Original text in Norwegian, as published by the employer.
Do you want to contribute to the development of knowledge, insight and solutions that are relevant to society and working life today and in the future?
Power grids and energy installations run for 30–50 years – but the information about how they are actually built is often wrong. Help make long-living systems easy and affordable to update. We are looking for a PhD research fellow within Systems Engineering.
Do you want to help keep long-living energy and infrastructure systems up to date, changeable and affordable for decades? Join us as a PhD research fellow at the Department of Science and Industry Systems, campus Kongsberg. Start: May 2027 (at the latest August 2027).
You will be part of SFI CELECT – the Centre for Effective Engineering and Learning in Complex Systems – whose vision is to do more with less, and faster. The centre, funded by the Research Council of Norway, brings together Norway's leading industrial companies and 30 PhD candidates across USN, NTNU and the University of Agder. You will also join the Industrial Research School in Complex Systems (INRESCOS).
Campus Kongsberg sits at the heart of one of Norway's strongest technology clusters, with world-leading companies in maritime, defence, aerospace, energy and subsea technology. Research and industry work side by side – giving you a unique network and strong career opportunities in industry or academia.
The position is a three-year educational position with pure organised research training. A four-year appointment with 25% career-advancing work may be considered.
You must apply for and be admitted to the doctoral programme in Technology (Systems Engineering) within three months of starting. The programme includes courses of about six months (30 ECTS), an independent thesis, research dissemination, a trial lecture and a public defence.
Your supervisors will be Professor Kristin Falk (main supervisor) and Professor Gerrit Muller (co-supervisor). Your workplace will be shared between campus Kongsberg and one or several CELECT partner companies: depending on the project, you will spend between 3 and 30 months located at a company's premises. You are expected to be present at campus or at the company during ordinary working hours.
The aim of this PhD is to develop lightweight, AI-supported architecting methods that make long-living systems changeable and affordable – from early architecture decisions to upgrades decades later.
Energy, infrastructure and defence systems run for 30–50 years. Early architecture decisions largely determine how well they can be changed later, and what that costs. Yet changeability and affordability often start as vague requirements, and asset information gets lost through many manual handovers. Without knowing the real configuration in the field, every upgrade becomes slow, costly and risky.
In this PhD you will investigate how lightweight architecting, the digital thread and AI can connect requirements, architecture and operation across the life cycle – and help engineers weigh changeability against life-cycle cost. Questions you could explore:
• Where and why are changeability and affordability lost between requirements, operation and maintenance?
• How can AI and the digital thread support early trade-offs, and later decisions on upgrades and reinvestment?
• How well do such methods transfer between product development, critical infrastructure and defence?
You will help shape the final research questions together with your supervisors and industry partners.
The project is part of SFI CELECT headed by Professor Kristin Falk. Industrial cases will be selected among CELECT partners such as TechnipFMC, Glitre Nett, Herøya Industripark and Forsvarsmateriell. Using industry as your laboratory, you will work alongside engineers and systems architects on real development projects. A research stay abroad may be possible.
This position is one of several related CELECT PhD positions at USN: it focuses on the long life cycle of systems, and complements positions on early design and validation (PhD1.3), early systems integration in systems-of-systems (PhD1.5) and competence development for industry (PhD5.1).
You will be part of the Norwegian Industrial Systems Engineering Research Group (NISE).
Duties
All items are requirements, unless it is specified that they are preferred qualifications.
Personal qualities
In order to be able to complete a doctoral degree, you need to be able to:
When assessing applications, particular importance will be attached to
This position requires good English language skills. International applicants must document this with a valid certificate from one of the following tests. Specific requirements regarding grades can be found on our webpage English requirement for programmes and subjects taught in English at USN.
The following applicants are exempt from the requirements listed above:
Applicants from Norway can confirm their English language skills by submitting their upper secondary school diploma.
