PhD position in Positive energy districts through energy efficiency and sustainability

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

We are looking for a PhD candidate on the topic sustainable building energy planning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Internal resources from the Faculty of Engineering specifically marked on the Sustainability area with the project LIFELINE 2050, provided funding for this position. The ambition is that a relevant candidate works on estimation of sustainable building energy efficiency retrofitting strategies on a university level enabling energy supply and efficient resource use. Within the PhD project the candidate should collaborate with the other PhD candidates within the LIFELINE 2050 project.

The appointment has a duration of four years, including one year of teaching duties distributed over the four years.

The position is linked to the Department of Energy and Process Engineering and the Sustainable Energy Systems group . The group has a well-established expertise in energy supply systems, building energy services, and renewables. Research activities within the group range from building energy use, building energy supply, indoor environment, energy efficiency, building services, control and automation, energy planning, building performance modelling and simulation, to energy storages, etc. The group is strongly involved in the Norwegian FME Research Centre on Zero Emission Neighborhoods in Smart Cities (ZEN) (http://www.fmezen.no ) as well as in various national and international projects, e.g. IEA Tasks or EBC Annexes. The group is responsible for the HVAC laboratory at the department.

LIFELINE-2050 project in the Center for Green Shift in the Built Environment

Centre for Green Shift in the Built Environment (GREEN 2050 ) is newly established center at NTNUs Faculty of Engineering. The center aims to be an arena of networking and collaboration between academia and the industry. A hub for accelerating existing, planned, and new projects. The goal is to transition into a carbon neutral built environment within 2050. GREEN 2050 will provide research of excellence and educate candidates with high digital- and sustainability competence ready to take on the green shift.

Resource efficiency is one of the major focus areas in the center. At least seven PhD positions are funded to project LIFELINE-2050: Optimal Utilization of Resources towards Neutral Climate Built Environments in Europe by 2030-2050 under the umbrella of GREEN-2050. The aim of LIFELINE-2050 is to optimizing the utilization of our limited resources (i.e., materials, water, energy, ICT, spaces, and humans) in synergetic way during the life cycle (i.e., the design, construction, operation, and demolish phases) of built environments in the line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 3 (Healthy lives and well-being), 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), 12 (Responsible consumption and production), and 17 (Partnerships for the goals). The main objective of the project LIFELINE-2050 is to develop a holistic assessment framework, digital optimization toolbox (including number of sub-digital twins), and education-innovation hub for achieving resource-effective built environments (e.g., university campuses, district areas) where complex resource-intensive sociotechnical systems need to be holistically optimized. The PhDs in LIFELINE-2050 will work together as a multidisciplinary team across six departments at the Faculty of Engineering at NTNU addressing various type of resources including material, water, spaces, energy, ICT, as well as human. Where, each PhD is expected to focus on a one or two resources and collaborate with the other candidates for developing a holistic framework, a digital toolbox, and an education hub, aiming at optimizing the utilization of resources in built environments.

The PhD Position with the focus on achieving positive energy districts through energy efficiency, sustainability, and local energy sources

Energy efficient building retrofitting is a key instrument to decrease building energy demand and corresponding emissions. However, not all the retrofitting measures could have the same scope, due to building age, building purpose, financial issues, etc. Finally, the latest requirements also put into force sustainability and circular economy as requirements. Therefore, future energy efficient building retrofitting should be carefully and strategically planed. Finally, district heating systems including waste heat from small sources such as data centres should be also considered as a part of sustainable energy supply for buildings.

The aim of this PhD work is to estimate the aggregated building energy demand on a university campus level considering cost-effective energy efficiency measures. Further, use of district heating systems including waste heat from small sources such as data centres should be considered as a part of sustainable energy supply for buildings. The PhD candidate should collaborate closely with the other six PhD candidates within the LIFELINE 2050 project.

The PhD position will be supervised by Professor Natasa Nord  at NTNU.

• Complete the PhD training consisting of courses (minimum 30 ECTS credits) 
• Review of the following research topics: existing methods for cost-effective building energy retrofitting, methods for modelling of building energy demand at the area level; new trends in district heating considering sustainability and circular economy, etc.
• Building energy simulations of the cost-effective measures for observed case studies.
• Developing of the district heating model considering small and new energy sources and sustainability and circular economy principles.
• Concept development of building energy planning considering reusable components.
• Optimization of building area energy demand based on multidisciplinary collaboration with project participants from other disciplines. 
• Feasibility studies and optimization by building energy use for the observed case studies.
• Collaborate closely with the other PhD students in the LIFELINE-2050 project.
• The PhD candidate shall publish the research outcomes in at least three internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals.
• Teaching duties of one year, distributed over four years. This will include teaching assisting and administrative work for relevant courses.

• You must have a professionally relevant background in HVAC Engineering or Energy Engineering. 
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree programme, 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. 
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program in Engineering. 

The appointment is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants  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  

• Suitable background (Master degree or equivalent) within HVAC Engineering, Energy Engineering, or Energy and Process Engineering.
• Very good knowledge of building simulation tools such as IDA-ICE and EnergyPlus.
• Very good knowledge about energy efficiency in buildings and district heating systems.
• Strong programming skills (e.g. Matlab, Python or similar).
• Knowledge of European standards is a merit.
• Very good written and oral English.
• Knowledge of Scandinavian languages is an advantage.

The applicant should:

• Analytical, respectful, and excellent at thinking «out-of-the-box»
• Motivated, ambitious, and eager to «walk new paths»
• Collaborative, open-minded and able to take initiatives, able to work independently and in team, with high degree of personal responsibility
• Excellent communication skills, both written and orally
• Eager to disseminate knowledge, both nationally and internationally 
• Very good skills on multidisciplinary collaboration
• Have good communication skills in scientific writing and oral presentations.

PhD candidates are remunerated in code 1017, and are normally remunerated at gross from NOK 491 200 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 4 years with duty work.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme  at the Faculty of Engineering (https://www.ntnu.edu/iv/doctoral-programme ) 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.

The position is subject to external funding (ta stilling til om stillinger skal være betinget av ekstern finansiering).

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

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 applications are only evaluated based on the information available on the application deadline. You should ensure that your application shows clearly how your skills and experience meet the criteria which are set out above. 

The application must include: 

• CV, certificates and diplomas 
• 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. 
• Motivation letter describing the motivation for this position
• A project description on maximum 10 pages 
• Publications and other relevant academic works if relevant
• A brief description of his/her contribution to the attached publications
• Other enclosures such as recommendation letters
• Name and address 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.

Joint works will be considered. If it is difficult to identify your contribution to joint works, you must attach a brief 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.

Working at NTNU

A good work environment is characterized by diversity. We encourage qualified candidates to apply, regardless of their gender, functional capacity or cultural background. 

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

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.

In accordance with The Public Information Act (Offentleglova), your name, age, position and municipality may be made public even if you have requested not to have your name entered on the list of applicants.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Professor Natasa Nord, email: [email protected] . If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Ingrid Wiggen, e-mail: [email protected] .

Please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Diploma Supplement is required to attach for European Master Diplomas outside Norway. Chinese applicants are required to provide confirmation of Master Diploma from China Credentials Verification (CHSI) .

If you are invited for interview you must include certified copies of transcripts and reference letters. Please refer to the application number IV-15/22 when applying.

Application deadline: 15.02.22.

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 Energy and Process Engineering

We conduct research and teaching covering the entire energy chain, from resources to the end-user. We look at how energy is produced and used by humans and machines in a sustainable way with regard to health, climate change and the resource base. The Department of Energy and Process Engineering  is one of eight departments in the Faculty of Engineering.