PhD in HPC and AI Agents for Earth System Workflows at BSC

PhD in HPC and AI Agents for Earth System Workflows at BSC

Research question and applicant fit

A climate model may run faster without delivering its scientific results sooner. This doctorate asks how computation, queues, data movement and recovery interact across a complete scientific workflow, and whether AI agents can help manage long-running simulations without changing their scientific meaning. The proposed contribution must be tested against existing workflow tools, not assumed from the agent label.

Strong but verify fit: worth a focused application, with important contract and degree details to settle. This is a new doctoral research position in Barcelona, not an allowance restricted to people already enrolled. The exact vacancy accepts a relevant Master's completed or in its final stage, provided it gives access to doctoral study. It connects high-performance computing, weather/climate workflows and AI-assisted execution management. Strong programming and Linux/HPC fundamentals matter more at entry than possessing every named climate or workflow tool. Exact official vacancy

The advertised employment is 35 hours/week, temporary “4 years renewable”, supported by an FPI grant associated with UNE DT. There is no published salary amount, doctoral-fee coverage or named degree-awarding university. The header gives 19 November 2026, while the body says applications are regularly reviewed until a suitable person is hired. The planned start is 1 December 2026. Apply early and clarify the inconsistent deadline language; the collected 00:00 Europe/Andorra time is not confirmed by the employer's date-only header. Funding and current dates

Research Problem and Doctoral Work

The researcher joins High Performance Computing for Earth Sciences (HPC4ES), within Computational Earth Sciences (CES) in BSC's Earth Sciences Department. The problem is that a fast model does not necessarily deliver scientific results quickly: input preparation, execution, transfers, post-processing, queue waits, data availability and interruptions all contribute to completion time. The “digital continuum” here connects CPU/GPU resources, storage, data services and analysis systems. Actual team and research chainCES research environment

The advertised thesis investigates prediction of workflow completion times and resource needs, improvements to individual components and coordination of computation with data movement. A second line evaluates AI agents retaining state over weeks or months, monitoring progress, diagnosing failures and taking verified recovery actions with human intervention when needed. Assessment includes workflows combining physical and AI models, with scientific validity and reproducibility preserved. Duties include original research, empirical evaluation on advanced infrastructure, peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, a thesis integrating theory/methods/software, and support for departmental collaborations. Concrete doctoral responsibilities

Applicant-decision interpretation: a defensible thesis must distinguish actual execution savings from variable queues, demonstrate that recovery preserves the intended scientific calculation, and identify when an agent should stop and escalate. More automation is not automatically more trustworthy science. Ask what baseline workflows, observations and evaluation permissions will be available, how interventions will be reviewed, and which independent research question remains publishable if the autonomous-agent component disappoints. These are research-scoping questions, not a promised experimental plan. Queue-sensitive evidenceComparable performance metricsExisting workflow software

Institution, Field and Doctoral Training

BSC is the research/employment host; it is not identified as an independent university awarding this PhD. Its doctoral page describes mentoring, training and an annual International Doctoral Symposium, and lists affiliated routes including UPC Computer Architecture, UPC Environmental Engineering and UB Biomedicine. The advert does not choose a programme for this vacancy. Neither a BSC appointment nor collaboration with European projects automatically produces a joint degree. Confirm the formal university, programme, supervisor/tutor, language evidence, registration calendar and progress requirements with the team and education@bsc.es. BSC doctoral structure

For orientation only, the UPC Computer Architecture route covers computer architecture, operating systems and networks, and expects relevant prior study, English, support from a research group/supervisor and funding. Its current maximum is four years full-time or seven part-time; individual bridging study may be required. Its programme page also contains training examples calculated over three years, which do not establish this vacancy's contract structure. These are conditional programme facts, not confirmation that a physics or Earth Science applicant to BSC must enter that particular route. Possible UPC route and limits

The independent institution signal is specialised infrastructure rather than an invented university ranking. EuroHPC JU confirmed a January 2026 procurement contract for an AI upgrade of MareNostrum 5, hosted by BSC, alongside research/SME access and technical training. That validates a substantial HPC ecosystem; the investment is not this student's salary, a personal allocation or evidence every planned upgrade is already delivered. BSC's February 2026 PhD-level memory/performance course with Intel and INESC-ID is concrete recent training evidence; it has concluded, though materials remain available. ESiWACE's calendar adds modelling, data, compression and machine-learning opportunities subject to separate eligibility and places. Independent EuroHPC signalActual recent trainingNetwork training options

Team and Three Recent Research Anchors

The studies below anchor the discussion in workflow queueing, cross-institution performance metrics and I/O/data-path costs. Their contributions and limits are summarised after the study analyses.

