Doctoral Student Position in in Bio-inspired Mineralization Towards Energy Saving

KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities, as well as a key centre of intellectual talent and innovation. We are Sweden’s largest technical research and learning institution and home to students, researchers and faculty from around the world. Our research and education covers a wide area including natural sciences and all branches of engineering, as well as architecture, industrial management, urban planning, history and philosophy.

Project description

Third-cycle subject: Biocomposites

Energy recovery and energy storage with the help of environmentally friendly materials is a strategically important issue. Biocomposites have great potential because the structure can be tailored and combine several functions. For wood, you can use the hierarchical structure over several length scales. However, the energy efficiency of wood-based materials is still low. Bio-inspired approaches are therefore of great interest. One way is mineralization by precipitating with wood as a template. The purpose of the current project is to better understand the wood structure and create nanotechnology for wood-based materials for efficient energy conversion.

The project will be carried out at the Wallenberg Wood Science Center. The work will have an experimental focus that includes but is not limited to the wood modification, mineral synthesis, microscopy techniques, x-ray scattering, and physical property characterization.

Supervision: The doctoral student will be supervised by Asst. Prof. Yuanyuan Li and Prof. Lars Berglund.

Target degree: Doctoral degree

What we offer

• The possibility to study in a dynamic and international research environment in collaboration with industries and prominent universities from all over the world.Read more
• A workplace with many employee benefits and monthly salary according to KTH’s Doctoral student salary agreement.
• A postgraduate education at an institution that is active and supportive in matters pertaining to working conditions, gender equality and diversity as well as study environment.
• Work and study in Stockholm, close to nature and the water.
• Help to relocate and be settled in Sweden and at KTH.

Eligibility and Selection

To be admitted to postgraduate education (Chapter 7, 39 § Swedish Higher Education Ordinance), the applicant must have basic eligibility in accordance with either of the following:

 Requirements

• passed a degree at advanced level,
• completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 higher education credits at advanced level, or
• in any other way acquired within or outside the country acquired essentially equivalent knowledge.
• Requirements for English equivalent to English B/6, read more here.
• Basic knowledge about organic and inorganic chemistry.

Merits

• Adequate knowledge related to polymer/wood science and technology, materials science, and materials chemistry.
• In addition to the traditional academic merits, a relevant degree project, international experience, and language skills are advantageous qualifications.
• The project is multi-disciplinary and broad technical background is an advantage.

Personal skills

In order to succeed as a doctoral student at KTH you need to be goal oriented and persevering in your work. During the selection process, candidates will be assessed upon their ability to:

• independently pursue his or her work,
• collaborate with others and adequate levels of communicative abilities are required.
• The candidate should be highly motivated for doing scientific research and should have well developed analytical and problem-solving skills as well as an interest and curiosity for wood science and technology.
• Have a professional approach.

After the qualification requirements, great emphasis will be placed on personal qualities and personal suitability.

Information regarding admission and employment

Only those admitted to postgraduate education may be employed as a doctoral student. The total length of employment may not be longer than what corresponds to full-time doctoral education in four years ' time. An employed doctoral student can, to a limited extent (maximum 20%), perform certain tasks within their role, e.g. training and administration. A new position as a doctoral student is for a maximum of one year, and then the employment may be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time.

Union representatives

You will find contact information for union representatives on KTH's website.

Doctoral section (Students’ union on KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

You will find contact information for doctoral section on the section's website.

Application

Apply for the position and admission through KTH's recruitment system. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the advertisement.

Applications must be received at the last closing date at midnight, CET/CEST (Central European Time/entral European Summer Time).

Applications must include the following elements:

• CV including your relevant professional experience and knowledge.
• Application letter with a brief description of why you want to pursue research studies, about what your academic interests are and how they relate to your previous studies and future goals. (Maximum 2 pages long)
• Copies of diplomas and grades from previous university studies and certificates of fulfilled language requirements (see above). Translations into English or Swedish if the original document is not issued in one of these languages.
• Representative publications or technical reports. For longer documents, please provide a summary (abstract) and a web link to the full text.

Other information

Striving towards gender equality, diversity and equal conditions is both a question of quality for KTH and a given part of our values.

For information about processing of personal data in the recruitment process please read here.

We firmly decline all contact with staffing and recruitment agencies and job ad salespersons.

Disclaimer: In case of discrepancy between the Swedish original and the English translation of the job announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.

Type of employment Temporary position longer than 6 months
Contract type Full time
First day of employment According to the agreement
Salary Monthly salary according to KTH's doctoral student salary agreement
Number of positions 1
Working hours 100%
City Stockholm
County Stockholms län
Country Sweden
Reference number C-2021-0250
Contact
Edith Tönseth Malm, HR-administrator, edithmt@kth.se, +46 8 790 60 73
Lars Berglund, Professor, +46 8 790 81 18, blund@kth.se
Yuanyuan Li, Assistant Professor, +46 72 841 06 15, yua@kth.se
Published 11.Feb.2021
Last application date 15.Mar.2021 11:59 PM CET