The position has no formal requirement for proficiency in Norwegian. Proficiency in a Scandinavian language, or Norwegian at level B2 (language levels as defined by HK-dir.), is preferred.
Applicants who wish this to be taken into account must document their language skills in the application (see How to apply).
The applicant must meet the requirements for authorization for restricted. You can read more about security clearance on the websites of the National Security Authority and the Civil Clearance Authority. For the position, an export licence is also required, and the applicant must meet the requirements for this. You can read more about export licences on DEKSA's website.
Applicants must submit a motivation letter with the application. This should be short and concise, maximum 500 words.
The final project description and work plan will be prepared in consultation with the supervisor(s) during the first three months of the employment period. It is a prerequisite that you complete the project during the employment period.
We believe that diversity is a resource in our work and learning environment. Different experiences and backgrounds contribute to different perspectives and better solutions to challenges that need to be solved.
We are committed to respecting each other's differences and will facilitate employees with disabilities. We take into account your needs and your situation in different phases of life.
If you find this position interesting, we encourage you to apply, regardless of gender, disability, cultural background or whether you have been out of work for a period of time.
If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, gaps in their CV or an immigrant background, we will call at least one applicant in each of these groups for an interview. If you recognize yourself in one of these categories, you can tick the box in our job search portal.
The university aims to recruit more women to PhD positions within the field. If multiple applicants are considered to have equivalent qualifications, a woman will be given priority over a man.
The Appointment Committee for Fellowship Positions (TUS) is the appointing authority for this position. Your competence for the position will be assessed by an expert committee. The expert committee will assess your competence for the position based on the documentation you have registered in Jobbnorge.
Based on the expert committee’s assessment, relevant applicants will be invited to an interview and to hold a trial lecture. References will also be obtained for relevant candidates.
Employment at USN is carried out in accordance with the principles set out in the Norwegian Civil Service Act, and the legislation that regulates the export of knowledge, technology and services. If your application is considered to be in conflict with the criteria in the latter legislation, it will be rejected without further consideration.
The University's Guidelines for Recruitment Positions provide a more detailed description of the criteria for appointment as a PhD research fellow.
As an employee of USN, you must at all times adapt to changes in the field and all organisational changes that are adopted.
If you think this position looks interesting and matches your qualifications, you can submit an application electronically by clicking on “Apply for the position” on this page. Here you will need to enter a short application text and information about your relevant education and work experience. In the application text, you must clearly describe your skills and motivation for the position.
The application must include:
The application will be assessed based on the information available in Jobbnorge at the expiry of the application deadline. Make sure your application shows clearly how your skills and experience meet the competence requirements described in the job advertisement.
When assessing who is best qualified for the position, we attach weight to education, experience and personal qualities.
All documentation must be provided in a Scandinavian language or English. If the attachments exceed 30 MB in total, they must be compressed before uploading.
Please note that information about you as an applicant may be disclosed publicly even if you have requested not to be included on the public list of applicants (cf. Section 25 of the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act). You will be notified if your request for exemption from public disclosure is denied.
We only consider applications and attachments registered in Jobbnorge. On request, you must be able to provide certified copies of your documentation.
For more information about the position, please contact:
Head of Department Professor Aida Omerovic, aida.omerovic@usn.no, +47 35 95 26 53
Professor Kristin Falk, kristin.falk@usn.no, +47 97 58 69 09
Professor Satyanarayana (Satya) Kokkula, satyanarayana.kokkula@usn.no, +47 31 00 88 13
For questions regarding the recruitment process, please contact:
Advisor Tonje Holt Vøllestad, tonje.h.vollestad@usn.no
The University of Southeastern Norway (USN) ranks as the country's fourth largest higher education institution. We are a vibrant community of approximately 18,000 students and 1,900 employees.
About the Faculty and Department
Department of Science and Industry Systems – University of South-Eastern Norway:
Institutt for realfag og industrisystemer - Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge
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