Hydropower and reservoirs – Call for applications: 7 PhD Positions

SusHydro – Sustainable hydropower development and reservoir management as an enabler of the renewable energy transition and an accelerator to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

A project in the Interdisciplinary Sustainable Initiatives at NTNU


Call for applications: 7 PhD positions

Application deadline has expired.

SusHydro – Sustainable hydropower development and reservoir management as an enabler of the renewable energy transition and an accelerator to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)


About the project

About the project

Hydropower is the largest producer of renewable energy globally and its global production capacity is expected to still double by 2050. In order to reach the sustainable development goals related to environmentally friendly and accessible energy production, other renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power will also need to increase. However, since these are intermittent sources of energy, hydropower with reservoirs will play an even more important role in order to balance and store the energy produced by these other technologies. Hydropower with reservoirs is thus an enabling technology for a large-scale integration of solar and wind power in the energy system.

In addition, hydropower with reservoirs can help reduce the risk of floods and droughts, ensure the supply of drinking water and irrigation supplies, and thus influence a wide range of UN sustainability goals. At the same time, there are several different sustainability challenges related to the development and operation of hydropower projects and reservoirs, such as changes in the nature and magnitude of discharge, loss of wilderness areas and biodiversity, as well as economic and social inequalities.

SusHydro seeks to find innovative and cross-sectoral solutions that shed light on a wider range of services that hydropower and water reservoirs can contribute and shed light on how synergies and conflicts between different sustainability goals can be identified and balanced. SusHydro will do this by putting together a team of experienced professionals and talented young researchers with a background in hydrology and water resource analysis, life cycle assessment, modeling of the energy system, economics, biology and social sciences. Solutions will be developed through case studies in Norway and areas of Africa with rich hydropower resources.

The project call for applications for 1-2 PhD positions

  PhD Position in:

Global screening and scenarios

Department of Energy and Process Engineering

The aim is to develop a global impact screening of planned and possible hydropower reservoirs to identify potential impact hotspots. We will include impacts of construction and reservoir operation on biodiversity and human well-being. In addition, we will develop scenarios for transformative changes for use throughout the project.

Application deadline has expired.

  PhD Position in:

Hydrological risks and opportunities in multipurpose reservoirs

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

This project will assess the wider hydrological risks and opportunities in the planning of multi-purpose reservoirs. Trade-offs and synergies will be analyzed across a wide set of use beyond electricity production, such as irrigation, drinking water supply, the provision of environmental flow and flood control.

Application deadline has expired.

The project call for applications for 3-4 PhD positions

  PhD Position in:

Utilization of flexible hydropower in 100 % renewable power systems

Department of Electric Power Engineering

This PhD will analyze how reservoir hydropower can contribute as a flexible storage and energy provider in future power systems based on renewable energy sources. The research is based on principles for power system optimization and will incorporate different setups for environmental constraints and impacts. 

Application deadline has expired.

  PhD Position in:

Controversies and participation processes in hydropower developments

Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture

This project addresses sustainable hydropower development from social science perspectives. Based on theoretical concepts such as energy justice and energy citizenship, the project will study controversies and processes of public participation related to hydropower reservoirs and their multiple uses and services.

Application deadline has expired.

The project call for applications for 5-6 PhD positions

  PhD Position in:

Decision Analytics for Hydropower Reservoir Management

Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management

The project will develop operations research models and methods for coordinated hydropower reservoirs, when several owners make possibly independent operational decisions. The aim is improved performance regarding relevant SDGs including considerations of efficiency, climate change and economic value of flexibility.

Application deadline has expired.

  PhD Position in:

Invertebrate species tolerance to hydropower reservoirs

Department of Biology

This project will study invertebrate responses to environmental changes introduced by different operational use of reservoirs. We will study how different species, as the building blocks of biodiversity, taking on different roles in the ecosystem, react to environmental changes, within the reservoirs and in the downstream areas.

Application deadline has expired.

The project call for applications for 7 PhD positions

  PhD Position in:

Enviromental gradients of hydropower impact

Department of Natural History

This project will study hydropower impacts on freshwater ecosystems across biogeographical gradients, by enabling the upscaling of knowledge from local to regional inference of effects of stressors, mitigation and restoration efforts. The study will make use of novel statistical methods and existing, large-scale datasets.

Application deadline has expired.