On 3 June 2026, the President of KTH Royal Institute of Technology decided to award funding to 12 new postdoctoral projects through the Digital Futures postdoctoral programme. The initiative is financed by the Strategic Research Area (SFO) in Information Technology and Mobile Communications and aims to strengthen cutting-edge digitalisation research through international talent recruitment and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
The 2026 call attracted exceptional interest, with 160 applications submitted from around the world. Following a rigorous evaluation process, 79 candidates received two nominations and were assessed by an international evaluation committee comprising representatives from KTH, Stockholm University (SU), and RISE. Based on the committee’s recommendations, the Digital Futures Executive Committee decided on 25 May 2026 to recommend funding for the 12 highest-ranked projects, a recommendation subsequently approved by the KTH President.
Each selected project will receive SEK 2.4 million over two years, with SEK 1.2 million allocated in 2027 and SEK 1.2 million in 2028. The funding is awarded to the principal supervisor and will be disbursed when the postdoctoral fellow begins their research stay in Sweden. Projects are eligible to start from 1 January 2027, or later if the postdoctoral fellow arrives after that date.
The newly funded projects span a broad range of research areas, including trustworthy and human-centred AI, next-generation communication systems, smart cities, sustainable energy solutions, digital health, autonomous systems, and technology-enhanced education. The programme also reinforces collaboration across KTH, Stockholm University, and RISE while attracting outstanding early-career researchers from leading institutions worldwide.
Funded Postdoctoral Projects 2026
- A feminist-informed specification-driven development model for building safer intimate technologies
Postdoctoral fellow: Lidiany Cerqueira (Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil)
Main supervisor: Madeline Balaam (KTH) - AI-Integrated Biodegradable Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Plant Health Monitoring
Postdoctoral fellow: Sugato Hajra (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology)
Main supervisor: Ulrica Edlund (KTH) - Algorithmic Europe: How Digital Systems Shape Migration Aspirations
Postdoctoral fellow: Elsa Gomis (Independent Researcher)
Main supervisor: Rob Comber (KTH) - AURAS: Acoustic and ECG-based Intravascular Unit for Remote Adult Congenital Heart Disease Surveillance
Postdoctoral fellow: Federica Semproni (The Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna)
Main supervisor: Seraina A. Dual (KTH) - COHERE-XR: Adaptive XR for Shared Urban Heritage
Postdoctoral fellow: Başak Çakmak (Istanbul Technical University)
Main supervisor: Luis Quintero (Stockholm University) - CRASH – Cognitive Resilience and Security for Human-Cyber-Physical Systems
Postdoctoral fellow: Anh Tung Nguyen (Uppsala University)
Main supervisor: Henrik Sandberg (KTH) - Data-Driven Predictive Control for Grid-Aware Heat Supply in Smart Buildings
Postdoctoral fellow: Haoyan Lin (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Main supervisor: Marco Molinari (KTH) - Designing for Publicly Sustained Urban Autonomy: Addressing Invisible Public Work in Autonomous Systems
Postdoctoral fellow: Xinyan Yu (The University of Sydney)
Main supervisor: Andrii Matviienko (KTH) - Edge-End Collaborative Generative Video Communications
Postdoctoral fellow: Yuang Chen (University of Science and Technology of China)
Main supervisor: Mikael Skoglund (KTH) - Energy-Efficient Beamforming for Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) Using a Rotationally Reconfigurable Metalens Antenna
Postdoctoral fellow: Thi Duyen Nguyen (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology)
Main supervisor: Oscar Quevedo-Teruel (KTH) - Multi-Sensor Fusion Detection and Localization of Low-Slow-Small UAVs
Postdoctoral fellow: Siqi Wang (Beijing Jiaotong University)
Main supervisor: Milan Horemuz (KTH) - Promoting Learner Agency in GenAI-Mediated STEM Education
Postdoctoral fellow: Debarshi Nath (Monash University & Indian Institute of Technology Bombay)
Main supervisor: Olga Viberg (KTH)
These 12 projects exemplify the breadth and ambition of Digital Futures’ mission to advance digital transformation through interdisciplinary research and international collaboration, while fostering the next generation of research leaders.
