Research assistant with Bachelors`s degree (f/m/d) In the field of machine learning for the circular economy: sensor-based analysis of valuable materials and contaminants in lightweight packaging waste streams

Weitere Informationen

The position is to be filled at the earliest possible date and offered for a fixed term for 12 months with 1 July 2026 as desired starting date.
A long-term cooperation is highly desired
The fixed-term employment is possible as it constitutes one of the fixed-term options of the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (German Act on Fixed-term Scientific Contracts).
This is a part-time contract position.
The standard weekly hours will be 8 hours.
The salary is based on the RWTH Guidelines for Student and Graduate Assistants.
The position corresponds to a pay grade of 17,60 € from 01.01.2026.

Unser Profil

The Chair for Anthropogenic Material Cycles (ANTS) is researching and analyzing solutions and methods in both research and teaching to make anthropogenic material flows circular, thereby developing a resource management system at the product and material level, as well as demonstrating and implementing this through practical examples. With its existing expertise, the institute is one of the leading research institutions in Europe in the field of mechanical and sensor-based processing technology. ANTS connects the modeling and assessment of processing and recycling processes with a focus on entire product systems and life cycles within the framework of a circular economy, complementing this expertise with technical implementation and demonstration.

Ihr Profil

We are looking for an ambitious and motivated Student Assistant (m/f/d) - (immatriculation in a consecutive course) to support an innovative research project focused on developing a solution for image-based inline analysis of lightweight packaging (LWP) material streams. The aim of the project is to automatically capture these waste streams in order to determine the content of valuable materials and contaminants, thereby reducing manual effort and financial costs for plant operators. As part of the project, various machine learning models will be evaluated with regard to their suitability for this application.

From the very beginning, you will be involved in the entire pipeline and actively contribute to the development process — from data acquisition and preprocessing to working with industry-related hardware such as near-infrared and RGB sensors, as well as model development, training, and evaluation.

Ihre Aufgaben

To be successful in this role, you should possess the following:

• High motivation and strong communication skills
• Analytical thinking and ability to think abstractly
• Basic knowledge in image processing (opencv, scikit-image) and machine/deep learning (e.g. PCA / YOLO)
• Advanced familiarity in Python
• Interest in mechanical processing and sensor-based sorting / technologies
• Ability to work independently and a willingness to collaborate with a team
• Good English language skills (spoken and written)

Your Responsibilities:

• Support our scientific staff by independently conducting literature research, preparing and analyzing experimental data, and creating scientific figures
• Conducting experiments in the laboratory and technical center
• Development of sensor-based methods in Python
• Data collection for the creation of a dataset of LWP
• Handling general tasks as needed

Über uns

RWTH is a certified family-friendly University. We support our employees in maintaining a good work-life balance with a wide range of health, advising, and prevention services, for example university sports. Employees who are covered by collective bargaining agreements and civil servants have access to an extensive range of further training courses and the opportunity to purchase a job ticket.
RWTH is an equal opportunities employer. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates, particularly from groups that are underrepresented at the University. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability or age. RWTH is strongly committed to encouraging women in their careers. Female applicants are given preference if they are equally suitable, competent, and professionally qualified, unless a fellow candidate is favored for a specific reason.
As RWTH is committed to equality of opportunity, we ask you not to include a photo in your application.
You can find information on the personal data we collect from applicants in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) at http://www.rwth-aachen.de/dsgvo-information-bewerbung.

Besoldung / Entgelt

17,60 € from 01.01.2026