KTH FOOD is recruiting a Theme Leader in AI for Food

Published Dec 17, 2025

Be part of a creative multidisciplinary research environment working with sustainable and healthy food systems. KTH FOOD is recruiting a Theme Leader to be actively involved in developing new research within the area of “Artificial Intelligence for Food”.

Call for Theme Leader: Artificial Intelligence for Food Systems at KTH FOOD

Application Instructions

The interested applicants should submit the following material by 2026-01-31.

CV (max 2 pages)
Publication list
Motivation letter (max 2 pages): describe briefly your background and research interest in the broad area of food and health, and how would you like to contribute to develop further the research area of “Artificial Intelligence for Food” and KTH FOOD in general.

The proposals will be evaluated internally by the Centre Director, the 3 additional Theme Leaders and the Chairperson of the Board for KTH FOOD.

KTH FOOD center was established in 2023 with the vision to be a leading research environment that strives for a sustainable, resource efficient and fair food system encompassing the entire value chain, resulting in food products with positive impact on health and well-being. This is performed through the alignment of technological solutions with environmental and social responsibility. The mission of KTH FOOD is to engage and align the education, research, and outreach competences at KTH towards a sustainable and healthy food system. KTH FOOD provides the framework to integrate research and educational activities on food systems and technology within the organization at KTH, leading to externally funded research programs, developing the educational framework to integrate food science in relevant programs, and to catalyze external collaboration with relevant public and private stakeholders.Four thematic research areas have been identified to develop the centre’s mission, which are (1) sustainable food production, (2) value chains and consumption, (3) circular food processes and functional food products, and (4) nutrition and health.

Strategic Development: AI in Food Systems

During the half time evaluation of the centre, we identified the need to expand the competences of KTH FOOD towards digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) coupled to the other thematic research areas. To assist with the strategic development of KTH FOOD, we are looking for a Theme Leader in AI for Food Systems. The theme leader will have scientific responsibility to describe and develop the specific research area. This includes broadly the development and assessment of various AI technologies (e.g., machine learning, large-language models, image/voice recognition) in the context of food systems, ranging from food production and processing, value chain logistics, food consumption studies, to precision nutrition and health.

Role and Responsibilities of the Theme Leader

The theme Leader will support the research management of KTH FOOD and will be responsible for:

Identifying relevant research questions within AI and food systems.
Creating a research network within KTH by engaging relevant researchers
Contributing to research in KTH FOOD by writing perspective research articles within AI and food.
Find research funding calls to gather around relevant researchers from KTH and stakeholders,
Define a postdoctoral position, together with the theme leaders, to support the theme “AI for food”, connecting to the existing themes. This postdoctoral position will be partially funded by KTH FOOD.
Be administrative and scientific responsible for the postdoctoral researcher.
Arranging meetings/workshops within the subject area
The Theme Leader is expected to attend the management meetings every second week.

KTH FOOD will contribute financially for the Theme Leader with 10% of a full-time position, including LKP and overheads. KTH FOOD will also contribute financially to the partial employment of a postdoctoral researcher to support the theme “AI and food” for 2 years with a budget of 1 MSEK/year.

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