About the position
This post is one of 15 PhD places in AEGIS (Adaptive Grid-Interactive Edge Datacenter Fleets), an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral network running from 2026 to 2030. You are based in Lund University's Department of Automatic Control, with two three-month visits to network partners: EPFL in Switzerland and the Finnish company Elisa.
The project joins two fast-growing fields: datacentres and AI infrastructure on one side, energy and power systems on the other. Operators set broad goals such as cutting carbon emissions, but a site's cooling, batteries and computers are controlled at a much lower level. You will build the control layer in between, one that takes a goal and turns it into coordinated actions across the site, using classical control, AI and reinforcement learning.
What you will do
- Design a way of stating goals around carbon, flexibility and cost, and break those goals down into control actions.
- Build control software that turns goals into commands, and test it on real data from experiments.
- Build monitoring that reports spare capacity while keeping services within their agreed limits.
- Take 90 ECTS credits of doctoral courses, and teach for up to 20% of your time, for example supervising labs.
Who can apply
- A master's degree, or at least 240 credits of university study including 60 at master's level, or equivalent knowledge gained in Sweden or abroad.
- An MSc in engineering or similar, with knowledge equal to Lund's basic course in automatic control and a relevant master's specialisation.
- Strong mathematics, shown in your transcripts, and very good spoken and written English.
- You must not already hold a PhD.
- EU mobility rule: you must not have lived, worked or studied in Sweden for more than 12 of the 36 months before you are recruited. Holidays and other short stays do not count.
- An advantage: machine learning or reinforcement learning, cloud computing, or low-level programming and Linux kernel experience.
What is offered
- A salary of SEK 35,900 a month to start, rising each year.
- Full-time, fixed-term employment: four years of doctoral study, extended to match any teaching or department work.
- Start as soon as possible, and by 1 March 2027 at the latest.
- Swedish public-sector benefits, including generous annual leave and an occupational pension.
How to apply
- Apply in English through the university's online application system, linked below.
- Send a CV and a cover letter explaining why you want this PhD and how the project fits your interests and studies.
- Add copies of your degree certificates and transcripts showing you meet the entry requirements.
- Add anything else you want considered, such as reference contacts or recommendation letters.
- Shortlisted applicants may be asked to do a short test at interview.