Mario Acosta is officially a CES co-leader and Leading Researcher, with earlier HPC-for-Earth-System-Modelling leadership, documented prior doctoral supervision and a UPC associate teaching role. His profile spans performance, CPU/GPU heterogeneity, numerical reproducibility, I/O, energy and workflows. It reports a 2025 Gordon Bell Climate Modelling finalist contribution, not a win. This establishes relevant scientific leadership, but the vacancy does not name him as the formal thesis supervisor. CES co-leader Miguel Castrillo appears with him on closely related recent work; daily supervision and the actual HPC4ES thesis team still require confirmation. Acosta official profileGroup organisation

Goitia, Marciani, Castrillo and Acosta, GMD 2026, published 11 September, examine task aggregation through paired EC-Earth3 workflows on MeluXina, MareNostrum 4 and 5. Queue times fell by factors of 11.17–12.33 in the tested scenarios, with up to 23% more simulated years in a fixed period on the most congested platform. This directly supports end-to-end evaluation; the queue factor is not a universal application-runtime speedup or proof of an autonomous AI agent. 2026 controlled workflow study

Acosta et al., GMD 2024 analyse CPMIP metrics from 33 CMIP6 configurations at 14 institutions, largely within IS-ENES3. The contribution is a common framework covering computation, coupling, queues, storage and energy, with explicit heterogeneity and uncertainty. It helps an applicant explain why resource counts alone cannot compare scientific productivity. It is a subset-based community assessment, not the complete CMIP6 experiment set or a reliable carbon forecast for this new doctorate. 2024 multi-institution performance study

Yepes-Arbós, van den Oord, Acosta and Carver, GMD 2022, published 18 January and still within the five-year window, examine IFS CY43R3/XIOS 2.0 I/O scalability and the downstream post-processing burden. It establishes that output/data handling can dominate the critical path and that integration must be assessed against the relevant baseline. Its software/model case is specific, not a current universal optimisation recipe. Together the three papers show a coherent research trajectory from components to whole workflows; they do not establish that the proposed AI-agent work is already solved. 2022 data-path study

Publication records and reading scope

The literature discussion follows saved notes covering selected passages in the published HTML (abstracts, conclusions or analyses); it is not a complete-paper or reproduction audit. The vacancy does not name Acosta or another person as the formal thesis supervisor.

• Pablo Goitia; Manuel G. Marciani; Miguel Castrillo; Mario C. Acosta. Task aggregation as a strategy to optimize Earth System Model workflows in HPC: assessing real scenarios with EC-Earth. Geoscientific Model Development 19(17):8501–8514. DOI: 10.5194/gmd-19-8501-2026. Online 2026-09-11. Acosta is fourth/last author and Goitia is corresponding author; the formal PhD supervisor is unnamed record
• Mario C. Acosta; Sergi Palomas; Stella V. Paronuzzi Ticco; Gladys Utrera; Joachim Biercamp; Pierre-Antoine Bretonniere; Reinhard Budich; Miguel Castrillo; Arnaud Caubel; Francisco Doblas-Reyes; Italo Epicoco; Uwe Fladrich; Sylvie Joussaume; Alok Kumar Gupta; Bryan Lawrence; Philippe Le Sager; Grenville Lister; Marie-Pierre Moine; Jean-Christophe Rioual; Sophie Valcke; Niki Zadeh; Venkatramani Balaji. The computational and energy cost of simulation and storage for climate science: lessons from CMIP6. Geoscientific Model Development 17(8):3081–3098. DOI: 10.5194/gmd-17-3081-2024. Online 2024-04-19. All 22 authors are listed above; Acosta is first author and co-corresponding with Palomas record
• Xavier Yepes-Arbós; Gijs van den Oord; Mario C. Acosta; Glenn D. Carver. Evaluation and optimisation of the I/O scalability for the next generation of Earth system models: IFS CY43R3 and XIOS 2.0 integration as a case study. Geoscientific Model Development 15(2):379–394. DOI: 10.5194/gmd-15-379-2022. Online 2022-01-18. Acosta is third of four authors; Yepes-Arbós is corresponding author record

