Measured in number of students and teachers, the Faculty of Science at the University of Helsinki is the largest science faculty in Finland. There are some 6,000 students taking a basic degree. Out of them, some 1,000 are postgraduates. There are some 500 international students, and over 200 researchers and teachers from abroad.

Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) is a multi- and interdisciplinary research unit based in physics, chemistry, meteorology, forest sciences, environmental sciences and social sciences in the University of Helsinki. INAR aims to strengthen the internationally leading, integrated multidisciplinary research and education environment for atmospheric and Earth system science and to feed in scientific results for the national and international environment and climate policy. It performs multiscale research from molecular to global scale and focuses on climate change, air quality, biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem processes. INAR has INAR Finland Network partners in Finnish Meteorological Institute, University of Eastern Finland and Tampere University of Technology.

Faculty of Science invites applications for

DOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN URBAN CARBON EMISSION MODELLING

starting as soon as possible for a fixed-term contract of three years in the Academy of Finland project Artificial Intelligence for Urban Low-Emission Autonomous Traffic (AIforLEssAuto).

The doctoral researcher will be working in the urban meteorology group in INAR (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/urban-meteorology). The group studies urban atmosphere, air quality and greenhouse gas cycle using a wide-range of methodologies including eddy covariance technique, land surface modelling and a large eddy simulations.

AIforLEssAuto is a joint research project between University of Helsinki and Aalto University bringing together researchers in atmospheric sciences and artificial intelligence, and traffic engineers. The aim of the project is to understand how autonomous electrified traffic should be organized during the transition period when gasoline and electric, manual and automated vehicles will co-exist within urban traffic flow in order to reduce carbon emissions from traffic. The doctoral researcher will be conducting dynamic CO2 emission modelling for traffic scenarios developed using AI, analyze data and participate to build reward functions for machine learning functions. The applicant will also upscale emission modelling outputs to city-level estimations.

The candidate must apply for a position in the Doctoral Programme for Atmospheric Sciences (ATM-DP) during the spring 2022 application round. The appointee’s main duties consist of postgraduate studies and writing a doctoral dissertation related to the project’s topic. Teaching can take up to 5% of annual working time of 1612 hours.

The applicant should

• hold a Master’s degree in a field that is relevant to the research topic such as atmospheric sciences, meteorology, machine learning, or engineering;
• demonstrate a strong interest towards emission modelling and sustainable traffic transformation;
• Knowledge of a programming language such as Python, Matlab, R or Fortran
• Good skills in written and spoken English.

Finland is a member of the EU, has high quality free schooling (also in English), generous family benefits and healthcare. The University of Helsinki is a top 100 ranked university in most ranking lists, and invests heavily in Earth system research, please see https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/inar-institute-for-atmospheric-and-earth-sys... University of Helsinki welcomes applicants from a variety of genders, linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and minorities.

Working language is English. The starting salary of the position will be ca. 2500–2800 euros/month, depending on the appointees’ qualifications and experience. The position will be filled with a 6 month trial period. Furthermore, the University of Helsinki offers comprehensive services to its employees, including occupational health care and health insurance, sports facilities, and opportunities for professional development. University assists employees from abroad with their transition to work and life in Finland (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/university/working-at-the-university).

How to apply?

Please submit your application (as a single pdf-file) consisting of

• Cover letter,
• Curriculum vitae,
• Research statement (max. 2000 words) with a brief description of previous experience and research interests, as demonstrated e.g. in a Master’s thesis, and A statement of motivation outlining why you are applying for the position using the electronic recruitment system of the University of Helsinki via the link “Apply for the position”. Applicants who are employees of the University of Helsinki are requested to leave their application via the SAP Fiori https://msap.helsinki.fi.

The deadline for applications is 31 January 2022.

For further information, please contact Associate Professor Leena Järvi, leena.jarvi@helsinki.fi.

Due date

 31.01.2022 23:59 EET