Internal Research Fellow; PostDoc in Biomimetics

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Job Requisition

Closing Date: 15 July 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Directorate:
Technology, Engineering and Quality

This research fellowship will be in ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team (ACT), ESA’s internal research think tank for advanced space concepts and technologies. The ACT is a multidisciplinary group of postdoctoral fellows and early-career researchers who work in close partnership with leading universities to explore ideas that are still a long way off from becoming part of mainstream space engineering, but might prove disruptive in the future.

The team operates to high academic standards, publishes in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, and has built up a broad European and international network through its collaboration schemes and open-science activities. Through its research, the ACT provides ESA with early scientific insight into emerging trends and acts as a pathfinder for novel technologies and working methods across all space domains.

The ACT has been a pioneer of biomimetics within ESA since the early 2000s, when it initiated the first systematic studies on biologically inspired solutions to space engineering challenges. Since then, the team has developed a rich biomimetics portfolio ranging from bio-inspired guidance and navigation (for example insect‑eye–inspired motion detectors for planetary landing and insect-inspired navigation algorithms) to evolutionary and neuromorphic approaches to autonomous control, as well as soft‑robotic concepts and bio‑inspired materials for sensing and protection in extreme environments.

Recent projects include work on “evomimetics”, which integrates evolutionary biology into biomimetic design by studying sea‑urchin spine micro‑architectures and using these as templates for multifunctional, mechanically efficient structures. In parallel, ACT researchers have explored spider‑inspired soft actuators for extraterrestrial deployment, bio‑inspired robotics experiments on the International Space Station, and novel neuromorphic and spiking‑neural‑network concepts for resource‑constrained autonomous spacecraft.

The overarching goal of this research line is to connect deep biological understanding, spanning evolution, biomechanics, materials and neural computation, with concrete space applications, turning nature‑inspired principles into testable designs, models and algorithms for future missions. Biologists joining the ACT will find an environment where they can bring their expertise in organismal biology, ecology, neuroscience or biomaterials into direct dialogue with experts in space systems, mission analysis, artificial intelligence and control, to co‑create new concepts for space exploration.

You will take intellectual ownership of a research line in biomimetics for space, with a strong emphasis on original ideas and their translation into concrete space‑relevant concepts. Within the ACT’s collaborative environment, research topics are defined jointly, but you will be expected to drive the scientific agenda, identify promising directions and lead the corresponding developments. These activities will be aligned with ESA’s strategic priorities while leaving room for curiosity‑driven exploration.

• propose and carry out novel research in biomimetics for space applications, often in collaboration with universities and research groups in ESA Member States (for example through the Ariadna scheme: https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).)
• advance biomimetics through disciplined cross‑domain collaboration, combining biological insight with engineering analysis to define credible research pathways and space‑relevant outcomes
• scout, follow and, when useful, connect with international, European and national research programmes in biomimetics and related areas, and bring a space engineering perspective to these communities
• build on and extend previous biomimetics projects of the ACT, revisiting earlier ideas with new tools, data and perspectives

• publish results in high‑impact, peer‑reviewed journals and…