PhD student in Meteorology focusing on loads on wind turbines in complex terrain

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 focusing on loads on wind turbines 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.

The main focus for this project will be to study how different parts in the current simulation process for mechanical loads of wind turbines contribute to the total uncertainty of the load assessment. The PhD student will perform calculations of loads based on different turbulence models and analyze how the loads depend on the parameters used to run them. The results will be used to understand how the uncertainty of the model depends on the meteorological situation. The PhD student will also investigate how to improve the extrapolation of the parameters needed to run turbulence models from values observed at a specific point in the landscape.

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 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.

For personal characteristics, the applicant should be independent and curious, possess problem-solving and numerical analytic ability as well as 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
It is also meritorious if the applicant has knowledge in fluid dynamics or boundary layer meteorology. Furthermore, academic and/or industrial experience in the field of wind power is a merit. So it is important to remark that the candidate should feel comfortable working both in academic as well as in the industry working groups.

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. The applicant is encouraged to describe additional qualifications within the following fields when applying:

• Knowledge in the field of structural/mechanical loads
• Data/signal analysis
• Statistics

 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 15-08-2024 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 6 of May 2024, UFV-PA 2024/1216.

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.