Download The South African National Hub on the Postgraduate

Two Postdoctoral and One Senior Research Fellow Open Positions in Energy
Systems and/or Optimisation in the University of Pretoria, South Africa
The South African National Hub on the Postgraduate Programme in Energy Efficiency and Demand Side
Management, funded by the South African National Energy Research Institute (SANERI), a subsidiary of
CEF (Pty) Ltd and a joint initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of
Minerals and Energy, is hosted at the Centre of New Energy Systems (CNES) at the University of
Pretoria. The postgraduate and postdoctoral research programmes aim at attracting a large number of
qualifying undergraduates from across that country, as well as an increasingly strong contingent of
international students. The range of research specialisations and the breadth of knowledge within the Hub,
contribute to make it a truly unique learning environment in energy efficiency and demand side
management.
Techniques from control engineering and optimisation theory are the main tools of the Hub in the
quantitative study of energy efficiency related topics such as power system scheduling, power system
efficiency with alternative energy resources, motor and transportation efficiency, fuel efficiency, and
energy efficient architecture and housing. The study extends also to demand side management schemes
and smart load control and networks. These research topics are clustered among different research groups
across faculties within the University of Pretoria: power and energy systems, industrial electronics,
electric drive and transportation, control and computer network systems, chemical engineering, and
architecture and housing.
The Hub is now recruiting one Senior Research Fellow and two Postdoctoral Fellows. Of the three
positions, at least one is given to someone with a strong energy system background, and at least one is
given to the candidate with strong expertise in optimisation. Bursaries are competitive and depend on the
candidates’ relevant experiences and qualifications. The annual bursary is from ZAR150,000 for a postdoc, and from ZAR250,000 for a senior research fellow. The initial appointment of any of the positions
will be one or two years according to mutual agreements, and all the positions are extendable to five years
subject to a satisfactory progress. English technical writing skill is essential for all the three positions,
and the candidate must have a minimum of two years’ postdoctoral experience to qualify the position of
Senior Research Fellow.
For a position in energy systems, the applicant is expected to have expertise in general power systems
(generation, delivery, transmission), while a position in optimisation requires the applicant’ expertise in
optimisation algorithm design and execution (linear and nonlinear programming, non-convex, nondifferentiable functions, integer programming, etc). Interested applicants are welcomed to send their CV
and cover letter to:
Prof. X. Xia
Director
National Hub of Postgraduate Programme on Energy Efficiency and DSM
Centre of New Energy Systems
University of Pretoria,
Email [email protected]
Informal enquiries can also be made to Prof. X. Xia or Dr. J. Zhang at [email protected] , Department
of Electrical Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.