PhD student in Meteorology with focus on assessment of modelling strategies of wind flow over forests and complex terrains - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Are you interested in working as a PhD student with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employee ship and offers safe and favorable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a PhD position in Meteorology with focus on assessment of modelling strategies of wind flow over forests and complex terrains at Uppsala University Campus Gotland.

The Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University is Sweden´s largest and most versatile department of its kind with approximately 280 employees. Our activities are interdisciplinary and combine natural science and technology with social science. We have research programs in air, water and landscape science; geophysics; natural resources and sustainable development; petrology, mineralogy and tectonics; paleobiology, and wind energy. By investigating the history of Earth, we understand how our planet has developed over time and how sustainable development benefits from this knowledge. Read more here: Department of Earth Sciences

The Wind Energy Section is located at Campus Gotland, an international campus in the middle of world heritage town Visby. Our division is engaged in activities related to wind power project development and sustainable energy transition. These activities include teaching, research and outreach. The group currently consists of about 25 persons who focus on the high fidelity modeling, planning, development and management of wind power projects as well as on sustainable energy transition. These individuals have a range of backgrounds and the group has competencies in technical, natural- and social science. The group’s teaching consists of both campus and distance education at the bachelor’s level and beyond. With us you will find a pleasant workplace in a unique environment, in the world heritage city of Visby on Gotland. The section will expand in the coming year, we will hire six new PhD students with focus on wind energy. This is one of these six positions and the research project is a collaboration with OX2 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The division Wind Energy is located at Campus Gotland, an international campus in the middle of world heritage town Visby. Read more on the division´s website. 

About OX2
OX2 is a fully integrated provider of renewable energy solutions at scale. We are an international multi-technology company bringing together the brightest minds and most ambitious team players to address the defining challenge of our time: the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy, the greater shift to a sustainable society and economy. We accelerate the access to renewable energy. For more information visit: www.ox2.com 

Duties
This project is a part of a large international academic collaboration network within Marie Curie and  the project Atmospheric Physics and Turbulence for Wind Energy (AptWind). The AptWind) Doctoral Network provides training for a new creative, entrepreneurial, innovative and resilient industry-oriented academic generation apt to face current and future challenges at the frontier of research within atmospheric flow physics and turbulence for wind energy applications, where the trained Doctoral Candidates will be able to convert knowledge and ideas into new products, and services for economic and social benefit. AptWind is funded by Horizon Europe through grant number 101119550. For more information visit www.aptwind.eu

As a PhD student within AptWind you will be one out of 15 PhD students in a large international consortium gathering the most important academic and industrial actors within the field. This will provide an excellent platform for a future career in academia or industry.

The focus of this project is the evaluation of modelling choices employed in wind resource assessment. Your main task will be to evaluate the consequences in the accuracy of the representation of the turbulence flow and rotor loads arising from the various levels of complexity employed in the modelling setups to simulate atmospheric flows over different types of terrains. Different degrees of sophistication will be used to represent a) the features of forested landscapes and b) the flow dynamics due to the atmospheric stratification, ranging from state of the art to the simplest models and including those commonly employed in wind resource assessment. This will permit to investigate and inform the wind industry of the variations in wind modelling accuracy as well as the potential consequences in the assessment of turbine and park performance.

The position is located at Campus Gotland (Visby, Sweden). Within the 4 years, the PhD student will have an external research stay of 18 months at OX2 Stockholm, Sweden. The doctorate will be supervised jointly by academia and industry.

In addition, the AptWind will facilitate a number of training events spread over Europe related to your research project where you and all the other AptWind PhD candidates take part in courses related to grand challenges in wind energy.

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in engineering, physics or meteorology or in similar field, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

For a PhD student it is required that you are admitted or will be admitted to research education where the ability to follow the research education is essential.

Knowledge in fluid dynamics, turbulence and numerical methods for solving systems of partial differential equations is required as well as documented experience in the usage of advanced computational fluids dynamics (CFD) tools. Programming skills are required.

In addition the candidate needs to possess the following specific requirements from the AptWind consortium:

• The candidate should not have lived more than 12 months (1 year) during the last 36 months (3 years) in the country where the University is located, in this case Sweden.
• The candidate will spend a minimum of 18 months in the company, in this case OX2, Stockholm, Sweden.
• The candidate will have to travel for conferences and training around Europe.

This project is a joint effort between academia and industry. Therefore, the candidate should be able to perform and conduct herself/himself in both working environments. Ability to make decisions independently as well as day-to-day collaboration are required. The candidate should bear in mind that this is a long-term project where maintaining a high motivation is key to achieve the goals.

Additional qualifications
Experience in program development using object-oriented languages as well as development of numerical tools on OpenFOAM is a merit. Academic and/or industrial experience in the field of wind power is also a merit. 

The application should include a letter describing the applicant and his or her qualifications. It should also include CV, copies of diplomas and certificates, thesis and publications. We encourage you to provide details of referees and/or attach a letter of recommendation. Applicants for this position, accept that Uppsala University and the rest of the AptWind consortium evaluate the application.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7, Marie Sklodowska-Curie, Horizon Europe. Scope of employment 100 %.                              Starting date 01-03-2024 or as agreed. Placement: Visby, Gotland, Sweden.

For further information about the position, please contact: Professor and Head of section Stefan Ivanell, stefan.ivanell@geo.uu.se or +4618-471 83 60

Please submit your application by 24 November 2023, UFV-PA 2023/3821.

Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? Find out more about what it´s like to work and live in Sweden.

About Campus Gotland: Uppsala University Campus Gotland offers the best of two worlds: the full-scale university’s broad offering and weight and a unique, small-scale campus in an interdisciplinary research environment. Campus Gotland is a hub for the University’s research and education in sustainability. Find out what it’s like to live on Gotland.