Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree - DENSYS (2025-2027)

Decentralised smart energy systems (e.g. isolated villages, small cities, urban districts, rural areas connected or not to the electric grid, etc.) play an increasing role in the perspective of a transition towards a low carbon society and then of a massive integration of renewable energy sources within the global energy system.

Accordingly, the overall goals of the proposed EMJMD “DENSYS” are the following:

• To educate top skilled engineers with multiphysics approaches, who will be able to design, size, optimize and operate decentralised smart energy systems, with skills and expertise in the mechanical, aeronautical, chemical and electrical engineering disciplines and a sufficient level of systemic overview, which enables analysing the complex interactions in energy systems,
• To train future researchers (for both public and private sectors), as decentralized energy systems still require strong R&D investments, at the system scale (smart management), at the component scale (e.g. optimization of the lifespan, energy efficiency or density of the system’s components, …) and at the elementary mechanisms scale.
• To offer a broad opening on the human and social sciences to enable the students in having a general understanding and a holistic view of the energy systems and finally working with specialists of other disciplines by addressing particularly some non-technical issues: impact in the territories, social acceptance, economical issues, new business models, the active role of the consumer/producer in the systems. 
• To provide to students an international network as well as a genuine European learning, an integrated multicultural and language experience.

The EMJMD “DENSYS” programme has been inspired by the completed UNI-SET project. Coordinated by the European University Association (EUA), this project aimed at supporting the participation of universities in the SET Plan process and in EU energy research in general (for more details see the Energy Action Agenda).

Follow three associated partners of DENSYS which particularly involved in the DENSYS program. ESADE Business School, Spain, will organize a summer school dedicated to business and entrepreneurship in Energy. An immersive week will be hosted at Liège Université (Montefiore Institute), Belgium with a classes on AI and digitalization for he management of energy systems. Finally,  InnoEnergy SE is also very supportive of our program which is in line with its philosophy “pioneering change in sustainable energy“

Programme organisation

The programme complies with the ERASMUS mobility rules. Incoming students will start at UL where they will spend the first two semesters of their studies and receive the core part of their training. The third semester will be carried out in one of the three other institutions (KTH, Polito or UPC) and will include specialization courses that enhance the interdisciplinary of the offered degrees. The fourth semester will be devoted to an independent project that will be reported in the Master’s thesis. Here is an overview of the programme structure:

At the end of the programme, the student will be awarded two diplomas:

• Master Energie parcours “Decentralised Smart Energy System”, Université de Lorraine, France

and one of the following degree depending on the specialisation track selected for the 3rd semester:

• Master of Science (Teknologie Masterexamen), KTH, Sweden
• MSc in Energy and Nuclear Engineering (Laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria Energetica e Nucleare), PoliTo, Italy
• Erasmus Mundus Master in Decentralised Smart Energy Systems, with Thermal Energy Engineering Specialization, UPC, Spain

A programme with innovative features

• The programme will provide to students a systemic overview and the ability to dialog with a large panel of specialists, while having solid core competences. For that purpose, the “T-shaped” training profile will be implemented, the vertical bar being the deep core speciality on multiphysics engineering, as the horizontal bar represents the mind opening disciplines that will be taught via a large spectrum of breadth courses (mandatory or elective).
• Students are actors of the architecture of their education and thus of their skill profiles: they can choose a challenge topic, elective modules, a 3rd semester specialization track.
• The organization of summer schools with active participation of the students, for organization purposes and taking part of the scientific programme
• A reinforced cooperation with industry and other societal actors as decentralized energy systems implementation requires a close dialog between industry, energy operators, local authorities and citizens. Industry and social actors will be involved via the challenges and the master thesis internships.
• The culture and language component on all locations of the master: to increase multicultural awareness and mind opening.