Thesis Work – Dancing rods: Evaluation of an alternative method for fish guidance

About the Thesis Work

To comply with the EU WFD, which aims to achieve a “good” ecological status/potential of all rivers,  the national ongoing hydropower relicensing process (NAP) in Sweden works towards mitigating the environmental impacts of hydropower production on the aquatic ecosystem. There is a particular need to develop alternative solutions that facilitate downstream migration for fish in large scale hydropower plants, as these solutions are generally missing.

Dancing rods are a type of behavioral fish guidance system designed to steer fish away from hazardous areas, such as turbine intakes, by using visual and mechanical stimuli. The slats move erratically in the water, creating a dynamic barrier that encourages fish to follow safer migration paths. While initial tests have shown promising results, especially for Atlantic salmon smolts, there is a clear need to continue evaluating their effectiveness with a broader range of fish—particularly weak-swimming species that may respond differently to the stimuli. The aim of this thesis is therefore to evaluate the guiding effect of the dancing rods for a species of weak-swimming fish under different environmental conditions.

The scope of this thesis is to acquire a basic understanding of behavioral barriers. You will be part of the planning, preparing, conducting fish experiments at Vattenfall’s stream flume facility in Älvkarleby, as well as analysis of the data and writing up the results.

Your Profile

We are looking for a student or students who want to work towards fossil freedom and who are about to graduate from their academic studies. You are also someone who identifies with our principles: Active, Open, Positive, and Safety.

The applicant should enjoy hands-on experimental work and have a background in biology, and/or nature science, and should possess good skills in handling live fish, and basic knowledge of fish biology. English and/or Swedish language is a requirement.

The thesis is designed for one student and 30 credit points (approx. 6 months).

Please check with your course/module advisor/professor for suitability before applying for this thesis.

• Start date: January/February 2026 or by agreement
• Location: Älvkarleby during experiments. Other times a hybrid solution possible.
• Application – one file containing your CV and a copy of your transcripts
• Application deadline: 2025-10-26
• Contact person and supervisor at Vattenfall: David Aldvén, +46 703762859, david.aldven@vattenfall.com

Diversity and Inclusion – In Everything We Do

We are convinced that heterogeneous teams can outperform homogeneous ones. But we can only unlock the power of diversity when everyone feels included. Read more about our important work on diversity and inclusion at https://careers.vattenfall.com/se/sv/jobba-med-oss/mangfald-inkludering.

About Vattenfall

At Vattenfall, we are determined to enable fossil freedom. To succeed, we must first become fully fossil-free ourselves as one of Europe’s largest energy companies. But that is not enough. To contribute to a fossil-free society, we need to do more than just focus on sustainable energy production.

We believe that enabling fossil freedom requires us to address the challenge from a broader perspective than merely producing energy sustainably.

Join us on the journey towards fossil freedom.

As Vattenfall is part of Sweden’s critical infrastructure, many of our roles are security-classified. This means that, if this position is security-classified, final candidates may be subject to a special security clearance in accordance with the Security Protection Act.

To enable the fossil freedom that drives society forward – this is our purpose. We are looking for talented students who want to help us on our journey towards fossil freedom. By writing a thesis at Vattenfall, you will have a unique opportunity to contribute to our purpose.