Up to two PhD students in Energy Technology - Energy Efficiency - Befattningen är under tillsättning eller redan tillsatt, och det är inte längre möjligt att lämna in en ansökan

The Department of Applied Physics and Electronics has around 100 employees mainly working with first and second cycle education as well as doctoral studies and research within the areas of Electronics, Building technology, Biomedical engineering, Energy technology and Machine learning. We are now recruiting up to two PhD students to in Energy Technology with a focus on Building Energy Efficiency and occupant comfort.

The start date is negotiable, but we expect the new PhD students could join the group sometime during spring 2023. Application deadline is February 28, 2023.

Project description
Many studies merely focus on adoption energy retrofitting measures, rather than to bring a structured understanding of how these measures will influence occupant behavior and how the changes in occupant behavior will, in turn, impact expected energy savings. As a result, the modelling and analysis of the interaction between energy retrofitting and occupants’ behaviors is insufficient. The PhD student will participate in research activities at the Intelligent Human-Buildings Interactions (IHBI) lab at Umeå University. The purpose of the project is to experimentally examine connections between energy efficiency measures and occupants’ behaviors.  As a new research domain, IHBI conducts cutting-edge research on immersive virtual environment, data-driven modelling and machine learning, intelligent indoor environment for evidence-informed decision-making.

https://www.umu.se/en/research/groups/intelligent-human-buildings-interaction-lab/

The PhD student will, therefore, perform a series of experiments at the IHBI lab in order to:

1. Identify energy-related occupant behaviors under various energy retrofitting measures for clustering behavioral patterns;
2. Quantify the impacts of alternative behavior on energy consumption for better understanding the role of occupant in energy saving;
3. Improve building energy efficiency and occupant comfort and health in an immersive, informative and deeply engaged laboratory environment.

Qualifications
To be admitted for studies at third-cycle level the applicant is required to have completed a second-cycle level degree, or completed course requirements of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits are at second-cycle level, or have an equivalent education from overseas, or equivalent qualifications.

To fulfil the specific entry requirements to be admitted for studies at third-cycle level in energy technology with specialization in energy efficiency the applicant is required to have completed course requirements of at least 120 credits within the field of energy technology, closely related areas of application or other subject areas considered to be directly relevant for third-cycle studies.

Applicants who in some other system, either within Sweden or abroad, have acquired largely equivalent knowledge are also eligible. The requirements must be fulfilled at the time of admission to postgraduate education and need not be met at the time of application.

As a PhD student, the applicant should have the ability to work independently, as well as in collaboration with others.

The applicant should be proficient user in both oral and written dissemination in English.

 Documented knowledge and/experiences in human-building interaction, immersive virtual environment (e.g., VR, AR), indoor smart sensors, building energy efficiency and occupant comfort are meriting.

Terms of employment
The employment is expected to result in a doctoral degree and the main assignment for the doctoral student is thus to be active in research, study doctoral courses, and possibly participate in teaching of courses at undergraduate level. The employment is limited to four years at full time or up to five years if teaching or other departmental work is performed. The salary is fixed according to the established salary level for doctoral students at Umeå University.

Application
A complete application should contain the following documents:

A cover letter with a brief description of your qualifications, research interests, the motivation for applying, and your contact information (2 pages maximum); Curriculum vitae; Describe the future research plan relevant to the project mentioned above (3 pages maximum); Certified copies of degree certificates. Certified list of university courses with grades. Note that for international applicants the grading system should be explained in brief; A copy of master thesis and publications (if any);

The application is made through our electronic recruitment system. Application deadline is February 28, 2023.

For more information contact:
Professor Weizhuo Lu, weizhuo.lu@umu.se, +46 73 836 9536
or Professor Thomas Olofsson, thomas.olofsson@umu.se, +46 90-786 67 10

Welcome with your application!