Postdoc position in EMT reference models of microgrids and customer-side assets for UTOPYS
Help build the model library at the heart of [UTOPYS](https://www.utwente.nl/en/about-us/news-events-ceremonies/news/2025/11/663582/nwo-grant-for-installation-of-the-worlds-largest-digital-twins-for-energy-systems#a-global-leader-in-the-field), a new national facility for real-time power system simulation!
The Faculty of EEMCS, the Power Electronics and Mathematics of Operations Research groups at the University of Twente are hiring a postdoctoral researcher to join a multidisciplinary research team to help build the model library at the heart of UTOPYS, a new national facility for real-time power system simulation!
Future power systems are converter-dominated, fast, and interconnected across scales that today's modelling tools cannot capture. UTOPYS (Understanding Large and Complex Power Systems) addresses this with a state-of-the-art real-time power system simulator: a large RTDS cluster at TU Delft's ESP Lab that simulates thousands of nodes in full electromagnetic transient (EMT) detail, in real time, and that can be coupled to hardware, SCADA systems and other simulators. This infrastructure will enable unprecedented research into the dynamics, control, and market design of future power systems dominated by renewables, power electronics, and cyber-physical interactions.
UTOPYS is a ten-year national research infrastructure (2026-2036) built by a consortium of eight Dutch universities and research institutes, coordinated by TU Delft, driving scientific breakthroughs in mathematical modeling, control strategies, and policy/regulatory frameworks for complex power systems.
UTOPYS is a state-of-the-art real-time power system simulator. A simulator of this size is only as valuable as the models that run on it. The first phase of UTOPYS is therefore dedicated to the UTOPYS Library: an open, modular and validated collection of EMT component models, reference system models, scenarios and datasets that will serve the consortium, external academic users and industry for the coming decade.
We are looking for one postdoc to join UTOPYS and build part of this Open Source Library, developing plug & play EMT reference models of customer-side assets and the microgrids they form: e.g., residential and small commercial connections, PV, batteries, EV charging, heat pumps and flexible demand with grid-forming (GFM) and grid-following (GFL) converters, covering weak-grid and islanded operation, GFM/GFL transitions and black start, with a flexible level of detail.
You will work in collaboration with Postdocs from the universities involved in UTOPYS who will be working on similar reference models for different parts of the whole power system. At the end all models should come together to form the complete model library at the heart of UTOPYS.
Your key responsibilities as Postdoc (include but are not limited to):
- Develop and validate EMT models of microgrids and customer-side components in RSCAD/RTDS, for example converters and their controls (GFM and GFL), PV panels, EV chargers, Heat-Pumps, energy storage, backup generators, loads and flexibility assets, taking into account their link to a tertiary control layer such as an Energy Management System.
- Create an RTDS library of customer-side, microgrid and converter-based components, and a working, realistic RTDS microgrid model built from those components that can be integrated with the larger UTOPYS RTDS model
- Combine that library into reference system models that reproduce the phenomena UTOPYS is meant to study at this part of the power system, such as islanding, frequency and voltage collapse, converter-driven instability, interoperability under different control strategies, transition from GFM to GFL and vice versa, black start capability.
- Work out how such models are built to last: conversion from other tools, parameterisation, scalability and model reduction, documentation, version control, testing and validation criteria.
- Publish your models, datasets and methods open access, and present them in journals and at conferences.
The answers you develop will shape how UTOPYS is used for the next decade.
Information and application
Are you interested in this position? Please send your application via the 'Apply now' button below before October 11, 2026, and include:
- A cover letter (maximum 2 pages A4), emphasizing your specific interest, qualifications, motivations to apply for this position.
- A Curriculum Vitae, including a list of all courses attended and grades obtained, and, if applicable, a list of publications and references.
For more information regarding this position, you are welcome to contact Nataly Bañol Arias (m.n.banolarias@utwente.nl) & Gerwin Hoogsteen (g.hoogsteen@utwente.nl).
Screening is part of the selection process.
About the department
You will be working in a multidisciplinary team that jointly performs research under the Resilient and Intelligent Energy System coalition of the University of Twente's Climate Centre, which next to technical disciplines also includes behavioural scientists. This group works on various aspects of bottom-up energy management to enable the energy transition for citizens, industrial areas and energy access in developing countries, by e.g., developing novel power electronics, coordination algorithms and governance structures.
For this position you will work specifically in the Power Electronics (PE) and Mathematics of Operations Research (MOR) groups. The PE group has excellent laboratory facilities to perform HIL-based co-simulation of power systems and power electronics, and advanced battery characterization, performance testing and next-gen BMS development. The MOR group works on scalable and resilient energy management algorithms for energy cells through the developed open-source DEMKit simulator, we not only study these algorithms, but also test them in practice.
About the organisation
The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) uses mathematics, electronics and computer technology to contribute to the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). With ICT present in almost every device and product we use nowadays, we embrace our role as contributors to a broad range of societal activities and as pioneers of tomorrow's digital society. As part of a tech university that aims to shape society, individuals and connections, our faculty works together intensively with industrial partners and researchers in the Netherlands and abroad, and conducts extensive research for external commissioning parties and funders. Our research has a high profile both in the Netherlands and internationally. It has been accommodated in three multidisciplinary UT research institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centre and Digital Society Institute.
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