WASP – Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program

WASP-WISE team receives prestigious EU grant for neuromorphic sensor project!   Fredrik Sandin, professor in the WASP-affiliated Machine Learning at Lulea University of Technology, is main PI behind the EIC Pathfinder Open grant for the project PHINDER. Out of a record-breaking 2,087 proposals submitted this year, Fredrik and his co-PIs achieved an outstanding evaluation score of 4.9 out of 5.   PHINDER aims to develop new types of neuromorphic photonic sensor systems capable of analysing light from complex processes at the picosecond level (trillionths of a second), while consuming extremely low amounts of energy.   The goal is to create an ultra-fast event camera with embedded intelligence for applications where conventional electronics fall short. Potential use cases include 5D imaging particle detectors in high-energy physics, proton computed tomography (CT) for radiation therapy, and adaptive control of chemical processes.   The project is a joint effort between:  🤝 Luleå tekniska universitet (coordinator) – Fredrik Sandin, lama alkhaled  🤝 Lunds universitet – Anders Mikkelsen  🤝 Eindhoven University of Technology – Patty Stabile  🤝 Universidad de Oviedo – Pietro Vischia  🤝INFN- Tommaso Dorigo  🤝Universidad de Cantabria- Pablo Martinez Ruiz del Arbol  🤝 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Belgium- Wolfger Peelaers; Thomas Van Vaerenbergh Congratulations to Fredrik and his team! Read more: https://lnkd.in/dMKJexaQ #EICpathfinder #WASP #WISE WISE – Wallenberg Initiative Material Science for Sustainability

📣 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸, 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀! 📣   The latest opportunities from WASP:   𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗰 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 KTH https://lnkd.in/e9aG3d7X 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 KTH https://lnkd.in/eZjm5ARN 𝗣𝗵𝗗 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 – 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 Uppsala University https://lnkd.in/eiA-w55B 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗣 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 All WASP instutituions https://lnkd.in/dzvNrNCb   𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/dQG6V9n3 𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/dqzUrY6h   

"𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆." William Ljungbergh, WASP industrial PhD student at Linköping University and Zenseact, is defending the doctoral thesis “On the Road to Safe Autonomous Driving via Data, Learning, and Validation” on November 28, 2025, at 09:15 in Zero, Hus Zenit, Campus Valla, Linköping. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀? “My research explores how autonomous driving systems can learn from large-scale real-world data and be safely validated before deployment. It introduces new methods for self-supervised learning, neural simulation, and diffusion modeling that help vehicles better understand and predict their surroundings, while also providing scalable tools for testing safety-critical scenarios in realistic simulation.” 𝗜𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲? “By improving how autonomous systems learn and are tested, my work contributes to making future vehicles safer, more reliable, and easier to validate. This helps accelerate the responsible deployment of autonomous driving technologies that can reduce accidents and increase accessibility.” 📍 Public defense: November 28, 2025, 09:15, Zero, Hus Zenit, Campus Valla, Linköping 👨🏫 Supervisor: Michael Felsberg #wasp #waspgraduateschool

𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗣 𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗺 WASP is on stage and at the partner fair at today's event Digitalize in Stockholm, organized by Digital Futures. The theme is AI Everywhere - Exploring the Challenges, Risks, and Opportunities of Autonomous Systems. Pictured on stage are Emma Strinning Stavrou of Xylem, WASP Program Director Amy Loutfi, CEO Karim Nouira of SICS.AI and moderator Robert Luciani, founder and CEO of Nerv Dynamics. The booth was organized and manned by PhD students from KTH Royal Institute of Technology as part of KTH's WASP Lighthouse. The WASP Lighthouses create spaces for local WASP-related activities at each participating university including events, seminars, defenses and more. #DigitalizeStockholm #WASP  

