Research Fellow Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering

The University of Auckland is New Zealand's largest university and houses the country’s largest and most successful engineering school. Within the Faculty of Engineering, the Department of Engineering Science (DES) provides degree programmes in Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering (see www.des.auckland.ac.nz). The Engineering Science degree focuses on mathematical modeling and its application to problems in solid and fluid mechanics and in operations research/computational analytics (ORCA). DES has an excellent research record in operations research/computational analytics and has a large and successful group working in this area.

We are looking to employ a research fellow to work as part of an FRDF funded project Analytics tools for energy-efficient transport, with Dr Andrea Raith and Prof Andy Philpott.

Project Outline:

Energy is a scarce resource and reduction of energy use is on the agenda of many governments world-wide. Energy use in transport is a large component of overall energy use (37% in NZ, 2013), and transport in NZ relies to 98% on fossil fuels. Since NZ’s electricity generation is largely (75%) renewable, both a reduction of private motorized vehicle use, and a shift to electric vehicles would improve the sustainability of the transport sector. We seek to build a better understanding of the link between energy and transport through applying analytics tools. This ranges from identification and analysis of available data, to evaluation of strategies that may improve the energy-efficiency of Auckland’s transport system, and finally to the development of analytics tools based on transport equilibrium models. 

In this project we analyse the ability of the current transport network in NZ to be expanded or adjusted to encourage use of energy efficient vehicles, or at least to shift away from fossil-fuel based traffic to electric vehicles. This is achieved by defining possible strategies based on technological advances, pricing, and optimal infrastructure planning and developing operations research models to evaluate them. Strategies could include network user management using tools such as congestion pricing, or forms of energy conscious network routing, as well as network design approaches.

Skills required are experience in programming, a background in operations research or computational analytics, and experience in solving real-world optimisation problems. The ideal candidate also has a background in transport modelling, in particular in network equilibrium theory and transport network economics, or is highly motivated to acquire the required skills independently guided by the research team.

Minimum qualification:

PhD in Operations Research, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline.

We seek to appoint a Research Fellow for 1 year. While we are looking for someone to start as soon as possible, there is some flexibility with the start date.

The University is committed to meeting its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and achieving equity outcomes for staff and students. The University has an equity policy and welcomes applications from all qualified persons. It provides on-site early childhood education centers for babies and pre-school children; it has parental leave and flexible work policies which support a balance between work, life, family and caring responsibilities.

Further information about this opportunity may be obtained from Dr. Andrea Raith, telephone + 64 9 923 1977, or e-mail a.raith@auckland.ac.nz.

Applications close: 17 June 2016