Doctoral student in industrial electrical engineering with a focus on transport electrification

Lund University, Faculty of Engineering - LTH, and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Insitute (VTI), announce a joint recruitment for a doctoral student position in Industrial Electrical Engineering. 

Description of the workplace

Div. of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation, IEA,  has about 30 employees and is located in the newly renovated M-building on LTH campus in Lund. The research conducted at IEA focuses on electric power systems, electric drives, and wastewater systems. All research aims at a sustainable society, in line with EU climate goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In practice, scientific methods for modelling, analysis and control are applied to systems of industrially relevant complexity. These methods are usually validated using pilot tests, real-life data or experiments in the new IEA electric power laboratory. Doctoral students are encouraged to take great responsibility for the research and to get involved in societal issues, building contact networks within and outside academia. IEA is actively engaged and holds leading roles within the Swedish Electromobility Centre, the Swedish Energy Storage and Balancing Centre, and LTH profile area The Energy Transition.

More about the Division of Industrial Electrical Engineering - Lund University website

The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI, is a government agency dedicated to applied research and in-depth studies within the transport sector. The Traffic Analysis and Logistics unit, which comprises about 35 employees , engages in impactful, societally oriented research and detailed investigations across areas like logistics, transport modelling, transport electrification and digitalization, and traffic systems. Its mission is to develop knowledge and models that enhance 
decision-making, supporting goals related to transport efficiency, accessibility, mobility, sustainability, energy security, resilience, and safety.

More about the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI - vti.se

The doctoral student will be admitted to full-time (100%) doctoral studies at Lund University, Faculty of Engineering – LTH. The selected candidate will be employed 50% at the Div. of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation (IEA), Faculty of Engineering - LTH, Lund University, and 50% at the unit of Transport Analysis and Logistics (TAL), at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI), both with offices in Lund.

Subject description 

Industrial electrical engineering focuses on technology and systems for electrical and electromagnetic energy conversion. The subject is interdisciplinary by nature, with strong elements of electromagnetics, power electronics and electronics, materials engineering, electric machine design, automatic control, real time systems, industrial automation and electrical measurements.

Electrification appears currently as the most promising pathway for the decarbonisation of both passenger and goods transport. Local and regional distribution trucks with predictable routes over moderate distances are good candidates for electrification. However, charging of Battery Electric Trucks (BET) may require extensive and costly grid upgrades at the logistic terminals. With bidirectional charging – known as Vehicle2Grid for cars and thus Truck2Grid in this project – BETs become an active resource in the power grid, alleviating the problems with high-power charging and providing additional revenues coupled to arbitrage trading and the provision of system services.

Within this position, the selected candidate will develop tools and models to quantitatively assess the possibilities and consequences of integrating local and regional distribution battery-electric trucks as an active resource in the electric power grid by enabling bidirectional charging (so called Vehicle to Grid), as compared to more rudimentary charging strategies. The assessment will be carried out in terms of available energy and power, both locally at the charging place as well as at a higher level in the power grid. Moreover, the associated costs and revenues of the different solutions will be analysed. To ensure the practical relevance of this work, real operation data logs from several transportation companies in the project will be used in the evaluation.

The selected PhD candidate will be mostly working on the project Truck2Grid: Assessing V2G applications in freight transport, financed by the Swedish Energy Agency.

Work duties

The main duties of doctoral students are to devote themselves to their research studies which include participating in research projects and third-cycle courses. The work duties will also include teaching and other departmental duties (no more than 20%  for this position).

Detailed description of the work duties:

• Develop models of the electric power grid at suitable voltage levels to capture the influence of charging and discharging of electric local and regional distribution trucks
• Develop models of electric trucks, charging infrastructure, and/or their most significant components to analyse the impact of different charging strategies
• Develop economic models of the previous systems to compare their associated costs and revenues
• Combine the previous models into relevant scenarios
• Present and publish research results in relevant scientific conferences and journals
• Interact with stakeholders such as vehicle manufacturers, logistic companies, charging point operators and grid operators
• Assist in teaching and laboratory exercises and supervise undergraduate student projects
• Assist in other related research projects. 

The work will be carried out in a group with other doctoral students and senior researchers within the same or closely related topics, with supervisors from both organisations.

Admission requirements 

A person meets the general admission requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes if the applicant

• has been awarded a second-cycle qualification, or
• has satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second cycle, or
• has acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

A person meets the specific admission requirements for third-cycle studies in industrial electrical engineering if the applicant has

• at least 30 second-cycle credits of relevance to the subject area.

Additional requirements:

• very good oral and written proficiency in English

Assessment criteria

Selection for third-cycle studies is based on the student’s potential to profit from such studies. The assessment of potential is made primarily on the basis of academic results from the first and second cycle. Special attention is paid to the following: 

1. Knowledge and skills relevant to the thesis project and the subject of study,
2. An assessment of ability to work independently and to formulate and tackle research problems,
3. Written and oral communication skills, and
4. Other experience relevant to the third-cycle studies, e.g. professional experience.
    

Other assessment criteria:

• Suitable backgrounds for candidates are a Master of Science in Engineering Physics, Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering with significant contributions from electric power systems and/or power electronics
• Experience with modelling and coding in general (e.g. MATLAB, Python, Java, R…) and of electric power systems in particular (PowerFactory, OpenDSS…)
• Since the work is directly related to the electrification of local and regional distribution transport, experience in the fields of transport modelling and logistics will be positively considered

Consideration will also be given to good collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant, through experience and skills, is deemed to have the abilities necessary for successfully completing the third-cycle programme.

We offer

Lund University is a public authority, which means that you receive certain benefits, generous vacation time, and a favorable occupational pension. We also offer an exciting interdisciplinary collaborative project between two public authorities.

• More about working at Lund University - on Lund University website
• More about working at VTI - vti.se

Terms of employment

Only those admitted to third-cycle studies may be appointed to a doctoral studentship. Third-cycle studies at LTH consist of full-time studies for 4 years. A doctoral studentship is a fixed-term employment of a maximum of 5 years (including 20% departmental duties). Doctoral studentships are regulated in the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100), chapter 5, 1-7 §§.

How to apply

Applications shall be written in English and include a cover letter stating the reasons why you are interested in the position and in what way the project corresponds to your research interests and educational background. The application must also contain a CV, degree certificate or equivalent, and other documents you wish to be considered (grade transcripts, contact information for your references, letters of recommendation, etc.).

Please observe that, even if the selection process is unified for both organisations, potential candidates MUST apply to both Lund University and VTI (i.e. the same application needs to be sent in twice).
Apply to VTI here: Vacancies at VTI - vti.se. 

We look forward to receiving your application!