Where: Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Trento, Italy)
When: application deadline October 31st, 2026
Link: https://www.fbk.eu/en/
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Trento, Italy) is looking for a graduate student who wants to pursue a master’s thesis project in the field of optimization.
Project overview
Hydrogen valleys are regional ecosystems that integrate the full hydrogen value chain in an industrial and residential context, covering the sectors of production, storage, transport and end use. The hydrogen supply chain must be carefully designed to ensure the economic viability and environmental sustainability of these initiatives. The goal of the master’s thesis project is the optimisation of the hydrogen supply chain by minimising the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), while also studying the environmental impact.
Planned activities
- Survey of the scientific literature about hydrogen supply chain optimisation with a focus on transportation problems. In particular, the candidate is expected to investigate network flow problems for the satisfaction of hydrogen demand, and the truck and trailer problem applied to hydrogen dispatch to exploit the buffering capacity of trailers.
- Define models for the facilities that are part of the hydrogen valley, i.e. technologies in the areas of hydrogen production, transportation and end use. Starting with small-size valley models, increase the model complexity to write a comprehensive, modular model of the hydrogen valley.
- Study the effect of temporary hydrogen storage in local tanks vs. storage in tube trailers.
- Trade-off the complexity of optimising year-round transportation operations with the granularity of operational decisions.
- Validate the optimisation model on the case study of North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley (NAHV).
- Develop the code base for a modular optimisation framework.
Expected outcomes
- Reporting on the state-of-the-art solutions for hydrogen supply chain modelling and optimisation, with a focus on the truck and trailer problem.
- An optimisation model of the hydrogen supply chain for the context of hydrogen valleys.
- A prototype of a modular optimisation framework for hydrogen supply chain.
- Insights and quantification of the environmental impact of the proposed transportation solutions.
Ideal candidate requirements
- Be a graduate student in Energy Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Data Science, or similar paths.
- Be proficient in at least one object-oriented programming language, e.g., Python, Julia, etc.
- Have basic knowledge of energy markets and hydrogen systems.
Internship details
- Start date: Anytime the selected candidate is available to start.
- Duration: At least 6 months.
- Workplace: Povo (Trento).
- Benefits: Free canteen.
- Requirements: You need to find an academic supervisor!
- FBK Supervisors: Michele Urbani, Emanuele Martinelli
Company page: https://www.fbk.eu/en/
Contact: Michele Urbani murbani@fbk.eu