
• Travel to research and industry partners, including Autoliv

How KTH doctoral employment works

Only applicants admitted to doctoral studies can be employed as doctoral students. The first contract is for up to one year and is then renewed for up to two years at a time, adding up to at most four years of full-time study. Up to 20% of working time may go to tasks such as teaching and administration. Applicants need English at the level of Swedish upper-secondary English B/6.

PhD applicants: browse our Find a supervisor directory to see who works in your area.

What KTH is looking for

• A recently completed MSc in engineering, preferably in mechanical engineering, engineering mechanics, biomedical engineering or engineering physics
• A solid background in mechanics, computational mechanics and/or biomechanics
• English equivalent to English B/6
• Willingness to travel to research and industry partners

Nice to have

• Strong knowledge of continuum mechanics and the finite element method
• Programming in Python or MATLAB
• Experience with AI/ML such as deep learning or graph neural networks

Pay and location

Doctoral students at KTH are salaried employees, paid monthly under KTH’s doctoral student salary agreement; the advert gives no figure. The post is full time in Stockholm, starting by agreement.

How to apply

Apply through the official KTH page. The closing date is 1 October 2026.

See all our PhD positions, or browse more research jobs on ResearchJobs.in.