PhD Candidate in Resilient Service Continuity Across Mobile Networks

This is NTNU NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim. At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world. You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.     Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KHQjc4ndas&t=41sAbout the position Are you motivated to pursue a doctoral degree and explore how mobile networks can work together to keep critical services running when facing failures or congestion? The Department of Information Security and Communication Technology (IIK) at NTNU has a vacancy for a PhD Candidate in Resilient Service Continuity Across Mobile Networks. As a PhD Candidate with us, you will work to achieve your doctorate, and at the same time gain valuable experience that qualifies you for a range of leading positions in business, administration, higher education and research. The position is fully funded and will run for 4 years (100 % employment), including teaching duties. Your immediate leader will be the Head of Discipline, and the workplace will be in Trondheim. About the project Mobile networks increasingly support critical services in emergency response, industry, transport, and maritime operations. Access to several networks can improve resilience, but sustaining a service requires more than restoring connectivity. Independently operated networks must coordinate resources and priorities while managing dependencies and commitments to existing users. They may also depend on shared infrastructure or capacity leased from one another, limiting the resilience gained from access to multiple operators. Norway’s plans for a new emergency network (Nødnett) over commercial mobile infrastructure illustrate the relevance of these broader challenges. As a PhD candidate, you will investigate how mobile networks can cooperate to maintain critical services during failures, congestion, and recovery. Your research will address networks that retain their own operational policies and exchange limited information about capacity and internal state, developing insights applicable across public and private networks. A specific focus will be on the networked systems mechanisms, data paths, and open interfaces needed to support resilient service continuity in multi-operator mobile network systems, addressing research questions such as: • What information must networks exchange to make effective admission and resource-allocation decisions without requiring full visibility into each other’s infrastructure? • How can service priorities and resource policies be coordinated across heterogeneous networks, including during congestion and large bursts of registration requests? • How can network selection, traffic steering, and recovery mechanisms maintain application continuity while avoiding repeated switching and overload cascades? • How do shared infrastructure, leased capacity, and dependencies between operators affect failure propagation and the resilience gained from alternative network access? With the Beyond 5G lab at the department, the project will emphasize experimental systems research: you will have the opportunity to conduct your research in both commercial and open-source mobile network deployments and test your ideas under realistic conditions. To explore conditions beyond the scale of the physical deployments, methods including simulation and analytical modeling can be a complementary building block. Duties of the position • Complete doctoral education and obtain a doctorate • Carry out research of good quality within the framework described above • Academic publications and popular science dissemination • Participate in the Networking research group • Participate in international activities such as conferences and/or research stays at foreign educational institutions • Teaching in courses related to networking • Other career-enhancing work Some changes to your work duties may occur after employment. Required selection criteria • You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's Doctoral Programme in Information Security and Communication Technology, see Section 6-1 of the PhD regulations for more information.• You must have a relevant master's degree in communication networks, wireless and mobile communications, information security and distributed systems, or equivalent. Your degree must include a major independent project (minimum 30 ECTS) equivalent to a master’s thesis. • Master students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented before starting the position and preferably within August 2027. • You must have a strong and relevant academic background from your previous studies and have an average grade from your master's degree study, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared to NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic foundation. If you have a weaker academic background, you may be considered if you can document that you are exceptionally suited for a PhD education, for example through relevant work experience and/or peer-reviewed academic works. • If you are in your master’s program, integrated PhD could be an option. Your MSc grades after your fourth year need to be completed with a grade B or better, in addition the IE-faculty require that your bachelor degree is completed with a grade C or better. Integrated PhD - Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering - NTNU. • Excellent oral and written presentation skills in English. The appointment is to be made in accordance with NTNUs guidelines for recruitment positions for general criteria for the position. Preferred selection criteria • Practical experience with 5G radio access and core deployments. • Hands-on experience with communication networks includi