PhD Position in Industrial Electrical Engineering

The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute and Lund University, Faculty of Engineering, announce a joint recruitment for a PhD position in industrial electrical engineering.

About VTI

The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI, is a government agency conducting applied research and advanced investigations in the transport sector. We have around 250 employees and an annual turnover of approximately 300 million SEK. The headquarters is located in Linköping, with other offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Lund. We are now looking for another employee for the Traffic Analysis and Logistics unit. The unit has about 35 employees and works with applied and socially motivated research as well as advanced investigations in logistics, transport, energy supply, digitization, and traffic systems. The focus is on developing knowledge and models that enable more reliable decision-making to meet goals in areas such as efficiency, accessibility, mobility, environment, energy supply, resilience, and safety.

About LTH

The Division at LTH offers a stimulating and international environment with doctoral students, postdocs, senior researchers, and professors from various parts of the world. Research, innovation, and education take place in an open and creative climate that promotes collaboration both within academia and with industry partners. A doctoral degree provides an excellent foundation for an exciting career in academia or in the business sector.

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.

About the Employment

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.

The selected PhD candidate will be mostly working on the project Truck2Grid. For further description of the project, see full advertisement here: LINK (LINK)

A PhD position involves both theoretical and practical work. As a PhD student, you are trained in scientific work through the publication of scientific articles in journals and at national and international conferences. You also take mandatory and elective PhD courses. Additionally, you may have the opportunity to try out the teaching role. As a researcher, you work as a neutral party in many contexts, which provides a fantastic opportunity to learn how to manage challenging development projects. Your work will include theoretical models and simulations, but some practical work may also be included.

Your Profile

You are qualified to apply for this position if you fulfill the requirements for acceptance to the doctoral program at the Division of Electrical Engineering and Automation, LTH. The tasks involve communication with clients, collaborators, and other researchers. Therefore, good teamwork skills are required. The tasks require a solid foundation in theory and methodology, and you should be able to independently compile, analyze, and present material. We place great emphasis on your ability to take the initiative and work independently. Advanced knowledge in written and spoken English is required.

Appointment Period

This position is a shared role between VTI and LTH while you are admitted to the doctoral program at the Division of Industrial Electrical Engineering and Automation, dept. of Biomedical Engineering at LTH. The doctoral education is four years full-time. With teaching and other departmental/institute work, the employment is extended accordingly, but no longer than 5 years (i.e., max 20%). For more information about doctoral education, see Doctoral studies within Lund University (LINK).

More Information

Information on how VTI handles your personal data here: Personal data (LINK)

We decline all offers of advertising or recruitment assistance in connection with this recruitment.

Ref. nr: 2025/0114-3.1

Application

Welcome to submit your application, no later than April 21th, with a personal letter, CV, degree certificate, grades and other documents you wish to submit. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. NOTE that applications are required to both organizations. Apply to LTH here: LTH (LINK)