Research Assistant, Analysis of offshore wind farm cluster wakes (PhD student)

About us

Wind energy research at the University of Oldenburg has gained international recognition by its integration into ForWind – Center for Wind Energy Research of the Universities of Oldenburg, Hannover and Bremen and the national Wind Energy Research Alliance of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) and ForWind. 

At ForWind, we maintain and value collaboration between our research groups and partner institutions such as the European Academy of Wind Energy members. In Oldenburg, our 50 researchers from physics, meteorology and engineering are collaborating at the »Research Laboratory for Turbulence and Wind Energy Systems« centred on wind physics. Our mission is to develop an improved understanding of atmospheric and wind power plant flow physics required to serve the global demand for clean and affordable electricity. Therefore, we conduct laboratory experiments, free-field measurements and HPC-based numerical simulations. The main topics include the description and modelling of wind turbulence, the analysis of interactions of turbulent atmospheric wind flow and wind energy systems, as well as control of wind turbines and wind farms. The covered scales range from small-scale turbulence up to meteorological phenomena. Our research facilities comprise three turbulent wind tunnels, various equipment for free-field measurements at on- and offshore wind farms and a high-performance computing cluster. Almost all our projects combine analyses at more than one of these infrastructures. For instance, virtual lidar measurements can be performed in simulated three-dimensional flow fields to verify the analysis algorithms. Our multi-lidar systems, equipped with up to three scanning lidars, are particularly important for the abovementioned research.

Your tasks

Future energy systems will rely on large wind farm clusters with hundreds of turbines. The wake, i.e. the downstream flow, of a cluster reduces the energy yield of neighbouring wind farms. The wind industry is demanding a better insight into cluster wakes and their mitigation for the further expansion of offshore wind. 

The main objective of your position is to enhance the understanding of the effects of a wind farm cluster on the wind flow in front and behind it. Scanning lidar (light detection and ranging) devices will be employed to measure horizontal wind fields in an offshore cluster of more than 1 Gigawatt capacity. 

Among others, your tasks will comprise:

• Analysing measurements of cluster wakes with scanning lidars at different meteorological conditions. Our lidar & wakes team, with 20 years of lidar experience, will support you.
• Using data-driven methods to combine lidar measurements, meteorological information, and operational wind farm data
• Cooperating closely with the wind farm operator and researchers performing high-fidelity simulations, developing engineering models and investigating satellite-based measurements.

Your profile

Requirements for employment include:

• a qualifying university degree (diploma, master’s or similar) in Physical Sciences, Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, Renewable Energy or equivalent,
• profound knowledge of fluid dynamics aspects of wind energy conversion and statistical analysis of large data amounts
• extensive experience in programming with at least Matlab or Python,
• high motivation and ability to jointly work on applied research topics,
• very good English skills.

Desired (but not mandatory) qualifications are: 

• good German skills.

We Offer

We offer you the opportunity to develop your scientific career in a young and lively academic environment. You will be working in the WindLab – one of the university's most modern office and lab spaces – while you will also have the opportunity to do flexible and mobile work. Your pathway towards the PhD is actively supported by, e.g., 

• multidisciplinary cooperation with other researchers at ForWind and Fraunhofer IWES in Oldenburg,
• direct collaboration with industry while maintaining the links with our national and international partners in academia,
• optional secondment at an international research institute
• development of personal, scientific, and teaching skills through an individual training programme and selected teaching tasks,
• opportunities to present scientific results at international conferences and through peer-reviewed publications to extend your specific network,
• structured supervision of PhD process. 

Further, the university cares for a family-friendly working environment and offers a family service centre and children's daycare on campus. 

Your benefits

• Secure remuneration according to collective agreement
• 30 days vacation
• Company pension scheme
• Further training opportunities
• Flexible working hours
• Health management
• Mobile working
• Compatibility of career and family 

Our standards

The University of Oldenburg is dedicated to increase the percentage of female employees in the field of science. Therefore, female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. In accordance to § 21 Section 3 NHG, female candidates with equal qualifications will be preferentially considered. Applicants with disabilities will be given preference in case of equal qualification.

Further information

The employment is initially limited to the end of the research project C2Wakes on 30.04.2026. The payment is based on the collective agreement for the public service in the German federal states, TV-L E13, for a 63% position (25 hours/week).

Further information is available at www.forwind.de/en/ and https://uol.de/en/physics/research/we-sys.

Contact:

For questions regarding this job opportunity, please contact Prof. Dr. Martin Kühn at +49(0)441/798-5061 or preferably by email at martin.kuehn@uol.de.