PhD Programmes

For PhD students at the Department of Energy Technology, there are three study programmes. All three programmes belong under The Doctoral School of Engineering, Medicine and Science.

  • The Energy Technology Programme
  • The Electrical and Electronic Engineering Programme
  • The Mechanical Engineering Programme

Energy Technology Programme

The Energy Technology programme is a cross-disciplinary doctoral programme which ranges between many basic engineering and science fields in order to solve future challenges in the energy area by means of developing new energy technology. The main location of the programme is at the Department of Energy Technology. It covers a broad range of energy-related topics focusing on the energy conversion proces itself as well as transmission, distribution and efficient use of energy are covered. The programme is experimental oriented and offers state of the art lab-facilities in many departments, such as the Department of Energy Technology, Department of Electronic Systems, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Department of Civil Engineering. The programme focuses on:

  • Power Systems including production, transmission, distribution electrical energy as well as control
  • High Voltage Engineering 
  • Smart grid, micro grid and their basic operation 
  • Power Electronics and its applications 
  • Energy Efficiency 
  • Renewable energy technologies incl. wind turbines, photovoltaics, wave energy etc. 
  • Fuel Cell 
  • Reliability, diagnosis and predictive maintenance of electrical and thermal components and systems 
  • Energy harvesting systems e.g. thermo-electric generators and systems 
  • Automotive and industrial drives 
  • Electrical Motors/Generators 
  • Systems analysis, design and optimization of a wide range of energy processes, machines, and systems 
  • Heating/cooling systems and their distribution networks
  • Biomass to energy systems, including biomass to liquid fuels and end use applications
  • Fluid power systems and their control
  • Energy storage and power management 
  • Analysis and optimization of thermal cycles.

Head of the Energy Technology Programme:
Professor Claus Leth Bak
E-mail: energyphd@et.aau.dk

Coordinator Hanne Munk Madsen
E-mail: hmm@et.aau.dk

Electrical and Electronic Engineering Programme

The Electrical and Electronic Programme was established in 1992. It was formed by the Department of Energy Technology, the Department of Electronic Systems and the Department of Media Technology, all at Aalborg University. This programme covers almost all aspects of electrical and electronic engineering and focuses on:  

  • Production, transmission and distribution of electrical energy and the diagnosis of electrical components
  • Electrical appliances focusing on energy optimised design of power electronic systems, electrical machines and transmission systems
  • Mathematical and computational techniques for automation and control, including modelling, estimation, monitoring and control of systems and processes
  • All aspects of automation, including modelling, adaptive and robust control, the development of fault tolerant systems and distributed real-time systems. 

Mechanical Engineering Programme

The Mechanical Engineering Programme also spans its activities over three AAU departments; the Department of Energy Technology, the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. This programme supports PhD research in a wide range of industrial and service related areas. The research areas include among others:

  • Materials technology, process development and optimisation 
  • Automatic control of production processes 
  • CAD, analysis and optimisation of mechanical, fluid and process systems 
  • Systems analysis and design of a wide range of energy processes, machines and systems.