Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Agroecology programme. The position is available from 1 October 2025 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.
Title:
Potentials and limitations for agricultural crop production in Agriphotovaltics
Research area and project description:
The combination of solar panels and agricultural production has the dual use of farmland areas by combining electricity and agricultural production. Both systems have individually been optimized while combining them is much less investigated.
The aim of the Agrivolt project, which the Ph.D. study is a part of, is to optimize land use by combining PV arrays on single-axis trackers (SATs) with crop production between the rows while preserving ecosystem functioning through space for biodiversity. Crop management will largely be based on using an agricultural robot mounted with different sensors and equipped with different implements like a weeder, sowing machine, and sprayer. The established AgriPhotoVoltaic system will be the foundation for the Ph.D. study and is the core area for doing experimental research, and the Ph.D. candidate will have full access to use the established AgriPhotoVoltaic system with crop rotation and measuring instruments like weather stations and ceramic suction cups.
The Agrivolt project facilitates two different crop rotation systems with preliminary row-sown food crops such as breadwheat, rapeseed, malting barley, oat, faba bean, rye, potato, buckwheat, and intercropped pea and barley. The main task for this current Ph.D. position is to focus on sustainable crop production, yield, and quality.
You will assess plant growth, development, and yield, along with key physiological traits, while examining how these are influenced by the solar panels. Your work will also include monitoring disease pressure and evaluating a range of soil parameters. To gain deeper insight into plant responses, you will measure microclimatic factors—particularly light and humidity—within the agrivoltaic systems. The collected data will be used to explore strategies for optimizing agrivoltaic designs to enhance both crop performance and system efficiency. Images from RGB cameras and remote-sensed data, in combination with environmental data and analyses of plant and crop growth, are expected to be used to model crop growth influenced by solar panels. Therefore, the Ph.D. candidate must be interested in conducting field experiments and have some experience or interest in working with crop physiology, images, and remote-sensed data for crop models. The Ph.D. candidate will be able to develop related research questions based on their interests.This Ph.D. position offers an opportunity to collaborate interdisciplinarily with other scientists on a common goal to develop sustainable crop production in the shaded and semi-shaded environment of the solar panels. However, it is important that solar production is concurrently maximized, and it will, of course, be a balance of the two productions.
The Ph.D. is part of the project ‘AGRIVOLT Integrating Green Energy and Food production in a dynamic AgroPhotoVoltaic system (AGRIVOLT)’ funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark (Grant No. 2105-00033B). https://projekter.au.dk/agrivolt
Project description
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.
Qualifications and specific competences:
We are searching for a highly motivated candidate who holds an M.Sc. degree in agronomy, agroecology, biology, environmental sciences or closely related fields.
Demonstrated oral and written communication skills in English are required. The applicant must be able to present results at international conferences and publish in international peer-reviewed journals. The ability to assume responsibility for tasks and seek guidance as appropriate, while contributing constructively within interdisciplinary and international research teams is important. We are looking for someone who is motivated to work in a collaborative academic environment and can bring effort and insight into their work.
Additionally, we prefer candidates with some of the following qualifications:
We expect that you will be an involved and engaged member of the research environment, contributing positively to the social and academic community at Aarhus University.
Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Institut for Agroøkologi, Aarhus Universitet, Forsøgsvej 1, DK-4200 Slagelse, 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 3 August 2025 at 23:59 CEST.
Preferred starting date is 1 October 2025.
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.
