MSCA PF in Wireless Communications and Signal Processing; HORIZON-MSCA-

Overview

The Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) is offering a Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship (PF) at the University of Oulu. This is a call for expression of interest for 2026. Questions:
Are you a researcher in wireless communications and signal processing interested in a prestigious postdoctoral research opportunity in Finland? You can apply for the MSCA PF at the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC), University of Oulu. Send your expression of interest by 27 March.

The University of Oulu is an international science university that fosters new knowledge, well-being, and innovations. It is one of Finland s largest and most multidisciplinary universities, with 14,000 students and nearly 4,000 employees, and is located in the north of Finland.

The Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) is recognized as one of the world’s leading and most active research centres in wireless technologies, with a team of 400 researchers from 50 different countries. CWC features the Research Council of Finland’s Flagship programme 6G Flagship, which is the world’s first major 6G research programme running from 2018 to 2028.

We offer support to develop your MSCA-PF proposal in the field of 6G wireless communications and signal processing under the supervision of a leading expert and former MSCA Fellow. This support may include a fully funded short research visit (1-2 weeks) to CWC between April and July 2026 to facilitate the proposal preparation. Successful MSCA-PF candidates may also be offered an additional third year of funding to extend their research  also provide assistance and support through our university-level and national funding programmes to strengthen your career.

The proposal should focus on physical-layer aspects of wireless communications and signal processing for 6G-and-beyond systems. Applications are welcome on the following topics, among others.

• Extra-large MIMO, holographic MIMO, and distributed MIMO for communications and sensing
• Signal processing for energy-efficient and low-complexity MIMO architectures
• Signal processing under physically consistent channel and hardware models
• Signal processing for resilient wireless communications
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning for wireless communication

Interdisciplinary proposals, spanning areas such as communication theory, electromagnetic theory, and statistical signal processing, are strongly encouraged.

Assoc. Prof. Italo Atzeni (Academy Research Fellow and former MSCA Fellow) and Prof. Antti Tölli.

• Doctoral degree in communications engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, or related field, with no more than eight years of research experience since the award of the doctoral degree (excluding non-research experience and career breaks).
• Research proficiency proven by an excellent publication record with top-tier journal publications (e.g., IEEE Transactions).
• Strong mathematical background and rigorous analytical thinking. Experience in optimization, statistical signal processing, and/or machine learning is desirable.
• Excellent spoken and written English and multi-cultural communication skills.
• Ability to pursue both independent and collaborative research.
• Compliance with the MSCA mobility rule: you must not have resided or worked in Finland for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline.

• By 27 March 2026:
  Expression of interest and research idea for the MSCA-PF proposal.
• By 10 April 2026:
  Invitation for a short research visit to CWC, University of Oulu.
• April to July 2026:
  Potential research visit to develop the MSCA-PF proposal.
• February 2027:
  Notification of call results on the MSCA-PF proposal.
• May-September 2027:
  Start of the funded MSCA-PF project at CWC, University of Oulu.
• May-September 2029:
  Possible third year of funding.
• Initial description of the proposal (1-2 pages).

In the first step of the process, we will choose the candidates for developing competitive MSCA-PF proposals. The candidates will be shortlisted by an internal panel and informed if they have been selected for the next stage as soon as possible or by 10 April 2026.

The selected candidates will develop their MSCA-PF proposal in cooperation with their future supervisor  addition, they will be offered individual consultations and review of their MSCA PF proposal, as well as the possibility to visit the University of Oulu and participate in a training for writing MSCA-PF proposals.