Field Outlook and Career Value

Autosubmit already supplies experiment management, orchestration, monitoring, traceability and multi-platform execution in the group's ecosystem. The thesis should therefore explain its contribution beyond a generic script or chatbot wrapper: reliable prediction, measurable end-to-end gains, trustworthy intervention and reproducible evaluation are plausible distinctions. Actual access to logs, scientific data, operational users and compute quotas is more important than the mere presence of a large machine. Existing Autosubmit capabilities

TerraDT's official scope links modular cryosphere, land/aerosol components and impact models to Destination Earth. ESiWACE3's EU registry records a 2023–31 December 2026 project period. That makes the application context concrete but does not mean the FPI salary stops with ESiWACE3, nor prove this new four-year position is financed by that particular grant. Keep network context and the exact UNE DT funding instrument separate. TerraDT scopeESiWACE3 grant and dates

Transferable career paths include research software engineering, HPC performance engineering, scientific workflow/data infrastructure, climate-model computing and scientific AI systems. ETP4HPC's industry-led agenda explicitly connects applications/workflows, I/O/storage, system management, AI and sustainability; its latest completed SRA is SRA6, December 2024, with SRA7 being developed in 2026. This supports relevance across institutions and vendors. It provides neither current vacancy counts nor BSC graduate placement rates or individual salary forecasts. A portable portfolio of validated software, papers and clear scientific collaboration will be more persuasive than an “AI agent” label alone. Independent industry priorities

Eligibility, Application and Evidence to Prepare

Required in the advert: a relevant Master's in computer science/HPC, physics, applied mathematics, Earth Science or related science/engineering; strong Python and/or compiled-language programming such as C/C++ or Fortran; UNIX/Linux, command line/Bash, basic HPC and schedulers such as Slurm, Git/software engineering, and fluent spoken/written English. Initiative, analytical problem-solving, independent and international teamwork, communication and commitment to finish the thesis are explicit. Additional advantages: profiling/benchmarking/resource allocation, Autosubmit/Cylc/Airflow/Snakemake, climate models/data formats NetCDF/GRIB/Zarr, and interest or experience in ML/LLMs, AI performance or testing/debugging automation. Publications and mastery of every listed tool are not stated entry requirements. Required versus additional background

For a Chinese applicant, the vacancy welcomes qualified applicants irrespective of national origin and explicitly permits a final-stage Master's applicant. The saved Spanish doctoral-access regulation allows a non-EHEA qualification after the receiving university checks equivalence to a Spanish university Master's and doctoral-access rights in the awarding country, without requiring formal homologation for that access. Programme-specific criteria still apply. This is a plausible application route, not a personal eligibility ruling or proof of every FPI grant condition. The exact UNE DT award/call and any prior doctoral-funding or registration conditions were not independently established; request them rather than importing rules from another institution's FPI or the distinct DIN/MSCA schemes. Vacancy eligibilityOfficial foreign-qualification access frameworkConditional programme assessment

Apply through the BSC vacancy with a full English CV including contact details, an English motivation letter specifying areas/topics, and two references for further contact. The vacancy says applications lacking the motivation document will not be considered; the form's generic “Cover Letter optional” label conflicts with that instruction. Submit the letter. CV/cover uploads are each under 3 MB; optional other documents under 10 MB. The process scores the CV 40 points and interview 60, with at least 30/60 in the latter required for eligibility; it includes technical and administrative interviews, a personality questionnaire and a technical exercise. The panel has at least three people and at least 25% women; interviewees receive feedback. Process queries go to recruitment@bsc.es.

