Post-Doc in Restoring Urban Stream for Biodiversity, Climate Adaptation and Urban Quality of Life

Join ReBioClim, a project aiming to pilot Social-Ecologically Integrated Urban Stream Restoration in four European cities.

We are inviting applications for a 1,5-year position (0.8 FTE) as a postdoc researcher in the interdisciplinary project ReBioClim - Restoring urban streams to promote Biodiversity, Climate adaptation and to improve quality of life in cities. ReBioClim is an Interreg Central Europe project that brings together 12 partners around four urban stream restoration cases in Dresden (Germany), Poznan (Poland), Bratislava (Slovakia) and Jablonec nad Nisou (Czechia), with external expertise on spatial analysis and design from TU Delft.

Building on the tradition of the Department of Urbanism of designing and planning cities with water, as well as the involved research group's experience in urban riverspace analysis and design, the TU Delft team will conduct urban geospatial analyses considering the morphological, social, ecological and environmental particularities of urban stream corridors. Carried out as a spatial multi-criteria analysis in all case study locations, this activity will reveal how local spatial patterns influence stream restoration potentials and to what extent they are generic and thus transferrable. Conflicts (e.g., between traffic and ecological corridors) and synergies (e.g., low-impact recreation in a riparian zone) across the different layers of analysis will be highlighted.

TU Delft will also lead the joint development of a co-design workshop methodology. Following a multi- and mixed-method approach to data collection in the workshops, the research team will triangulate nuanced information on different facets of stream restoration and its perception by citizens. The co-design methodology will be set up in such a way that comparison and integration of information across the cases will be possible in subsequent activities. The workshop will be designed to engage citizens effectively and make their co-design experience enjoyable, insightful and empowering.

Moreover, TU Delft will contribute to the development of transferrable design principles for social-ecological integration that rely on the nature-based solutions collected or developed during the project. The integrative character of the design principles (e.g., how they meet social and ecological targets jointly) will be made explicit in the description of the principles. All principles will have an illustration that explains the essence of the proposed intervention and thus facilitates their uptake in implementation. After being evaluated and validated by experts, the principles will be incorporated into a best-practice guide and a handbook for integrated urban stream restoration.

In the context of these activities, your key responsibilities will be:

• Conducting geospatial analysis to describe the current and potential spatial conditions around the urban stream transformations targeted in the four cases.
• Contributing to the development of the co-design methodology and guiding other partners in applying this methodology.
• Contributing to the development of design principles, best practice guide and handbook together with consortium partners.
• Managing the raw and derived, spatial and non-spatial, data following the Data Management Plan and project-wide data agreements.
• Actively participating in in-person and online meetings and other knowledge exchange activities with consortium partners.
• Writing up project deliverables.
• Contributing to the publication of research findings in reputable peer-reviewed journals and present results in conferences and workshops.

You will be part of the Section of Urban Design in the Department of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

• A PhD degree in one or more of the following disciplines: urbanism, landscape architecture, urban studies, urban planning, human geography, or a related discipline.
• A strong and demonstrable interest in sustainable urban transformations instrumented by nature-based solutions, green-blue infrastructure and/or urban rivers/streams.
• A strong interest in design-driven research, preferably demonstrated with experience in developing or conducting design workshops.
• Excellent skills in geospatial analysis and spatial morphology, preferably in QGIS.
• Verbal and written working profficiency in English, including good writing skills, as demonstrated by peer-reviewed academic publications or by other relevant writing experience.
• Ability to work independently and in a result-oriented way.
• Availability to start in January 2025.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience in conducting geospatial analysis in a programming environment such as R or Python.
• Knowledge of co-design workshop methodologies.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service . This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has a leading role in education and research worldwide. The driving force behind the faculty’s success is its robust research profile combined with the energy and creativity of its student body and academic community. It is buzzing with energy from early in the morning until late at night, with four thousand people studying, working, designing, conducting research and acquiring and disseminating knowledge. Our faculty has a strong focus on 'design-oriented research’, which has given it a top position in world rankings.

Staff and students are working to improve the built environment with the help of a broad set of disciplines, including architectural design, urban planning, building technology, social sciences, process management, and geo-information science. The faculty works closely with other faculties, universities, private parties, and the public sector, and has an extensive network in the Netherlands as well as internationally.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Claudiu Forgaci via email: [email protected] .

For information about the application procedure, please contact Paulien Stastra, HR advisor, e-mail: [email protected] .

The position will remain open until September 15, 2024 (local Dutch time + 2 hrs). You must apply via the “Apply now” button. Applications via email will not be processed.

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please upload the following mandatory documents:

• A detailed CV in English (including a list of publications).
• A short motivation letter in English addressing your interests and describing your fit with the advertised position (max. 2 pages).
• The name and contact details of two references.
• The abstract of your PhD thesis (in English) and URL to the academic repository where it is published (do not upload complete dissertations).

Please note:

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• A pre-Employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.