Hyeunguk Ahn

The Urban & Building Energy Lab (UBEL) at Ajou University in Suwon, South Korea, is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher for an NRF-funded project on building decarbonization and carbon-aware energy management. The project develops the Virtual Carbon Battery (VCB) , a framework that turns buildings into flexible, carbon-aware energy resources by shifting electricity demand according to time-varying grid carbon intensity and marginal emission factors. Research will cover grid emission analysis, dynamic carbon-emission forecasting, building thermal dynamics, load-shifting potential, avoidable carbon, and scalable real-time control of HVAC and other building energy systems. The researcher will also contribute to extending building-level algorithms to district- and city-scale urban energy management. Relevant methods include building physics and simulation, EnergyPlus, TRNSYS, urban building energy modeling, Python API co-simulation, time-series forecasting, load disaggregation, mathematical optimization, model predictive control, and reinforcement learning. Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in architectural, mechanical, building systems, energy engineering, or a related field. The annual salary is KRW 48–54 million, with publication incentives, support for at least one major international conference each year, dedicated computing equipment, premium AI research tools, and mentorship for independent grant development. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.