Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Civil and Architectural Engineering programme. The position is available from 1 September 2026 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.
Title:
Conversational Building Control for Energy Sufficiency.
Research area and project description:
Predictive control has demonstrated significant potential to reduce building energy use, but its performance depends on knowing when and how buildings are occupied. In practice, this is either estimated from sensors or from static schedules. Meanwhile, occupants often have little insight into how and why their building's control system operates as it does. This is not just a question of transparency: occupants who understand the controller's decisions are more willing to accept them and more likely to voluntarily use less energy, a concept known as energy sufficiency. This project investigates whether a conversational agent as a chat interface to the building controller can address both, by letting occupants share plans and preferences and by explaining control decisions in plain language. The central hypothesis is that this two-way dialogue improves both energy efficiency and sufficiency.
The conversational interface opens a bidirectional channel that existing systems lack. Occupants can communicate intended use patterns and express comfort in natural language, enabling more accurate and dynamic setpoint scheduling, and report how they actually feel. In return, the agent explains the reasoning behind control actions and nudges toward more sufficient energy use. The project investigates how model predictive control (MPC) performance is affected by richer user-driven input, how agent behavior should be designed to balance comfort, energy objectives, and occupant acceptance, and how robust the combined system is across diverse occupant profiles and building types.
The methodology proceeds in three phases: design and lab validation of a conversational agent integrated with a building MPC controller; field deployment in a number of buildings, measuring energy use, comfort, and engagement through sensors and interviews; and analysis using novel sufficiency metrics combining energy data with behavioral indicators and self-reported intent. The project delivers new knowledge on conversational occupant interaction in building energy management, validated sufficiency metrics, and an open-source agent-MPC platform, directly advancing the agenda on scalable, occupant-centred energy management.
Qualifications and specific competences:
The candidate must hold a B.Sc. or M.Sc. in engineering, computer science, building science, or a related technical field. A strong interest in the intersection of building energy systems, artificial intelligence, and human behaviour is essential. Familiarity with programming and data analysis is expected, and experience with building energy simulation, model predictive control, or development of conversational AI systems is considered a significant advantage. The project is inherently interdisciplinary, and candidates from adjacent fields who can demonstrate relevant technical skills and a clear motivation for the research topic are encouraged to apply
Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Inge Lehmanns gade 10, 8000 Aarhus C., Denmark.
Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information regarding the PhD position are invited to contact:
For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide. If answers cannot be found there, please contact:
How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application.
Application deadline is 01 July 2026 23:59 CEST.
Preferred starting date is 01 September 2026.
For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above, and upload it as a PDF in the application.
Please note:
Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.
