PhD Candidate in Resilient Service Continuity Across Mobile Networks

Ntnu; Trondheim; Hybrid; NOK 522,000 - 638,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free Norwegian language training

Job summary

NTNU’s Department of Information Security and Communication Technology invites applications for a fully funded four-year PhD Candidate position in Resilient Service Continuity Across Mobile Networks, based in Trondheim.

You will conduct research on how mobile networks cooperate to sustain critical services during failures and congestion, publish results, and contribute to teaching in courses related to networking, while pursuing your doctorate.

Qualifications

• You must have a relevant master's degree in communication networks, wireless and mobile communications, information security and distributed systems, or equivalent.
• Excellent oral and written presentation skills in English.
• Strong and relevant academic background with a master’s grade equal to B or better, or documented exceptional suitability.

Responsibilities

• Complete doctoral education and obtain a doctorate.
• Carry out research of high quality within the described framework.
• Publish academic papers and engage in science communication.
• Participate in international conferences and research stays.
• Teach courses related to networking.
• Perform other career-enhancing work.

Skills

Independent work

English communication

Structured planning

Presentation skills

Education

Master's degree in communication networks

Master's degree in wireless & mobile communications

Master's degree in information security

Job description

The Department of Information Security and Communication Technology has a vacancy for a

PhD Candidate in Resilient Service Continuity Across Mobile Networks

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

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

About the position

Are you motivated to pursue a doctoral degree and explore how mobile networks can work together to keep critical services running when facing failures or congestion?

The Department of Information Security and Communication Technology (IIK) at NTNU has a vacancy for a PhD Candidate in Resilient Service Continuity Across Mobile Networks. As a PhD Candidate with us, you will work to achieve your doctorate, and at the same time gain valuable experience that qualifies you for a range of leading positions in business, administration, higher education and research.

The position is fully funded and will run for 4 years (100 % employment), including teaching duties. Your immediate leader will be the Head of Discipline, and the workplace will be in Trondheim.

About the project

Mobile networks increasingly support critical services in emergency response, industry, transport, and maritime operations. Access to several networks can improve resilience, but sustaining a service requires more than restoring connectivity. Independently operated networks must coordinate resources and priorities while managing dependencies and commitments to existing users. They may also depend on shared infrastructure or capacity leased from one another, limiting the resilience gained from access to multiple operators. Norway’s plans for a new emergency network (Nødnett) over commercial mobile infrastructure illustrate the relevance of these broader challenges.

As a PhD candidate, you will investigate how mobile networks can cooperate to maintain critical services during failures, congestion, and recovery. Your research will address networks that retain their own operational policies and exchange limited information about capacity and internal state, developing insights applicable across public and private networks. A specific focus will be on the networked systems mechanisms, data paths, and open interfaces needed to support resilient service continuity in multi-operator mobile network systems, addressing research questions such as:

• What information must networks exchange to make effective admission and resource-allocation decisions without requiring full visibility into each other’s infrastructure?


• How can service priorities and resource policies be coordinated across heterogeneous networks, including during congestion and large bursts of registration requests?


• How can network selection, traffic steering, and recovery mechanisms maintain application continuity while avoiding repeated switching and overload cascades?


• How do shared infrastructure, leased capacity, and dependencies between operators affect failure propagation and the resilience gained from alternative network access?

With the Beyond 5G lab at the department, the project will emphasize experimental systems research: you will have the opportunity to conduct your research in both commercial and open-source mobile network deployments and test your ideas under realistic conditions. To explore conditions beyond the scale of the physical deployments, methods including simulation and analytical modeling can be a complementary building block.

Duties of the position

• Complete doctoral education and obtain a doctorate


• Carry out research of good quality within the framework described above


• Academic publications and popular science dissemination


• Participate in international activities such as conferences and/or research stays at foreign educational institutions


• Teaching in courses related to networking


• Other career-enhancing work

Some changes to your work duties may occur after employment.

• You must have a relevant master's degree in communication networks, wireless and mobile communications, information security and distributed systems, or equivalent. Your degree must include a major independent project (minimum 30 ECTS) equivalent to a master’s thesis.


• Master students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented before starting the position and preferably within August 2027.


• You must have a strong and relevant 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 academic background, you may be considered if you can document that you are exceptionally suited for a PhD education, for example through relevant work experience and/or peer-reviewed academic works.


• Excellent oral and written presentation skills in English.


• Practical experience with 5G radio access and core deployments.


• Hands-on experience with communication networks including multi-vendor and softwarized environments.


• Exposure to resilience and dependability topics in the context of communication networks as part of the master’s curriculum.


• Teaching experience, preferably at master’s level.


• Good oral and written presentation skills in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language.

Personal characteristics

To complete a doctoral degree (PhD), it is important that you are

• Highly motivated by fundamental scientific research with practical relevance.


• Able to work independently.


• Able to work in a structured way, set goals, and make plans to achieve them.


• Eager to disseminate research results both locally as well as through publications and presentations at international conferences.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal suitability, as well as motivation, in terms of the qualifications specified in the advertisement.

We offer

• An exciting job with an important mission in society


• Developing tasks in a strong and international professional environment


• Open and inclusive working environment with committed colleagues


• Free Norwegian language training at a basic level (A2)

We strive to attract employees with different skills, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to even better problem solving of our societal mission in research and education.

At NTNU we want to increase the proportion of women in scientific positions. We have a number of measures to promote equality.

Salary and conditions

In the position of PhD Candidate code 1017, your gross salary will normally be NOK 580 000,- per annum depending on qualifications and seniority. A 2% statutory contribution to the State Pension Fund is deducted from the salary.

The employment period is3 years for the doctoral work in addition to one year of career promotion work.

The successful candidate will be granted conditional admission to the relevant doctoral programme when employed in the PhD position. It is a prerequisite for continued employment that the requirements for full admission are met within three months, and that you continue to participate in the organized doctoral programme for the remainder of the employment period. For more information about the requirements for full admission, please see Section 6 of the PhD regulations .

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 professional 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 be in conflict with the criteria in the latter act, will not be able to be employed.

General information

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you wish to be exempt from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation . You will be notified if the exemption is not granted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Associate Professor Stanislav Lange, e-mail: [e-mail] .

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Senior Executive Officer HR Julie Lindland e-mail: [e-mail] .

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the tech capital of Norway with a population of 200,000.The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

Department of Information Security and Communication Technology

Research is vital to the security of our society. We teach and conduct research in cyber security, information security, communications networks and networked services. Our areas of expertise include biometrics, cyber defence, cryptography, digital forensics, security in e-health and welfare technology, intelligent transportation systems and malware. The Department of Information Security and Communication Technology is one of seven departments in the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering .