PhD Position in Electrical Engineering

Your job

Have you ever wondered how electricity markets can be manipulated and how to effectively identify anomalies and market abuse from electricity markets data? Are you interested in developing novel AI approaches and big data analytics for identifying such anomalies? Would you like to participate in an interdisciplinary project aimed at enhancing the integrity of electricity markets during the energy transition? If so, this PhD position might be for you!

The Information-Technology-Group at Wageningen University is hiring a PhD candidate (4 years, fully paid/full-time) to work on identifying anomalies and manipulations in electricity markets. To achieve this, you will develop and apply AI techniques (e.g., unsupervised and self-supervised learning) and big data analytics on actual electricity market data in the Netherlands. The goal is to enhance the integrity of the Dutch electricity markets during the energy transition.

You will collaborate with a diverse group of national and international researchers in energy systems, markets, statistics, and information technology, within the HighLO project, alongside stakeholders from the Dutch and European energy regulation institutes (e.g., ACM and ACER). The HighLO project is partnership between Wageningen University & Research and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Our goal is to use particle physics tools and methodologies to identify malicious trading behavior in commodity markets to better protect markets and consumers. You will have the opportunity to visit CERN regularly, collaborate with leading data scientists, and utilize advanced tools for analyzing large datasets (e.g., ROOT). HighLO is focused on making tangible impacts, with our tools already being adopted by regulators and exchanges.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• understanding how market manipulations can occur in electricity markets and their impact on market functionality
• exploring existing data-driven solutions for identifying different types of electricity market manipulations
• using big data analytics tools to analyse energy trading behaviour and price patterns in electricity markets, considering the existence of high-frequency/algorithm trading
• developing and implementing novel AI models and solutions for identifying anomalies and specific types of market manipulations in electricity markets (e.g., spoofing and insider trading)
• evaluating the effectiveness of these models in the Dutch electricity market context using actual data

Your qualities

You have:

• a successfully completed MSc degree in a discipline relevant to the PhD project (e.g., computer science, electrical engineering, applied statistics, data science or artificial intelligence);
• hands-on experience with AI algorithms and techniques (e.g., supervised/unsupervised learning) and big data analytics;
• strong scientific programming skills and experience in languages such as Python (or R) and C++;
• knowledge about European electricity markets and energy systems;
• familiarity with algorithmic trading is a plus;
• excellent communication skills in English.

• interested in working in an interdisciplinary team covering different backgrounds;
• open to feedback;
• able to work independently;
• eager to learn and to develop new skills;
• committed to open science;
• organized, flexible and have attention to details.

We offer you

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

Do you want more information?

For more information about this position, please contact Dr. Tarek Alskaif, by email: tarek.alskaif@wur.nl

For more information about the procedure, please contact Noorien Abbas, corporate recruiter, recruitment.ssg@wur.nl

Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.

This vacancy will be listed up to and including 2 September 2024. We hope to schedule the first job interviews on 13 September 2024.

Additional information form
For this position, you must fill in a mandatory form which will allow us to have a comprehensive view of your qualifications and better assess your fit for it.

You can access the form using the link below:
https://forms.office.com/e/fyscj7GEWV 

Your prompt response will ensure that your application continues to move forward in the evaluation process. We assure you that the information provided will be kept confidential and used solely for this application process.

Equal opportunities
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) employs a large number of people with very different backgrounds and qualities, who inspire and motivate each other. We want every talent to feel at home in our organisation and be offered the same career opportunities. We therefore especially welcome applications from people who are underrepresented at WUR. A good example of how WUR deals with inclusiveness can be read on the page working at WUR with a functional impairment.

We are

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!


We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.