Master Program Digitalized Energy Systems

To mitigate climate change and thus as a matter of urgency, the energy transition represents one of the greatest technological and societal challenges of our time. The main challenge for a reliable, economically and ecologically feasible energy supply lies in the efficient, secure, and reliable digitalization of a technical system that integrates a huge number of fluctuating energy generation, consumers, storage facilities, and grid components that are difficult to forecast into a technically stable and financially viable overall system. In addition, the energy system is a critical infrastructure – the lifeline of modern societies. The failure or impairment of such a system would result in long-lasting supply bottlenecks, significant disruptions to public safety, or other dramatic effects.

This degree program enables graduates to conduct research at research institutions or universities on the still missing elements of a successful digitalization of the energy domain and thus on the implementation of the energy transition or to occupy diverse positions in the energy industry due to the high practical relevance of the study content.

The Master's program DES offers a focused scientific study program based on a completed Bachelor's degree in computer science or a closely related subject. The study program offers an interdisciplinary approach to the development and analysis of the system intelligence required for energy supply in the future energy grid.

In addition to a clear understanding of the fundamentals, principles, and methods of computer science in its applications to energy systems, graduates of this degree program will have a deeper insight into methods, problems, and findings from the latest research in energy informatics. They can assess methods for developing and analyzing the required system intelligence, and select and apply them appropriately to solve problems. They have in-depth knowledge of algorithms for adaptive control as well as for control and continuous dynamic optimization of the complex and very extensive (European) power supply system. To this end, the students possess, in particular, competencies for complexity control through decomposition and abstraction, for the identification of and focus on generalizable principles and the search for decoupling points for the simplified control of the complex overall system.

The Department of Computing Science at the University of Oldenburg meanwhile looks back on more than 35 years of education in all areas of computer and computing science. Oldenburg's internationally renowned energy research - not only in the field of energy informatics - has a history of more than 30 years, which is characterized by an interdisciplinary exchange with other university locations in Lower Saxony, Germany, and abroad and various scientific centers. The work in the subject area of "Intelligent Energy Systems" at the University of Oldenburg is among the top group. This is reflected, for example, in the management of large interdisciplinary joint research projects, the management of the specialist group "Energy Informatics" of the Gesellschaft für Informatik (German Informatics Society) or the founding from the German side of the DACH+ leading conference "Energy Informatics". Energy informatics in Oldenburg is currently the largest national research group in this field with international networking, for example through the associated partnership in the Joint Programme "Smart Grids" of the European Energy Research Alliance or the ACM Special Emerging Interest Group on Energy Systems and Informatics "ACM SIGEIG-Energy" established in 2018. The university is located in Oldenburg, a city in Lower Saxony that, despite its current rapid growth, has retained a livable small-town charm with a rich range of leisure and cultural activities. The small large city with more than 170,000 inhabitants is located in northwest Germany between the North Sea, Hamburg, and the Dutch border. The North Sea shapes the climate: in summer it is not too hot, and in winter not too cold. At the University of Oldenburg, there are various opportunities for international and German students to network with each other. You can either participate in events or get involved.

Advantages of studying at the Department of Computer Science

Creative research environment

Our degree programs emphasize a solid basic education in computer science and offer insights into basic research as well as the diverse applications of computer science in teaching. To this end, the department cooperates closely with other subjects at the university, for example, medicine and psychology, as well as economics and social sciences in particular. The Department of Computer Science actively promotes the early and successful involvement of students in existing research, which is impressively confirmed by numerous publications and presentations by students at relevant conferences and trade fairs, some of which have been awarded prizes. Students appreciate this way of research-oriented teaching, which familiarises students with research issues already during their studies.

Study - closely networked

Individuality and manageability are two important aspects of studying. The teachers in Oldenburg maintain very close and good contact with their students. In computer science, students work together with the lecturers through courses, practicals, seminars, and theses. Many of our students are also involved in current problems and supervisory activities as tutors and student assistants. The department openly meets the many requirements of a dynamic university location and the new demands made by our students.

Innovative environment

Oldenburg's nationally and internationally visible computer science has stimulated an outstanding IT landscape in its vicinity with a focus on the future fields of mobility, energy, health, and the environment and sustainability. In addition to numerous IT companies, this includes in particular the affiliated OFFIS Institute for Computer Science, one of the most important non-university computer science research institutions in Germany, and the newly established branch of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence. In the research laboratories for networked energy systems, maritime systems, assisted and automated driving, future care and health systems as well as for smart city structures, which are jointly operated by the university and the OFFIS Institute for Computer Science, we work together on innovative solutions for socially relevant issues of the future. Through cooperation with numerous regional and supra-regional companies and public institutions, students can already apply the skills they have learned during their studies. The University of Oldenburg is a cosmopolitan place where people from over 110 countries study, teach, and research.