Electrifying Montreal International Airport
Funded PhD position in Building Engineering
Last updated: August 7, 2025, 12 p.m.
Supervisory details
Supervisor: Mohamed Ouf
Department: Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science
University: Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Start date: Flexible (Fall 2025 preferred)
PhD Fellowship: 35K CAD per year for 4 years
Project overview
Electrifying Montreal International Airport project aims to reduce emissions and boost electrification while enhancing stakeholder experience. In partnership with key public and private organizations, the project targets five goals: measurement protocols, building optimization, alternative energy design, energy resilience, and financing models.
Dr. Ouf is looking for strong PhD candidate(s) to work on developing data-driven techniques to improve both energy efficiency and occupant comfort in buildings, with specific topics focusing on:
- Advanced building control strategies (particularly occupant-centric controls (OCC), but also MPC, AFDD)
- Integration of renewables in building design (e.g., Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) / (Building Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal (BIPV/T)
- Developing Grid-interactive operational strategies
Role description
- Develop and calibrate reduced-order building models and design a Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework that integrates weather and occupancy forecasts to optimize energy use and occupant comfort.
- Implement adaptive control strategies and feedback mechanisms to ensure real-time performance under changing environmental and occupancy conditions.
- Design and evaluate energy storage solutions (thermal, battery, and V2G) to improve flexibility, resilience, and integration with renewable energy sources at critical infrastructure sites like airports.
- Optimize high-energy-demand systems, such as Pre-Conditioned Air (PCA) units, using advanced technologies and demand- shaving strategies to reduce peak loads.
- Leverage digital twin simulations and decision-support tools to test, validate, and guide implementation of control and storage strategies, while collaborating with interdisciplinary teams for deployment and documentation.
- The candidate(s) may work in collaboration with other partners in both industry and/or academia.
Research areas
- Occupant-Building interactions research
- Building Performance Optimization
- Occupant-Centric Building Controls
- Data-Mining and Machine Learning for Building Operations
- Net-Zero Energy Buildings
Requirements
- A recent MSc degree in an engineering discipline (Building, Mechanical, Architectural, Civil) or a related field
- Experience in modelling building energy systems, and using at least one building simulation tool (e.g. Energy Plus, eQUEST, IESVE)
- Strong background in statistics, data analytics and machine learning, as well as linear and non-linear optimization techniques
- Strong technical writing skills and interest in producing high quality publications in top journals and conferences
- Experience with programming languages (i.e., Python, MATLAB, etc.)
- Excellent English written and oral communication skills (French is considered an asset)
No longer accepting applications.
Please combine the following documents into a single PDF file.
- Detailed curriculum vitae (CV)
- Cover letter (1 Page, no more than 500 words) explaining your suitability for the position and outlining previous research, modelling and/or programming experience. Please indicate which topic you are more interested or have more experience in.
- Contact information of at least two professional or academic references.
- Transcripts and graduation certificates
If you are already in Canada, or if you’re a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident, please highlight this in your communications.
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.
Questions/contact
For all questions, please contact Alisa Makusheva at alisa.makusheva@concordia.ca.
