PhD Scholarship in University Students’ Learning Via Digital Twins of Neutron Scattering Instruments

Are you passionate about how to train university students for neutron-based investigation at the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund? Do you want to research how students learn via digital twins to replace hands-on training? Do you want to engage in a career within didactics of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education?

This PhD project is a part of the ACCESS project, Augmenting the STEM classroom by ESS digital twins. The ACCESS project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and it is a collaboration between DTU – Technical University of Denmark, University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and European Spallation Source. The European Spallation Source in Lund is a future large-scale research facility for neutron-based investigation of materials in a broad sense.

Responsibilities and qualifications

This PhD project will research and document students' learning outcome of engaging with digital twins of four ESS Instruments. Facilities like ESS are crucial in basic and applied STEM research to address global challenges. However, such facilities have limited capacity, and effective use is crucial. It requires conceptual knowledge, experimental skills, and scientific competences to select and analyze data from neutron instruments. This implies that students who will become users of such facilities must develop knowledge, skills, and competences in a way that is transferable from classroom to facility. Very few students get this opportunity.

ACCESS will modify existing digital twins of ESS instruments to aid university STEM students in becoming competent users of neutron facilities. The digital twins will allow students to perform virtual experiments. ACCESS will make digital twins for ESS instruments on imaging (ODIN), inelastic scattering (BIFROST), small-angle scattering (LOKI) and diffraction (DREAM).

The PhD student will be employed at DTU but will research the learning of students from both DTU and UCPH. Likewise, the PhD student will be working together with passionate teachers and educational developers from both UCPH and DTU.

As part of the PhD project, a 3-6 month stay at an international university (e.g., in Europe, USA, or Australia) is expected with the purpose of performing field studies and data analysis with one of the leading groups in the field.

Qualified applicants must have:

• An MSc degree in Physics, Nanoscience, Chemistry, Engineering, or Material Science, or Educational Science (the latter including a BSc in Physics, Nanoscience, Chemistry, Engineering, or Material Science), or similar.
• Basic knowledge of teaching and learning, student motivation, and didactics, for instance, acquired as a teacher or teaching assistant in high school or university.
• An interest in developing high-quality university teaching and education.
• Ability to work independently and plan and carry out complicated tasks.
• Good communication skills in English, both written and spoken.

You must have a two-year master's degree (120 ECTS points) or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to a two-year master's degree.

Application procedure

Your complete online application must be submitted no later than 16 August 2026 (23:59 Danish time). 

To view the full announcement and to apply please click on the 'Apply' button above.

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