PERSEUS - PhD Candidate in Cyber-Security for Critical Infrastructures Digital Twins

Updated: over 1 year ago
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 30 Sep 2022

This is NTNU

NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 42,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.


About the position

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

At the Department of Information Security and Communications Technology we have a vacancy for a PhD candidate in "Cyber-Security for Critical Infrastructures Digital Twins".

Digital twins have evolved from passive monitoring and state estimation systems to integrated sociotechnical mechanisms that are essential for strategic modeling and planning, as well as operational real-time monitoring and control of cyber-physical systems. 

In order to support these functionalities, the operation of digital twins relies heavily on maintaining fidelity and synchronization with the production systems to which they are targeted. This is particularly important in safety-critical systems, from power station generators to manufacturing systems or production facilities in the oil and gas industry.

This PhD project is a part of the PERSEUS doctoral programme : A collaboration between NTNU- Norway’s largest university, 11 top-level academic partners in 8 European countries, and 8 industrial partners within sectors of high societal relevance.

Within PERSEUS we will recruit 40 PhD candidates who want to contribute to a smart, safe and sustainable future. We are looking for highly skilled PhD candidates motivated to approach societal challenges within one of the following thematic areas:

  • Big data and AI
  • Digital Twins
  • Internet of Things
  • Extended Reality
  • Information and Cyber Security

All participants in the PERSEUS network  bring unique and important qualities with them into the doctoral programme. The PERSEUS PhD candidates will have the opportunity to collaborate with researchers in the partner institutions and in other project consortia, and benefit from these collaborative research and education activities.

As part of the PERSEUS team you will work alongside other highly motivated and talented PhD candidates and researchers. You will also have access to the knowledge base, state-of-the-art research infrastructure, and impact orientation of the partners in the team.

In addition to your education and development within the thematic research area, you will gain transferable skills within project development and management, science communication, research ethics, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, as well as basic university didactics.

As a PERSEUS PhD candidate, you will be employed by NTNU. During your stay, you will do a 2-3 month international stay and a 1-2 month national stay with one of the PERSEUS partners. This will allow you to extend your network within academia and industry, and to learn about your research area from an academic, innovation, and societal perspective.

The duration of the PhD employment is 36 months.

Starting gross salary is 501.200 NOK/year (equal to approx. 49.312 EUR/year by the exchange rate of July 2022)

We are looking for PhD candidates from all nationalities, who want to contribute to our quest to create knowledge for a better world. PERSEUS recruits candidates according to the EU’s mobility rule, i.e. applicants cannot have spent more than 12 months in Norway during the last 3 years, be within the first four years of their research careers and not yet be awarded a doctoral degree.

We believe in fair and open processes. All applications will be considered through a transparent evaluation procedure, with independent observers involved.

The position's working place is NTNU campus in Gjøvik.

Your immediate leader is Head of the Department.

We look forward to welcome you to the PERSEUS team.


Duties of the position

The PhD candidate will work on challenging research problems related to developing digital twin demonstrators, and mechanisms that allow the monitoring and protection of such digital twin configurations targeted towards safety-critical cyber-physical systems. The primary objective of this work is to develop digital twin demonstrations of sufficient fidelity and ability to support realistic scenarios within selected sectors, such as manufacturing, energy, and smart cities.

Consequently, the candidate will utilize this capability to study data flows, state synchronization, and broadly binding processes between production systems and the corresponding digital twins. This will allow to assess risks and attack methods towards the selected production systems, the digital twin configurations, and the bindings between the two.

This will form the basis not only for the development of detection and mitigation mechanisms for attacks targeted towards the monitoring and control processes, but also for training of incident handling and analysis.

The position is part of SFI NORCICS, the new 8-year research-based innovation Norwegian Center for Cybersecurity in Critical Sectors. These sectors include electricity production and distribution, oil & gas production and distribution, manufacturing, healthcare, industrial production, financial services, transportation, smart districts. NORCICS follows a holistic, comprehensive and systemic approach addressing people, processes and technology to protect critical sectors throughout the cybersecurity core functions (identify, protect, detect, respond, recover). NORCICS has partners from academia, research, the public sector and the industry. There are several PhD positions announced within the context of NORCICS. You are encouraged to apply for all positions that fit your background and interests.

We open up for an Integrated PhD-study. Please see link for more information on integrated PhD  and the requirements.. Master students must be admitted to a master study at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.


Required selection criteria
  • International mobility requirements: Applicants of any age and any nationality will be eligible as far as they fulfil the mobility requirement of the COFUND programme, namely, the applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the host organization (Norway) for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline of PERSEUS.
  • Education requirements: 5 years of higher education (BSC and MSC) or education equal to (300 ECTS). The grade requirements are B or higher (based on NTNU’s grading scale ). Education will have to be documented by diploma supplement or equivalent documentation in English and include a description of the educational system. International Relations do require Chinese diplomas to be verified using CHSI. The NTNU Office of International Relations will evaluate degrees and diplomas.
  • Language skill requirements: The applicants will be asked to provide evidence of good English language skills, written and spoken. The following certificates may be used as such evidence: TOEFL, IELTS or Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE).
  • Export of Knowledge Control: The PhD candidates who, based on a comprehensive first-hand assessment, might come into conflict with legislation governing exports of knowledge, technology and services will not advance further from the first stage in the recruitment process. For further information, please refer to the Export Control Act .

The appointment is to be made in accordance with  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
  • Experience with developing testing and simulation platforms for cyber physical systems.
  • Background in information/cyber security.
  • Experience with risk and threat modeling.
  • Strong motivation for high quality research.
  • Programming and modeling skills in relevant tools (e.g. MATLAB, LabView) (As relevant to the position).
  • Research background within at least one of the aforementioned fields.
  • Excellent communication skills. 

Personal characteristics
  • Be scientifically curious and open to new research challenges.
  • Demonstrate independence and persistence in addressing technical problems.
  • Be flexible and reliable, with ability to work effectively independently and as part of a team.
  • Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer
Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from 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 programme in Security and Communication Technology   within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme 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.

After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

The position is subject to external funding. 

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


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:

A short and directed cover letter (in English or Norwegian) identifying:

  • Your motivation for a PhD study.
  • Your understanding and thoughts of topics of the position.
  • Why you are suited for the position (elaborating on the aforementioned required and preferred criteria).
  • 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.
  • Academic works - published or unpublished - that you would like to be considered in the assessment (up to 5 works - if available).
  • Name and contact information of three referees

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.

The city of Gjøvik has a population of 30 000 and is a town known for its rich music and cultural life. The beautiful nature surrounding the city is ideal for an active outdoor life! 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 contact Associate Professor Vasileios Gkioulos, email [email protected] .If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR [email protected]

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: 30.09.22


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 Information Security and Communication Technology

Research is vital to the security of our society. We teach and conduct research in cyber security, information security, communications networks and networked services. Our areas of expertise include biometrics, cyber defence, cryptography, digital forensics, security in e-health and welfare technology, intelligent transportation systems and malware. The Department of Information Security and Communication Technology is one of seven departments in the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering  .



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