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Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Privacy Preserving Transactive Energy Management (PriTEM)
Deadline: 25.02.2022
Universitetet i Oslo
The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.
The Department of Informatics (IFI) is one of nine departments belonging to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. IFI is Norway’s largest university department for general education and research in Computer Science and related topics.
The Department has more than 1800 students on bachelor level, 600 master students, and over 240 PhDs and postdocs. The overall staff of the Department is close to 370 employees, about 280 of these in full time positions. The full time tenured academic staff is 75, mostly Full/Associate Professors.
Job description
We have a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position available in the UiO Energy Convergence Environment project PriTEM (Privacy Preserving Transactive Energy Management). The fellowship is a full-time position with a fixed-term period of three years, of which up to 10% can be devoted to teaching-related compulsory duties. An ex-tended load of compulsory duties may be offered at the time of appointment, for candidates who can and want to contribute to teaching and supervision at the department. In this case, the appointment period will be for four years, and compulsory duties will be spread out over the full contract period, averaging 25% per year.
Starting date preferably no later than 01.09.2022.
PriTEM is a cross-disciplinary project led by the Department of Informatics (IFI), Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MatNat), University of Oslo (UiO). The cross-disciplinary research in PriTEM is conducted in collaboration with the following departments:
- Department of Technology Systems (ITS), MatNat, UiO
- Department of Psychology (PSI), Faculty of Social Sciences, UiO
- Department of Energy and Resources Law (ERL), Faculty of Law, UiO
- Department of Private Law/Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law (SERI), Faculty of Law, UiO
The external partners are:
About the project
Transactive energy management (TEM) is a new concept for peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trade that has the potential to create a truly participatory and distributed energy market with increased deployment of sustainable energy through active participation and contribution from local prosumers as key stakeholders in the energy ecosystem. Understanding aspects related to prosumers is crucial for acceptance and adoption of the P2P energy trade paradigm. Regulatory and policy aspects also play a vital role in such a transition. There is however a clear knowledge gap as aspects related to users, data and energy law are less explored.
The primary objective of PriTEM is to to generate new knowledge through cross disciplinary research synergy to bridge this gap. In particular, we will examine and characterize the socio-psychological aspects that can act as potential barriers in the transition towards a TEM framework, understand the role of trust, transparency and prosumer empowerment in this context, and develop computation efficient and scalable privacy preserving and secure data sharing solutions to build and enhance digital trust to empower the prosumers. Finally, the project will integrate the socio-psychological and regulatory aspects into a holistic framework to optimize the TEM process incorporating technical challenges related to the energy system.
More information about the project is available here.
More about the position
The Postdoctoral position is devoted to design and develop algorithms, techniques and the framework for the interdisciplinary research for the PriTEM project. and will play a key role in integrating the results from all four Work Packages in PriTEM to develop the holistic framework for TEM.
In particular, the selected candidate is expected to conduct research on developing research techniques and methods to understand, characterize and integrate the psychological factors and regulatory aspects related to implementation barriers, for designing distributed and computation efficient privacy-preserving solutions for socially inclusive, equitable and sustainable solutions for TEM.
The ideal candidate for this position would be a candidate with strong background in communication and computing networks, and distributed machine learning, and also some knowledge/experience on social science related research in terms of commonly used research methodologies and tools. Additionally, it is expected that the researcher actively contributes to the coordination of collaboration between all partners in PriTEM, including supervision of PhD candidates.
The candidate will have primary affiliation with the Energy Informatics group at the Department of Informatics (IFI), UiO, and will conduct interdisciplinary research, drawing on social science knowledge to add to existing TEM models to enhance a more socially inclusive and equitable approach towards TEM.
Qualification requirements
The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition is to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.
Required Qualifications:
- Applicants must hold a PhD degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in Computer Science or in a related area (e.g., energy informatics, electrical engineering) , with excellent results and a clear profile in one or more of the following areas: Communication and computing networks, Energy Management, Distributed learning, Machine Learning
- Research experience or interest in Social sciences (with a quantitative focus) or equivalent
- The candidate should have good analytical skills and programming knowledge in conventional programming languages such as Python, C++ or Java
- Experience processing and analysing data
- The evaluation considers many aspects of excellence, as well as the personal drive and organizational skills
- Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
Doctoral dissertation must have been submitted for evaluation by the closing date. You may apply even if you have not yet defended your thesis, but you are required to do so before the position starts.
Desired Qualifications:
- Teaching experience at the graduate level
- Excellent presentation skills
- Experience working in an International Team
- Background/experience in social science methods (qualitative/quantitative)
Required personal skills
- High interest in the topic
- High motivation for interdisciplinary collaboration
- Creativeness and proactiveness
- Ability to write in a structured, clear and concise manner
We offer
- Salary NOK 534 400 – 615 800 per year depending on qualifications in position as Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (position code 1352)
- Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement
- Professionally stimulating working environment
- Vibrant international academic environment
- Postdoctoral development programmes
- Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities
How to apply
The application must include:
- Application letter (max. 2 pages). Please describe your motivation for applying for this position and explain how your background, research, and experience is relevant to the project.
- CV summarizing education, positions, research experience, and other qualifying activities.
- Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records and letters of recommendation
- Up to 5 academic works that the applicant wishes to have considered in the assessment process
- A list of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number).
The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system. Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system. Please note that all documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language).
In assessing applications, particular emphasis will be placed upon the academic and personal capacity of the candidate to contribute to the project within the given timeframe, to interact within national and international networks, and to be part of a dynamic research group. Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.
Formal regulations
Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oslo.
No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Fellow period at the University of Oslo.
According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.
The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results etc.
The University of Oslo aims to achieve a balanced gender composition in the workforce and to recruit people with ethnic minority backgrounds.
Contact information
For further information please contact Associate Professor Sabita Maharjan, email: sabita@ifi.uio.no or Professor Frank Eliassen, e-mail: frank@ifi.uio.no
For technical questions regarding the recruitment system, please contact HR Adviser Therese Ringvold, e-mail: therese.ringvold@mn.uio.no.
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