09 Postdoctoral Fellowship at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Organic radicals are key reaction intermediates in many chemical systems, such as the biochemistry of living organisms, organic synthesis and polymerisation, combustion systems, and the natural environment. But their detection is challenging, especially at the individual level, i.e. distinguishing between radicals with different organic structures. The European Research Council (ERC) Advanced project EPHEMERAL focuses on using real-time mass spectrometry (MS), such as Proton Transfer Mass Spectrometry (Ptr-MS), to detect individual organic radicals in the gas, in particular in the real atmosphere. We are seeking an outstanding candidate for a postdoctoral position on this project.

The position will involve some development and characterization (calibration …) of the instruments, performing experiments in gas-phase reactors in laboratory as well as measurements in the real atmosphere, and taking part in the deployment of the instrument in field campaigns. This position will be in the team of Prof. Nozière at the Department of Chemistry.

To decarbonize the industrial sector, cost-effective solutions integrating renewable energy sources and energy storage are necessary. Moreover, most of the industries characterize for having large and variable heat requirements in their production processes, and so optimized thermal processes and technologies are paramount for their decarbonization, including for example heat pumps, electric heaters, thermal energy storage, and heat exchangers. The present work will focus on the design optimization, prototyping and testing of new thermal technologies, and more specifically in advanced compact and high-performance heat exchangers. Manufacturability, scalability, circularity, reliability, serviceability, seamless integration and costs shall be in scope in the design of these optimum new heat exchangers. In doing so, investigations will consider the use of additive manufacturing and selection of best materials also depending on the process requirements in terms of pressure, temperatures and thermal fluids involved. Cooperation with industrial partners in international projects is expected, including e.g. heat pumping, thermal energy storage and electric heater suppliers. Candidates shall have proven background and interest in heat transfer, thermodynamics, computational fluid dynamics and finite elements methods.

In this Postdoc position, the candidate is expected to research upon pulp and paper processes integrated with oxy-fuel combustion technologies and CO2 capture and utilization/storage (CCS/CCUS). The candidate will work with process modelling and simulation, techno-economic and system level analysis, with a focus on integrating oxy-fuel recovery boiler in a pulp and paper process. The CO2 from the exhaust gas will be captured either for permanent storage or utilization to produce e-fuels. The candidate will also contribute to ongoing research activities in the research group within CCUS. The position is part of a Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP) project that aims to develop an oxy-fuel recovery boiler technology (https://blogs2.abo.fi/oxykraft/). The postdoc candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with national and international academic and industry partners. The postdoc will be placed in the Division of Energy Processes at the Department of Chemical Engineering, CBH School, KTH and will work together with Shareq Mohd Nazir and Klas Engvall. The division is led by Stefan Grönkvist.

The postdoc will be part of the new VR-funded Centre of Excellence for “Anthropocene History” at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment. In collaboration with the Center’s leadership and researchers, the postdoc will conduct research in Anthropocene history, a new research field that studies the origin, conditions, and consequences of the Anthropocene as the geological age of humans. This research field combines environmental history with the history of science and technology, environmental humanities, geology, earth system science and social sciences from the 16th century to the present, with an emphasis on the 20th-century interactions of environment with science, technology and society, and its significance for issues related to natural resources, climate, energy, biodiversity, toxicity and waste in transnational, global and planetary perspectives.

The postdoctoral researcher shall conduct research in history of science, technology or environment, or related areas of knowledge, with a particular focus on the emergence, conditions and consequences of the Anthropocene as the contemporary geological age of humankind, through empirical and analytical perspectives on the Anthropocene’s temporal, spatial, ideational, discursive, political, material or societal dimensions. On a smaller scale, teaching and tasks of a more administrative nature are included in the position. 

We now offer a Postdoctoral position in Droplet Microfluidics for microbial cell factory screening centered on the development of droplet microfluidic high throughput screening and related droplet assays for yeast, cyanobacteria and microbial consortia at KTH Nanobiotechnology at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab). The research group focuses on droplet microfluidics, biosustainability and high-throughput screening. The Biomicrofluidics group at KTH, together with academic collaborators at KTH and Chalmers partners aims to realize novel microbial cell factory consortia for the biosustainable production of fats to replace unsustainable palm oil production. Key to this research project is the development of a droplet microfluidic screening assays for cyanobacteria, yeast and microbial consortia.

The Postdoctoral Scientist will develop, test and employ novel droplet microfluidic screening assays and instrumentation with key academic partners, in Stockholm and Gothenburg. The Postdoctoral Scientist will primarily work at SciLifeLab Stockholm.

Driven by the environment concern and sustainable requirement, electric vehicles (EVs) have attracted global attention as they provide more environmentally friendly transportation. However, the large-scale utilization of EVs will greatly increase the electricity consumption in the grid. If charging of EVs are not managed, it will pose significant impact on grid and require expensive grid reinforcement. On the other hand, vehicle to grid (V2G) and smart charging will provide opportunities to minimize grid impact and provide grid support for smooth integration of EVs. Moreover, V2G can be integrated with renewables to form a virtual power plant (VPP) for enhanced sustainability and profits.

This project aims to develop efficient coordination and management of EVs and virtual power plants (VPPs) considering both technical and economic aspects. A software platform will be developed to demonstrate the results.

Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC) is a research center striving for scientific excellence, with a focus on new materials from trees. The center creates knowledge and builds competence for an innovative and sustainable future value creation from forest raw materials. WWSC is a multidisciplinary collaboration between KTH, Chalmers, and Linköping University. The base is a donation from Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and the forest industry is supporting WWSC via the national platform Treesearch.

This project aims to use building blocks (small molecules) from wood-based raw materials to produce new materials that can replace fossil-based counterparts, especially with use in paint, varnish, adhesives and other corresponding applications where tailored surface properties are needed. The main focus will be on the (sequential) polymerization of small molecules, either as extracted from wood or after functionalization, using different polymerization processes and characterizing the properties of the resulting materials. The project is funded by the Wallenberg Wood Science Center (wwsc.se).

Anyone applying for this postdoc position should have good knowledge of organic chemistry and documented experience in polymer chemistry. It is an advantage if you have knowledge of biopolymers and/or pulp/paper technology and experience in processing of soft materials. Suitable background for this position is a doctoral degree in organic chemistry or polymer chemistry, polymer technology, macromolecular materials, soft materials or equivalent. The work in the project will consist of both monomer synthesis, advanced polymer synthesis, chemical and physical characterization and processing of the materials. We strive to meet the principles of green chemistry. The work is supported by a large amount of advanced lab equipment and instruments and many qualified colleagues.

The commitment to decarbonization and positive energy district is driving cities and service providers to leverage emerging techniques to promote sustainability that could improve or innovate conventional practices in all fields. The ubiquitous sensor data and research findings from literature/reports provide invaluable knowledge driving decision makings. However, the question is how to synthesize and interpret the vast evidence effectively, efficiently, and timely, given the diversity of research topics, inconsistency and sparse findings, and the large volume of evidence accumulation.

We are looking for a highly qualified and motivated postdoc in getting hands-on research experience in the area of Transportation Science, Knowledge Graph, and Machine Learning/AI (e.g., large language models). The postdoc will join a research team at KTH led by Dr. Zhenliang Ma. The postdoc is expected to develop the factual knowledge graph for urban transportation decision makings from structured and unstructured data, works closely with the researchers specializing in transportation science and computer science.