PhD: Auroral Intensities
The University Centre in Svalbard
About UNIS
UNIS is the world’s northernmost educational institution, located in Longyearbyen. UNIS has technical and scientific equipment, laboratories, and infrastructure for teaching and research in Arctic natural sciences and technology related to the sea, land, and atmosphere.
The fields of study include Arctic biology, geophysics, geology, technology, and safety. All teaching is conducted in English, and approximately half of the staff and students come from abroad. UNIS is a state-owned company, and the administrative language is Norwegian.
About the Department
The Department of Arctic Geophysics at UNIS is seeking candidates for a full-time, four-year PhD position in space physics. Currently, the department consists of:
- 5 professors
- 3 associate professors
- 2 researchers
- 4 PhD students
- 2 technicians
- 8 Adjunct Professors
The research within the department is focused on two groups: sea-ice-snow-air processes and Space Physics. The Space Physics group operates a world-class optical auroral observatory, the Kjell Henriksen Observatory, which is located 30 minutes’ drive from UNIS.
As part of our team, you will have the opportunity to experience the spectacular Svalbard, with Longyearbyen as your workplace. Longyearbyen is a modern settlement with approximately 2,500 inhabitants, situated in wild and beautiful Arctic nature, offering great opportunities for outdoor activities, experiences, and a vibrant cultural life.
Homepage: https://www.unis.no/
The PhD employment contract is for four years. The four-year contract includes a year of required duties. Alternatively, the candidate may choose a three-year position which excludes these duties. Applications are also open to this year’s master’s candidates, with the requirement that the master’s degree must be completed by July 1st, 2025. The desired start date is during August, and no later than September 1st.
The project on auroral emission intensities aims to advance our understanding of what the auroral intensities can tell us about the near-Earth space connecting to the upper atmosphere. The goal is to construct a long-term and diurnal distribution of auroral intensities in human understandable units from several different optical auroral instruments over two different latitude regions in order to estimate the auroral energy deposition into the atmosphere as well as investigate the predictability of the intensities based on the solar wind measurements. The project will further study if and how the evolution of auroral structures shows correlation with the emission intensities, and therefore the energy deposition.
Interested in adventure and aurora?
We are employing two PhD students at the University Centre in Svalbard. One to research a newly discovered auroral emission and another to dive deeper into our understanding of auroral intensities. If you – or anyone you know – would like to live in the world’s northernmost town and use our world-class auroral observatory, then please check out the job adverts:
- PHD1: Continuum Emissions – Apply here
- PHD2: Auroral Intensities – Apply here
Please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested and get in touch (katieh@unis.no and/or noorap@unis.no) if you have any questions.
Deadline: 25 April 2025