PhD Position in Electrical Engineering
University of Twente Department of Electrical Engineering
Netherlands

The Power Electronics and Electromagnetic Compatibility Group within the department Electrical Engineering has two vacancies for Ph.D. researchers to work in close collaboration with Indonesian researchers and industry partners.

The project ANRGI (Accessible, Natural, Renewable, Growing, Interactive/Implementation) is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO, Merian Fund) and the Indonesian Ministry for Research and Technology (RISTEKBRIN) under the joint call for proposals ‘Cooperation Indonesia-The Netherlands Renewable Energy 2019’ and with the aim to aim to further stimulate long term research collaboration between their two countries by funding joint research, to strengthen the international position and global impact of their research. Within this project, we cooperate with Indonesian academic and industrial partners, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and PT. LEN Industri.

The objective of the project is to enable the rapid increase of energy access in remote areas, an increase in energy efficiency to reduce cost of ownership and improvement in quality of the supply.

Conventional smart-grid research is founded on large distribution grids with a huge diversity of loads, and control in the minutes-range. We need a paradigm shift for micro-grids for remote areas and island configurations that avoids over-dimensioning while keeping quality of supply.

RESEARCH FIELD - Electromagnetic Compatibility (1PhD) and Power Electronics (1PhD)

The PhD researchers will participate in the following tasks:

Energy accessibility - Load profile

Power analyzers and loggers will be developed and used to establish an energy loading profile, including peak loads, short temporary/intermittent loads, and distortion of the supply.

Energy efficiency

The use of super-capacitors for intermittent loads and rapid active filtering will be investigated. These involve rapid control techniques of modern power electronics, electromagnetic interference filtering, balancing with batteries, and multi-channel time-domain measurement techniques.

Energy sharing – growth and implementation

Upscaling renewable energy sources and combining different techniques will be investigated via measurement, modeling and validation. Experimental implementation on test beds is also planned.

Societal impact and Theory of Change

Creating societal impact of the research contributions is a strong component of this project. The candidates will collaborate with researchers from other disciplines, including social scientists, and contribute to capacity development and knowledge exchange, stakeholder engagement and impact assessment.

We are looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic and curiosity-driven researcher;

• You have, or are about to get, a master’s degree in power electronics, packaging, electromagnetics, material science or a related field;
• You have a background in physical electronics, analytical mathematics and simulation;
• You are familiar with numerical methods in mathematics and physics, such as finite difference and finite element methods;
• You are an excellent teammate in an enthusiastic and hardworking group of scientists and engineers working on a joint assignment;
• You are creative, like to push boundaries, and are highly motivated to address major science challenges in power electronics and electromagnetics.
• You are driven by not only scientific excellence but also the societal impact of technology and have affinity with global development (Indonesian context experience is a pre).
• You are proficient in English and able to collaborate intensively with industrial and academic parties in regular meetings and work visits.

As a PhD researcher at the University of Twente, you will be appointed on a fulltime position for four years, with a qualifier in the first year, within a very stimulating scientific environment;

• The university offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues;
• Salary and conditions are in accordance with the collective labor agreement for Dutch universities (CAO-NU);
• You will receive a salary ranging from around €2.395,- gross per month at the start to around €3.061,- in the fourth year;
• Excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, a year-end bonus of 8.3% and a solid pension scheme;
• A training program in which you and your supervisor will make up a plan for additional suitable education and supervision;
• We encourage a high degree of responsibility and independence, while collaborating with close colleagues, researchers and other university staff.

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which leads change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university of the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. We have a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out groundbreaking research.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Because of our diversity values we do particularly support women to apply.

The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) comprises three disciplines that shape Information and Communication Technology. ICT is more than communication. In almost every product we use mathematics, electronics and computer technology and ICT now contributes to all of societies' activities. The faculty works together intensively with industrial partners and researchers in the Netherlands and abroad and conducts extensive research for external commissioning parties and funders. The research which enjoys a high profile both at home and internationally, has been accommodated in the multidisciplinary research institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centra and Digital Society Institute.