PhD Position within Particle Resolving Modeling of Sediment Transport

About the job

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

As part of the ERC Consolidator grant “Particle Resolving Fluid-Sediment Interaction” (PARTRES), we have a vacancy for a 3-year PhD position at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering within the Marine Civil Engineering group.

Representing the interconnected processes of current, waves and sediment transport constitutes an interdisciplinary challenge. In the current PhD project, a particle-based sediment transport model will be created. Together with the underlying high-resolution and turbulence resolving flow solver, this will take a step towards a more realistic representation of these processes. The sediment transport will be described through a particle centric numerical framework. The turbulent flow calculations will be performed on a Eulerian background mesh using an immersed boundary method for the solid boundaries and a two-phase flow solver to capture complex free surface dynamics.

The numerical model used for those activities is the open-source hydrodynamics framework REEF3D (www.reef3d.com ). The model is developed in-house, and the candidate will be a member of the research team. The new sediment particle transport model will be implemented in REEF3D through a generic particle framework that is parallelized for domain decomposition. The position reports to the head of department, and the main supervisor will be a professor.

Duties of the position

• work on a new particle-based sediment transport model
• contribute to the development of open-source hydrodynamics software
• publish in top-ranking journals and conferences
• perform excellent and independent research
• collaborate with the project team at NTNU

Required selection criteria

• you must have a professionally relevant background in one or several of the following fields: hydraulic or coastal engineering, fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, computational physics and/or numerical methods
• you should have a strong background in numerical modeling and scientific computing and have an interest in applying computational mathematics for interdisciplinary engineering problems
• 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.
• you must meet the requirements for admission to the Engineering faculty's doctoral program (https://www.ntnu.edu/iv/doctoral-programm e )
• excellent English skills, spoken and written

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 (e.g., candidates from Russia, Iran, North Korea, China).

Please note that the candidate holding the announced position is expected to work with critical national objects and infrastructure in Norway. Candidates with the potential of not fulfilling requirement for security clearance, access clearance and authorization as described in the Act Relating to National Security, cannot be considered for the position.

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

• programming skills in C/C++, Fortran, Python or equivalent
• very good knowledge of fluid mechanics
• experience with sediment transport modeling or other particle-based transport modeling approaches
• experience with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software
• to have demonstrated the ability to write and publish international scientific articles based upon carried out research tasks will be considered as an advantage

Personal characteristics

• self-motivated, enthusiastic, and dedicated
• motivated to solve computational physics problems
• ambitious and goal-oriented
• team player
• excellent communication skills

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 gross 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 Engineereing 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.

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, 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.
• cover letter specifically addressing how the candidate complies with the required qualifications for the position
• 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.
• project proposal
• name and contact information of three referees
• academic works - published or unpublished - that you would like to be considered in the assessment

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 suitability.

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 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.

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 Professor Hans Bihs, email hans.bihs@ntnu.no . If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR Consultant Martine Sulen, e-mail: martine.sulen@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. Diploma Supplement is required to attach for European Master Diplomas outside Norway. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 04.06.2023

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 Civil and Environmental Engineering

We conduct research and teaching in civil and transportation engineering, technical planning, structural engineering, water and wastewater engineering and hydraulic engineering. Graduates from our programmes become employees – in both the public and private sectors – with a sustainability mindset combined with competitive knowledge and skills. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering  is one of eight departments in the Faculty of Engineering.

Deadline 4th June 2023
Employer NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Municipality Trondheim
Scope Fulltime
Duration Temporary
Place of service Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering