Research Scientist (1-year contract), SCIS

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Singapore Management University is a place where high-level professionalism blends together with a healthy informality. The 'family-like' atmosphere among the SMU community fosters a culture where employees work, plan, organise and play together - building a strong collegiality and morale within the university. Our commitment to attract and retain talent is ongoing. We offer attractive benefits and welfare, competitive compensation packages, and generous professional development opportunities - all to meet the work-life needs of our staff. No wonder, then, that SMU continues to be given numerous awards and recognition for its human resource excellence. RESPONSIBILITIES • This position is for School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS). • Lead and develop independent research directions within the project, including problem formulation, methodological development, and empirical validation. • Publish research findings in top-tier journals and conferences in Operations Research, AI, and related fields. • Disseminate research outcomes through presentations and other scholarly channels. • Contribute to translating research into practice through engagement with policy and industry stakeholders. Mentor graduate and undergraduate researchers involved in related projects. • Support grant management and project coordination activities. • Other duties as assigned. • Applicants should indicate one or more areas of interest aligned with the following themes: • Pillar 1: Supply Chain, Logistics, and Mobility Systems • Human-centered demand forecasting and adaptive inventory management. • Fairness-aware and multi-objective optimization for resource allocation. • Multi-agent and human-machine collaboration in logistics and transportation systems. • Pillar 2: Emergency Response and Crisis Management • New paradigms for emergency responders and rescue systems. • Transfer learning and diffusion-model learning for diffusion/spread processes. • Human-centered contact tracing and crowd management. • Pillar 3: Healthcare Operations and Policy • Data-driven modeling of healthcare demand, capacity, and congestion. • Design of operational policies under uncertainty (e.g., screening, triage, resource allocation). • Integration of behavioral, clinical, and system-level considerations in healthcare delivery. QUALIFICATIONS • PhD (completed by start-date) in Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Transportation, Logistics, or a closely related field. • Strong background in optimization (e.g., integer/combinatorial optimization, stochastic/robust/online optimization, network models, queueing systems, simulation-based optimization). • Strong background in machine learning (e.g., representation learning, sequence/time-series modeling, probabilistic modeling, or learning under distribution shift). • Proven research track record (publications, strong writing, ability to frame contributions clearly). • Solid programming skills; proficient in using AI tools for research. • Ability to work independently, manage research milestones, and communicate effectively in a collaborative environment. • Preference for candidate who has • Experience with large-scale, constraint decision problems (e.g., operations, mobility, logistics, healthcare, or emergency response) • Experience with multi-agent systems, multi-objective optimization, fairness-aware modeling, or human-centered decision-making approaches • Experience with reinforcement learning, diffusion or spread models, explainable AI, transfer learning, or learning under non-stationarity or distribution shift • Experience in developing reproducible research codebases (e.g., version control, experiment tracking, and documentation) OTHER INFORMATION #LI-JN2 Please note that your application will be sent to and reviewed by the direct employer - Singapore Management University