Postdoc in Smart Cities and Urban Energy Systems

At Mälardalen University people meet who want to develop themselves and the future. Our 15 000 students read courses and study programmes in Business, Health, Engineering and Education. We conduct research within all areas of education and have internationally outstanding research in future energy and embedded systems. Our close cooperation with the private and public sectors enables us at MDH to help people feel better and the earth to last longer. Mälardalen University is located on both sides of Lake Mälaren with campuses in Eskilstuna and Västerås.

At the School of Business, Society and Engineering our students are studying to be for example Bachelors or Masters of Engineering, political scientists and business administrators. Here we have the research specialisations of Industrial Engineering and Management, and Future Energy. Our work takes place in cooperation with and in strategic agreements with companies, organisations and public authorities in the region.

Employment information
Employment: Temporary employment, 2 Years
Scope: Full time
Closing date for application: 2020-11-15
Campus location: Västeras
School: School of Business, Society and Engineering, (EST)

Position description
Several of the research projects within the research environment Future Energy focuses to support the development of smarter and more sustainable cities. To create the future energy and resource efficient cities requires an interdisciplinary and holistic approach, bringing together competencies from several domains. The research focuses on building research capacities utilizing vast amount of urban-related data, from city GIS systems, electricity and district heating utility companies, and flows of waste, water and traffic in order to contribute to the development of a more efficient and resilient future cities.

The Future Energy research group are currently leading an initiative were city-related data are to be collected together with behavioral aspects for various end-users (residential, commercial, industrial). The goal is to develop more advanced modeling capabilities for future urban energy systems and the interrelated infrastructures.

In the projects, we address the future challenges of our different systems. At one hand parts of the systems are becoming more integrated, both through technologies and business models. On the other hand, parts of the systems will benefit more from more decentralized solutions, for less dependency and higher resilience. Both of these addresses will require a higher flexibility in demand-side, utilizing the synergies that could be obtains between electricity, heating/cooling, gas and associated systems. An ambition is to bring technical solutions, market design and business models, to be integrated in ongoing policy discussions.

The goals of these positions include:


• To propose and develop modelling and simulation structures for in-depth understanding on implications of interconnected urban energy systems;
• To contribute to the processing and integration of large-scale data from geographical information systems, smart meters/sensors into simulation models;
• To evaluate possibilities and challenges with novel technologies and components from various stakeholder perspectives;
• To improve the understanding of the technical and socio-economic values of energy-efficiency and energy flexibility services in the future energy markets.

The positions require an interdisciplinary research interest including the targets mentioned above. The position is a temporary employment of 2 years.

Qualifications requirements
The applicant is required to have a PhD degree in Energy Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Civil and Building Engineering, Architecture and Urban Planning or similar. The applicant must have completed the degree no more than three years before the end of the application period.

 In particular, the applicant should have a background modelling and simulation of urban energy systems (e.g. power, district heating), demand-side management and end-user flexibility issues, and/or renewable integration in built environment. It is positive with experience in handling big data, databases, cloud-based solutions, etc. A genuine interest in the multi-disciplinary aspects of the energy markets (systems, technologies, socio-economic, policies) and documented experience in modelling and simulation of energy system, building/user flexibilities, using geographical information system  and/or other relevant applications.

The position requires a strong motivation for research, good verbal and written communication skills in English.    

Decisive importance is attached to personal suitability. We value the qualities that an even distribution of age and gender, as well as ethnic and cultural diversity, can contribute to the organization.

Merit
An interest to apply academic knowledge and to do research in cooperation with industrial partners as well as experience from working in projects that involve achieving both academic and industrial related goals.

A background that closely relates to one or more of the four goals above will be a strong merit. The applicant should in the application explain how his/her competence matches these goals      

Application
Application is made online. Make your application by clicking the "Apply" button below.

The scientific publications that you do not have in digital form are to be sent by post to:

Mälardalen University
Division of Human Resources
Ref.no: 2020/2320
Box 883
721 23 Västerås

The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the application is complete in accordance with the advertisement and will reach the University no later than closing date for application.

We look forward to receiving your application.


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