Two PhD Research Fellowships in Climate Risk, Climate-Resilient Energy Systems and Energy Transitions University of Oslo in Norway

The University of Oslo invites applications for two PhD Research Fellowships in Climate Risk and Energy Systems at the Department of Technology Systems in Kjeller, near Oslo, with a planned move to the Blindern campus in spring 2027. The fellowships are part of the project “Energy system transitions under evolving climate conditions: drivers, impacts, and solutions”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Norwegian Research Council.

The research aims to build the knowledge base for successful energy transitions under climate change. Fellows will work in an interdisciplinary environment spanning energy modeling, climate science and energy-system analysis, collaborating with the University of Oslo’s Energy-Climate and Energy Systems Modeling Groups, the Climate Physics Group at ETH Zurich, and PhD researchers across the consortium.

One project investigates iterative energy-system decarbonization under evolving climate conditions. It focuses on pathway optimization, technological lock-in and the effects of short periods of unusually high or low wind and solar capacity factors. The work will examine how changing climate conditions can influence choices among renewable generation, batteries, transmission, long-duration storage and international collaboration.

The second project studies climate-change impacts on stressful events in energy systems. It begins with stressful periods in the current European electricity system and analyzes how their severity and frequency may evolve. The research will also explore mitigation options, technological trends such as air-conditioning adoption, and the expansion of the Climate2Energy framework to use high-resolution stretched-grid climate-model simulations supplied by project partners.

Both projects involve computational research and use open software developed at the department, including Climate2Energy and highRES. The planned work is collaborative, with regular exchanges, feedback and discussions across the full project consortium, online meetings, in-person research visits and annual project meetings. The project also offers an opportunity for a funded research visit to ETH Zurich.

Fellows will join the University of Oslo’s active research environment in sustainable energy and climate modeling within a department that also works on autonomous systems, space and security. The position offers a platform for interdisciplinary research connecting climate dynamics, renewable energy, electricity systems and energy-transition planning.