Background

South Africa's energy sector is undergoing fundamental change, as are the energy sectors off all the world's major economies. Energy generation is becoming more dependent on renewables, as opposed to non-renewable or fossil fuel, resources. Energy supply and distribution are becoming more diverse and decentralized, while energy consumers are becoming prosumers. Additionally there are added complexities of balancing social, economic and environmental priorities, in a sustainable manner.

What we do

At the Graduate School of Technology Management, we focus on management and multi-disciplinarity of the energy transition. The school has modules covering sustainability management, project management, technology management, innovation management, science and technology policy, systems engineering and aspects of the circular economy. These courses provide the ideal background for students to understand the significance of energy transition.

Our focus is on a number of important themes within the overall national energy setting.

In addition to the above themes we also research advanced energy prediction models, energy policy, energy justice, energy nexus, etc. We welcome self-developed topics from students based on their practical experience and the nexus of energy with other sectors.

Our MTIM core modules on technology management, technology strategy, techno-economics and circular economy, and electives such as sustainability management, provide a platform to conduct research in topics related multi-criteria decision analysis and economics of energy systems.

Such studies and results from such studies, find relevance in energy project/product life cycle costing, choice of energy technologies or products, and energy product/price analysis.

Opportunities with us:

We have opportunities for masters (part-time) as part of the taught programmes, doctoral (part-time or full time) and post-docs (full time) research projects in any of the research themes of the GSTM Energy Systems Analysis Group.

We are specifically looking for students who:

• Have strong analytical skills
• Have a systems view yet remain cognisant of the details
• Are excellent two-way communicators inclusive of excellent English writing skills
• Are naturally curious and self-driven
• Are committed to deliver high-quality results on time
• Are interested in sustainability transitions and renewable energy

We are also looking for students who possess the characteristics above and, in addition, have strong analytical skills. These students will be tasked to do their research on life-cycle analysis, techno- economic models and other ad-hoc topics.

Study Leaders