The saved form accepts txt/rtf/pdf/doc/docx for the CV, with zip additionally allowed for the cover letter; optional other documents also allow rar/tar/zip. The existing instructions use Name_Surname_CV, Name_Surname_CoverLetter and Name_Surname_OtherDocument naming. The generic optional form label does not override the vacancy's mandatory motivation-letter instruction. Gender and nationality fields are described as statistical information. Actual materials and selection procedure

Recommended evidence is a concise example of personally developed scientific software: explain the problem, baseline, measurements, limitations and reproducibility. Candidates from physics/Earth Science should make programming/HPC capability visible; computing applicants should show that they can respect scientific validity rather than optimise a meaningless metric. These are preparation suggestions, not additional formal admission requirements.

Funding, Fees and Barcelona Living Costs

The advert promises salary-based employment with flexible hours, training, restaurant tickets, private health insurance and relocation-procedure support. Leave is 22 holidays + six personal days + 24 and 31 December under the collective agreement. Neither “competitive salary” nor an FPI label establishes annual gross pay, monthly instalments, tax/social deductions, net income, full relocation reimbursement or tuition payment. Clarify the literal “four years renewable” wording, contract phases, renewal criteria and funding for the intended thesis duration. Employment package and limits

As a conditional fee reference only, UPC's published Catalan public-doctorate 2026–27 schedule lists €540.92 annual supervision registration, €156.87 thesis registration, €218.15 degree issuance and €27.27 an academic certificate. It does not establish which university this student will join, all charges applicable to their case or FPI reimbursement. Ask separately about foreign-degree assessment, certification/translation, annual fees, conferences and research travel. Public doctorate fee reference

The saved UPC international cost guidance suggests at least €1,300–€1,500/month, with a shared-flat room around €450–€650 and food €300–€400; utilities depend on the contract. It advises a first-month rent allowance multiplied by three for the deposit arrangement. Private flats, dependants and unusually high rent can cost more; relocation, deposit, documents and initial purchases require separate funds. Without an actual net-pay quote, affordability cannot be calculated responsibly. Official local living-cost reference

BSC points to accommodation assistance and Barcelona university/residence services, but no room is guaranteed. Its arrival guidance discusses non-EU entry/work/residence documentation, qualification documents, NIE, social security and banking. The 12-day gap between 19 November and 1 December makes it sensible to ask about a negotiable start and HR support for a China-based candidate. Do not assume either an automatic nationality bar or that permits and degree formalities will be completed inside that interval. BSC housing and arrival guidancePlanned start

Staged Next Actions

Before applying: confirm whether selection is already progressing; submit the mandatory letter/CV and references early, stating Master's completion timing and genuine programming/HPC evidence. Ask for the formal supervisor and doctoral route, the exact FPI call and whether an overseas final-stage Master's can satisfy appointment timing.

At interview: discuss available workflows/data/compute access, the original thesis contribution beyond Autosubmit, the balance of research and operational support, scientific verification and escalation, and a publishable alternative if agent autonomy fails. Ask about daily mentoring and how department support is bounded.

Before acceptance: obtain the salary and net-pay illustration, contract/renewal terms, fee/research-cost responsibility, university admission and supervisor arrangement, and a workable start/immigration/housing plan. The project has substantial scientific and training value, while those unresolved terms remain material to an individual decision.

Evidence and Sources

This report reuses the saved recruitment, doctoral-policy and research materials; it does not verify whether the vacancy is currently accepting applications, determine individual FPI eligibility or establish which fees the grant will cover. The research discussion is limited to the saved reading record described above.

Project, team and original research

• Exact BSC FPI47026esces vacancy
• Computational Earth Sciences official group
• Mario Acosta official profile
• Goitia et al., 2026 task aggregation empirical study
• Acosta et al., 2024 computational and energy cost
• Yepes-Arbos et al., 2022 IFS/XIOS I/O study
• Autosubmit official maintained repository

Institution, degree, training and field

• BSC PhD programmes and mentoring
• UPC Computer Architecture doctorate
• Spanish official doctoral regulations consolidated
• UPC 2026–27 public doctoral fee reference
• EuroHPC independent BSC AI Factory investment
• TerraDT official digital twin scope
• ESiWACE3 official EU grant registry
• ESiWACE training calendar
• BSC 2026 memory systems PhD-level course

Living, arrival and careers

• UPC international living cost guidance
• BSC life in Barcelona and arrival
• ETP4HPC industry-led strategic research agenda