🎉 Congratulations to WASP PhD student André Silva (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) — named a 2025 Google PhD Fellow in Software Engineering & Programming Languages! André's research works on new machine learning methods for code generation, with a focus on exploring how to leverage latent spaces for better and more efficient reasoning over program spaces. In practice, this means designing models that can understand and manipulate abstract program representations to generate, repair, or optimize code more effectively. "This fellowship is a meaningful recognition of both the work we have developed so far during my studies and the potential of this research direction in the future," said André.   This prestigious fellowship recognizes outstanding graduate researchers shaping the future of technology. It includes funding and a dedicated Google Research Mentor, with support from Google.org, helping André push the boundaries of software engineering research and strengthen Sweden’s research ecosystem. 🔗 Read the announcement: https://lnkd.in/gf5xyfPt

📣 Open Call: WASP Academic Doctoral Student Projects   WASP is now offering funding for up to 15 new academic doctoral student projects. This call is open to researchers at WASP’s partner universities as well as the Affiliated Groups of Excellence. Proposals in all WASP research areas are welcome.    🎓 Why apply? As a WASP PhD student, you’ll join a world-class graduate school designed to equip you with the skills to analyze, develop, and lead in the interdisciplinary fields of AI, autonomous systems, and software. Through research visits, collaboration with partner universities, and visiting lectures, the WASP Graduate School supports forming a strong multi-disciplinary and international professional network between PhD students, researchers, and industry.   🗓️Apply before January 30, 2026   Read more and apply: https://lnkd.in/dzvNrNCb Read more about the WASP graduate school: https://lnkd.in/daFh4ReT 🎥 Watch the graduate school video: https://lnkd.in/djJ4ibQy 📷Photos from two of this year's summer schools and the annual Winter Conference.

WASP AI researcher Pedro Zuidberg Dos Martires of Örebro University will receive SEK 4.8 million from Vetenskapsrådet / Swedish Research Council.   For four years, he will explore how the principles of quantum physics can be used to develop the next generation of machine learning models.   The project "TrixCi: Matrix Circuits and Their Application to Quantum Machine Learning" will combine quantum mechanics with modern AI methods. The goal is to create new models that can handle information in ways that today's systems can't handle. Congratulations, Pedro!

📣Call for Testa Challenge 2026 Testa Center, one of the companies behind the WASP research arena WARA Medicine, has launched the call for its annual Testa Challenge, an open innovation initiative dedicated to companies and researcher groups in the tech, digital, data, and IT sectors.   Participants get the opportunity to test and validate their technology in a fully funded, standardized bioprocess at Testa Center — bridging the gap between digital innovation and bioproduction.   👥Who can apply? Startups, academic research groups, companies, and institutes   📅 Deadline: March 29, 2026   🔗 Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/exHZnWck 📷Image courtesy: Testa Center.

🏆 Congratulations to Arseni Ivanov! WASP PhD student Arseni Ivanov, Lunds universitet, has won the “Fastest across all GPUs” prize in the GPU Mode kernel optimization competition. The challenge connects biology with AI and LLM GPU performance and Arseni delivered the top-performing solution across all hardware.   His winning approach? Start simple, think big. By designing a robust and general solution, Arseni achieved top performance across all hardware.   🗣️ “Sometimes when the problem is large, building something that gets you 80% of the way is more achievable than making multiple perfect solutions,” says Arseni.   Read more: https://lnkd.in/gqZZiUdf Read Arseni's blog post: https://lnkd.in/d-5zjPAX 📷Photo taken a few weeks ago while Arseni was out mushroom picking in the forest.

𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘞𝘈𝘚𝘗 𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘯𝘪 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦? Nearly four in ten continue their academic journey with a postdoc position at leading institutions worldwide, while 45% transition into Swedish industry, driving innovation across sectors. Wherever they go, WASP alumni are shaping the future of autonomous systems, software, and AI.    Are you a WASP alum? 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻! Leave a comment below👇   Read our 10-year impact report to see more statistics and results: https://lnkd.in/eYRKgT4K