PhD student in development of digital twins for buildings

The Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering consists of three divisions: Quality Science, Industrial Engineering and Management and Civil Engineering and Built Environment. The department has approximately 100 employees and has its research and education both at the Ångström Laboratory in Uppsala and at Campus Gotland. For more information, see the webpage of the department. This position will be located at the Division of Civil Engineering and Built Environment in Uppsala.

The Division Civil Engineering and Built Environment conducts research and education in the field of construction with a focus on energy in buildings and the built environment. We provide courses in building physics, building design, energy efficiency in buildings, energy systems for buildings and infrastructure systems. Around 20 people work with us and we have several successful collaborations with businesses and organizations. For more information, see the webpage of the division.

Duties
This PhD position is part of a larger research project “Digital technologies for informed and user-adapted building renovation”, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency. In the project, we will develop digital twins – digital models of buildings fed with real-time data – for three campus areas in Uppsala that are in need of renovation, and use these to study different renovation scenarios and strategies. As part of this, we will develop and test different digital technologies such as 3D screening of buildings via photogrammetry and LiDAR, sensor networks and machine learning and AI methods. The project is a collaboration between Uppsala University and the property owner Akademiska Hus.

In the PhD project, you will work on the development of digital twins, which includes development of 3D and BIM models for buildings, management and analysis of large amounts of sensor data, development and validation of models for building energy simulation, and implementation of case studies together with Akademiska Hus. Several open research questions will be addressed in the project, such as how reliable BIM models can be created from limited building documentation, how detailed occupancy patterns in buildings can be identified from different types of sensor data, and how an optimal trade-off between model complexity and accuracy should be made to create complex real-time models.

The main task of a PhD student is the doctoral education, which includes participation in research projects and doctoral courses. The tasks may also include participation in teaching and other departmental work, but not more than 20% of the working time.

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

• - hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree, 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.

We are looking for candidates with a Master of Science degree in civil engineering, energy systems, engineering physics or another field relevant to the research, combined with a strong background in data analysis and computer simulation. You should have good teamwork skills as well as the ability to work independently. We require good oral and written English skills.

Additional qualifications
Experience with Building Information Modeling (BIM) and building energy simulation is advantageous.

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. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 1 september or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Professor Joakim Widén, joakim.widen@angstrom.uu.se.

Please submit your application by 15 May 2025, UFV-PA 2025/1172.

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