About the job

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree. 

The Norwegian government is presenting a major initiative in 2023 to promote offshore wind power. The plan is to install 1,500 offshore turbines that will produce a total of 30GW energy by 2040. Even though considered as a promising sustainable energy source, wind power is highly intermittent and non-dispatchable because it is a variable power source. Digital twin is an enabling technology to accurately forecast energy production from a wind farm by providing a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the behaviour of the wind farm and its components under different weather conditions and operational scenarios. The aim of the research is to leverage digital twin technology for offshore wind farms to enable accurate wind energy forecast through modelling, simulation, and optimization of wind farms' behavior under uncertain weather conditions and operational scenarios.

Digital twin and wind farm are two of NTNU’s strategic research areas. The PhD candidate will join the SDT lab at IIR NTNU and cooperate with other PhD candidates in the Sustainable Digital Transformation Laboratory who work on digital twins for wind farms. The PhD candidate will be supervised by a team of researchers from academia, industry, and international partners.

The position’s working place is at NTNU campus in Ålesund.

Your immediate leader is Head of Department.

Duties of the position

• contribute to the academic environment at department, faculty and NTNU.
• write scientific papers.
• undertake the necessary courses (30 ECTS) as part of the PhD program.
• contribute to the development of NTNU digital twin platform.
• present findings at internal meetings as well as national and international workshops and conferences.

Required selection criteria

• Master’s degree in engineering, applied mathematics, or computer science.
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level.
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• Final year Master's students can apply, but documentation of a completed master's degree must be presented before taking up the position.
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the PhD Program in Computer Science.
• Good written and oral English language skills. Candidates from universities outside Scandinavia and English-speaking countries are kindly requested to document English language proficiency (TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)).
  •  TOEFL: 600 (paper-based test), 92 (Internet-based test)
  •  IELTS: 6.5, with no section lower than 5.5 
  •  CAE/CPE: grade B or A

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• knowledge on energy system modelling.
• have hands-on experience developing digital twin in the energy sector.
• have a good experience with programming.
• have a relevant experience with digitalization, digital twins, and enabling digital twin technologies.
• documented experience from relevant industry.

Personal characteristics

• ability to work independently as well as in teams.
• good communication skills.
• ability to work in close contact with the industry.
• ability to travel to cooperate in industry and other research partners.
• open to feedback and input from others as well as able to respect, collaborate, and negotiate with others.

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from scale 54, NOK 501 200  per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 3 years.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD Program in Computer Science within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD program during the employment period. 

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must follow the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include: 

• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees. If you have not completed the master's degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master's thesis has been submitted.
• A copy of the master's thesis. If you recently have submitted your master's thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master's degree must be presented before taking up the position.
• A 2-page project proposal 
• Name and contact information of three referees
• If you have publications or other relevant research work

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from NOKUT, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality. 

The city of Ålesund, with its population of 50 000, will provide you with plenty of opportunities to explore a region of Norway that is famous for its beautiful scenery with high mountains and blue fjords. Ålesund itself, with its Art Nouveau architecture, is by many considered to be the most beautiful city in Norway! The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world.

As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Assoc. Professor Saleh Alaliyat, telephone +4793601609, email: alaliyat.a.saleh@ntnu.no, Professor Arne Styve, telephone +4770161287, email: arne.styve@ntnu.no, or Professor Agus Hasan, telephone +47093461014, email: agus.hasan@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Head of Office Gunn Helen Hellevik, e-mail: gunn.hellevik@ntnu.no. 

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 29.05.2023.

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

Department of ICT and Natural Sciences

Our campus in Ålesund works in a partnership with industry that is in a class of its own among Norwegian universities. This ensures a practical focus for our study programmes, while they are firmly anchored in modern theory. The Department offers programmes in automation engineering, computer engineering, electric power systems, simulation and visualization. Our research areas include autonomous vessels, robotics, cybernetics, medical technology and health informatics, and artificial intelligence. The Department of ICT and Natural Sciences is one of seven departments in the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering .

Deadline 29th May 2023
Employer NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Municipality Ålesund
Scope Fulltime
Duration Temporary
Place of service NTNU Campus Ålesund