PhD student in Meteorology with focus on flow and extreme situations in complex terrain - 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 flow and extreme situations in complex terrain 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 the Company Enercon and the office in Bremen, Germany.

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 ENERCON
ENERCON has been one of the technology leaders in the wind energy industry for over 30 years. The company was the first manufacturer of wind turbines to rely on a gearless drive concept, which is characteristic of all ENERCON wind turbines. ENERCON is also a pioneer in areas such as rotor blade design, control or grid connection technology and repeatedly demonstrates its great innovative strength with a large number of new technological developments.

With a market share of 32 % of installed onshore power in Germany, 12 % in Europe and 2 % in the world for 2022, ENERCON is one of the leading manufacturers of wind energy converters worldwide. The research and development employs engineers and technicians from all areas of wind energy converter development. Due to its deep manufacturing depth, Enercon has extensive experience in designing and manufacturing the components mentioned and the overall system. Read more here: www.enercon.de

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.

Trends such as larger wind farms and larger wind turbine rotors require high fidelity models such as large-eddy simulation (LES) to predict and understand the underlying aerodynamic and meteorological phenomena. Within this PhD project you will be part of a research group that focuses on fluid mechanics of individual wind turbines and wind farms. The project is concerned with the development of new modelling capabilities of an established numerical model.

The main focus of the project is to develop modelling techniques to capture the most relevant physics to reproduce design loads aiming  at reducing the number of CFD runs. This could be achieved by combining LES as a tool to assess normal and extreme working conditions for wind turbines operating in complex terrain in combination with the utilization of machine learning. The goal is to identify the coupling between environmental parameters (wind speed, boundary-layer height, atmospheric stratification, etc.) and the instantaneous/extreme working conditions associated with intense load events. Reduced-order modelling by means of machine learning and statistical analysis will be developed to achieve a feasible approach able to assess the loads experienced by a turbine over its lifetime.

In this particular PhD project, you will be enrolled as a PhD student at Uppsala University in close collaboration with the Enercon Company. The position is located at Campus Gotland in Visby. Within the four years, the PhD student will have an external research stay of 18 months at the Enercon company in Bremen, Germany.

In addition, the AptWind will facilitate a number of training events spread over Europe related to the research project. 

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

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in meteorology, physics or engineering 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 numerics are required alongside experiences in using advanced CFD tools and programming in object-oriented languages For personal characteristics, the applicant should be independent, flexible, achievement oriented and possess a high ability to cooperate.

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 Enercon, Bremen, Germany.
• The candidate will have to travel for conferences and training around Europe.

Additional qualifications
Applicant are encouraged to highlight the following meritorious skills:

• Experience in the development of advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools, in particular using the OpenFOAM tool. 
• Boundary-layer meteorology
• Machine learning

Furthermore, academic and/or industrial experience in the field of wind power is a merit. 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. 

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 2023/3824.

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.