Do you want to contribute to accelerating the green transition through cutting-edge energy storage solutions? Can you develop advanced models and optimise complex energy systems? And are you a motivated graduate in mechanical engineering or thermal sciences? Then, this could be your next career step.

Shaping a sustainable future through innovation
To support the development of next-generation energy storage technologies, we are looking for an Industrial PhD Student to join our team. You will be part of an international research collaboration under the EU-funded Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network RESTORATIVE. At COWI, you will work alongside experts and partners across Europe on innovative and impactful projects within grid-scale energy storage. The RESTORATIVE network brings together 17 PhD researchers across universities and industry, all working towards enabling a more sustainable and resilient energy system. The minimum gross salary approximately equates to 72423,36 € per year (pre-tax and social security, including mobility allowances).

Your key responsibilities will be:

• Designing and developing advanced Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) concepts, including technical specifications and operational strategies
• Building multi-objective optimization frameworks under uncertainty to determine optimal system design and performance
• Developing dynamic models to analyse system behaviour during varying operating conditions (e.g. part-load, start-up/shutdown)
• Conducting techno-economic assessments and benchmarking against alternative energy storage technologies
• Collaborating with academic and industrial partners, including secondments in Italy and Denmark

Your skills. Our team. Together we design the future.
The first step to success in this role is that you are eager to collaborate with the people around you, whether they are colleagues, partners or customers. Developing ties with others is something you do by acting respectfully and delivering on your promises. And you never get set in your ways but keep exploring new insights and ways to improve.

On top of that, you will have:

• A two-year Master’s degree (120 ECTS) in mechanical engineering, thermal sciences, energy systems, or a related field (Please upload Grade transcripts and BSc/MSc diploma (in English), including official description of grading scale)
• Knowledge of thermo-mechanical energy storage systems (preferred)
• Experience with programming tools such as MATLAB, Dymola, or similar
• Interest or experience in dynamic modelling, programming in Python, OpenModelica and energy system analysis
• Ability to work in an international, collaborative research environment

As part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme mobility requirements, candidates should not have lived, worked, or studied in Denmark for more than 12 months in the past 3 years before the start date. To help us assess this, please include a CV outlining where you have lived and worked during this period.

A place to work and so much more
At COWI, we work together with our customers to shape a sustainable and liveable world. We do it by applying our knowledge and curiosity – and sometimes even our courage – to create the solutions the world needs today to enable a better tomorrow. We support our customers’ transition towards increased sustainability. We strive to lead by example by embedding environmental management, social responsibility and good governance into our business practices and the options we provide to our customers.
We value differences and development and cultivate an environment of belonging and having fun. Because that is what brings out the best in you, at work and at home.
With offices primarily located in Scandinavia, the UK, North America and India, we are currently more than 7,500 people who bring their expertise in engineering, architecture, energy and environment into play.

What we also offer:

• A fully funded Industrial PhD position under the Horizon Europe MSCA programme
• Opportunity to work in an international research network across 10 European countries
• Secondments at leading institutions including University of Bologna and GreenLab Skive
• Participation in summer/winter schools and training workshops
• Competitive salary and benefits in accordance with Danish collective agreements
• A collaborative and innovative work environment with strong academic and industry links.

Got more questions?
If you have any unanswered questions about the role or what we have to offer, please reach out to the Leading Project Manager, Reto Michael Hummelshøj at rmh@cowi.com
Get to know us even better at our website, www.cowi.com, where you can learn more about our projects, our strategy, what we want to achieve and what life is like at COWI.
We do our utmost to ensure that our recruitment process is as fair and unbiased as possible. You can help us by not including a photo in your CV when you apply.

Diversity is fundamental to COWI, inclusion is key
We are committed to creating a respectful and fair work environment where all employees have a sense of belonging and equitable opportunities to thrive and grow. We ensure that our leaders are role models for inclusive leadership by cultivating a culture where diverse perspectives and thoughts are seen as strengths. And we take diversity and inclusion into account in all relevant decisions and processes and when setting teams and fora. We do it because it is part of our values and because it is simply the right thing to do.