PhD – Candidate in Scientific Machine Learning for Ice Run Forecasting – Norway

NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

This PhD project aims to improve the prediction of ice runs – sudden downstream movements of river ice – that pose a threat to civil infrastructure such as bridges, roads, and hydropower installations. Predicting ice run events is highly complex, involving partially understood physical processes, environmental variability, and limited observational data.

The project will explore the use of Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) – an emerging field that integrates data-driven methods with physics-based knowledge – to develop hybrid models that can better capture ice run dynamics. By combining available field data, satellite observations, and governing physical principles, the research will seek to build interpretable, generalizable models that support more accurate forecasting and risk mitigation strategies.

This work contributes not only to climate adaptation and infrastructure resilience in cold regions but also advances methodological development in physics-informed machine learning. The candidate will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team and benefit from access to open environmental datasets, field measurements, and high-performance computing resources.

Required selection criteria

• You must have an academically relevant background civil & structural engineering, coastal engineering, hydraulic engineering, ocean engineering, applied mathematics, or equivalent
• You must have at least the basic knowledge and documented experience on solving engineering problems with data-driven method
• You must have a Master’s degree in civil and structural engineering, coastal engineering, hydraulic engineering, ocean engineering, applied mathematics or equivalent. Your course of study must correspond to a five-year Norwegian course, where 120 credits have been obtained at master’s level. Master’s students can apply, but the master’s degree must be obtained and documented before starting the position
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and have an average grade from your Master’s degree study, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared to NTNU’s grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic foundation. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be considered if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty’s doctoral program
• You should have a strong theoretical background in mechanics and mathematics
• Excellent written and oral English language skills.

Salary and conditions

In the position of PhD Candidate, code 1017, your gross salary will normally be NOK 536 200 (44899,51 €),- per annum depending on qualifications and seniority. A 2 % statutory contribution to the State Pension Fund is deducted from the salary.

The employment period is 3 years.

For employment as a PhD Candidate, it is a prerequisite that you gain admission to the PhD programme in Engineering  within three months of your employment contract start date, and that you participate in an organized doctoral programme throughout the period of employment.

As an employee at NTNU, it is important that you keep yourself up to date with academic and organizational changes and adapt to them.

For the necessary academic and social interaction, it is a prerequisite that you are physically present and available to the institution on a daily basis.

The appointment is carried out in accordance with the principles of the State Employees Act, and Export control (legislation that regulates the export of knowledge, technology and services). Candidates who, after assessment of the application and attachments, are considered to bein conflict with the criteria in the latter act, will not be able to be employed.

Organization/Company – NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Research Field – Engineering

Research Profile – First Stage Researcher (R1)

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