MSCA Doctoral Network PhD student

The Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) is an intercantonal and interstate university of applied sciences with campuses in Buchs, Rapperswil-Jona and St.Gallen. With excellent Bachelor's and Master's degree programs and state-of-the-art continuing education courses, we train future-oriented specialists and managers. We are one of the leading institutions nationally in the field of application-oriented research and development as well as services. Starting as soon as possible from January 2025, we are looking for a MSCA Doctoral Network PhD student (100%).

The “Training Wind Energy Experts on Digitalisation (TWEED)” Doctoral Network (DN) aims to train the next generation of excellent researchers equipped with a full set of technical and complementary skills to develop high-impact careers in wind energy digitalisation. Co-funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe Marie Sklodowska Curie Doctoral Networks Programme, the TWEED network offers 12 Doctoral Candidates (DCs) positions to provide high-level training in the new emerging research field of Wind Energy Data Science and Digitalisation.

The goal of this DC project, titled “Novel methods for a knowledge graph generation approach within TWEED’s Virtual Wind Farm Hub”, is to investigate, design and implement a knowledge graph generation approach for the Virtual Wind Farm Hub within the TWEED project. The Virtual Wind Farm Hub will be an open platform to facilitate the exchange of datasets, research results and applications and allow domain experts and data scientists to prototype new services.

Due to its status as a Swiss University of Applied Sciences, OST cannot matriculate or award PhD degrees. The PhD student will therefore be matriculated at ETH Zurich under Prof. Eleni Chatzi (Chair of Structural Mechanics and Monitoring), who will co-supervise the thesis. The main supervisor is Dr. Sarah Barber at OST (Institute of Energy Technology), and a further co-supervisor is Prof. Mitra Purandare at OST (Institute for Software).

• Completed Master’s degree (at the date of appointment) in a technical subject such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or computer science, or equivalent.
• Students currently in the final year of a Master’s degree are encouraged to apply but should note that if selected, they will be expected to start their PhD in the first quarter of 2025.
• Experience of and understanding of basic knowledge engineering concepts, including knowledge graphs, semantic web, ontologies and semantic artefacts.
• Experience with programming languages such as Python, Javascript and Java.
• Interest in and ability to work on interdisciplinary projects with a range of different people from outside your domain, especially at the interface between computer science and engineering.
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English.
• Basic communication skills in German, or willingness to learn.
• Ability to work in a team and independently.
• Willingness to follow the mobility plan of the programme (conduct secondments in the country of the host institute).
• Fulfill the requirements for admission to the PhD program at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich described here: ETH Zurich Admission Requirements.
• Optional: Experience with tools such as Spring, Node.js, Angular, React, Mongo DB, Elasticsearch or TensorFlow.
• Optional: Experience in wind energy.

• At the time of recruitment, applicants must not hold a doctoral degree or equivalent.
• Applicants can be of any nationality. However, applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting organisation for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the appointment. This excludes short stays such as holidays or compulsory national service.

• Opportunity for professional and research-based development in a motivated and performance-oriented team.
• Varied area of responsibility with creative opportunities in a dynamic university environment.
• An attractive workplace on the shore of lake Zurich and in immediate vicinity of the Rapperswil train station and historic (small) town.