PhD : Societal dimensions of AI-enabled energy sharing energy communities, University

University of Basel, Switzerland

We are recruiting for a 4 year fully funded PhD position on a Horizon Europe project. Please reach out if you are interested and have questions, and feel free to forward to students who might be interested. Apologies for cross-posting!

Starting date:
January 2027
Level of employment: 100%

The Sustainability Research Group at the University of Basel is looking for one PhD candidate to investigate the societal dimensions of AI-enabled energy sharing within energy communities. The position is part of the Horizon Europe project FAIR4

COMMUNITIES, which brings together 18 partners from across Europe to develop next-generation, AI-driven tools for fair, human-centric, and grid-friendly energy sharing.

As Europe’s energy system becomes increasingly decentralized and participatory, Energy Communities are emerging as important actors in the energy transition. The FAIR4

COMMUNITIES project aims to develop and validate advanced AI forecasting and optimization tools that enable fair, value-oriented, and grid-friendly energy sharing across consumers, Energy Communities, and multi-community ecosystems.

The project goes beyond purely technical optimization by placing consumers at the heart of energy-sharing schemes. It integrates expertise from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) to ensure that the technologies developed are socially acceptable, inclusive, trustworthy, and aligned with societal values and needs.

As the main SSH partner for the project, the Sustainability Research Group plays a central role in understanding and addressing the societal dimensions of these emerging technologies. The PhD candidate will contribute to the development and implementation of a Societal Readiness Framework (SRF) that systematically integrates social, institutional, and regulatory considerations into the design and implementation of AI-based energy-sharing tools.

The PhD will further investigate the psychological, socioeconomic, and social factors influencing the uptake of AI-enabled energy sharing. Research activities will include quota-representative national surveys, semi-structured interviews, and participatory workshops to examine attitudes, acceptance, trust, perceived fairness, and other potential determinants of participation in AI-enabled energy-sharing schemes.

In addition, the PhD candidate will collaborate with a range of stakeholders, including technology developers, Energy Community organisers and members, to design, test, and refine user-centred tools, dashboards, and interfaces. This work will involve evaluating aspects such as usability, trust in AI-supported decisions, and perceived fairness.

The PhD candidate will also contribute to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of behavioural and trust-building field experiments in pilot sites across Europe, including Greece, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. These activities will examine how different intervention strategies influence technology adoption and participation.

Research activities will form the basis of multiple academic research papers and will contribute to the development of a PhD thesis.

Applicants must possess an academic qualification (MSc/MA) in the social sciences, psychology, or a related discipline, ideally with a focus on sustainability, and should have experience with relevant empirical research methods. Strong quantitative research skills and experience with surveys are expected, while qualitative research skills, including experience with interviews, workshops and thematic analysis, are desirable.

A proficient level in English, excellent analytical and academic writing skills, strong communication and interpersonal skills, and a…