Tenured Professor of Risk in the Built Environment

TalTech Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture invites applications for a professor position in Risk in the Built Environment.

The research carried out at the Building Lifecycle Research Group in the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture in TalTech approaches the building lifecycle as a whole, integrating the construction process and its outcomes with management strategies, technologies, building materials, economics and facilities management.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Risk is a cross-cutting theme that is important in many fields of scientific enquiry including Civil Engineering and Architecture. It is a central concept in various Built Environment specialist subject areas and at all scales. At the project scale, risk management and risk allocation between stakeholders are fundamental to successful project management. At the enterprise scale, the risk-reward relationship underlies investment decisions, and it has been argued that a culture of risk-aversion in construction industry firms has led to high transaction costs, low profits, a lack of investment in technology and training and low innovation and productivity. At the macro scale, the resilience of the built environment to disasters and climate change relies on the effective understanding and mitigation of risk. At each of these scales, Risk in the Built Environment is considered to be a research area that enables engagement with important societal issues in collaboration with stakeholders and researchers from multiple disciplines.

The Tenured Professor of Risk in the Built Environment (tenured or tenure track) will take forward the research and teaching programmes of the Building Lifecycle Research Group, in particular, the existing research on Built Environment Resilience and developing the Dynamic Simulation Lab with respect to risk-related modelling and simulation of Built Environment systems. The Group’s recent research includes the following topics:

• multi-attribute decision making methods for the assessment of different management strategies;
• developing and providing BIM-related know-how;
• different aspects of construction economics and management in the major fields of civil engineering;
• surveys on the building life cycle and technical conditions of housing;
• disaster resilience of the built environment;
• educational aspects of civil engineering, etc.;
• regulation of construction activities and creation of normative materials and standards for the Estonian construction industry;
• utilization of oil shale ash in the production of building materials;
• utilization of oil shale mining waste materials in concrete;
• energy saving and the renovation of buildings.

Tasks for the position:

• research and development in their field and its organization, management of research topics;
• developing cooperation with other research and development institutions and companies;
• organizing the development of the material base for research and development in the field of Risk in the Built Environment;
• a balanced range of professional teaching, research and development activities in the field of Risk in the Built Environment in accordance with the university's Academic Career Management Regulation;
• supervising doctoral students, master’s students and bachelor’s students in conducting independent research;
• publication of research and development results;
• work as an expert in their field;
• conducting teaching (bachelor's, focusing on master's and doctoral level) and study development activities at the modern methodological and educational technological level in the field of Risk in the Built Environment: Construction Investments and Project Management courses, Construction Management Simulation courses and courses for supervised doctoral students;
• organizing academic study and study development activities and being responsible for this level in their field;
• expected directions of research and development: risk-related modelling and simulation of built environment systems and associated applications.

Accompanying tasks: participation in the work of national and international professional decision-making bodies and commissions; cooperation with the editors of scientific journals, review of scientific articles; popularization of their specialty and field of research; coordination of professional development.

Contact person: Irene Lill, Professor, Head of the Building Lifecycle Research Group, email [email protected] .

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

To apply for this position please send the following documents in English by 15 January 2022 at the latest by using the link “Apply ”:

• an application;
• documents proving that the candidate holds the required academic degree (PhD or an equivalent qualification) and has acquired the required education;
• a curriculum vitae and a list of publications;
• an academic portfolio, including a motivated self-evaluation regarding compliance with the requirements for the tenured professor post set out in the Academic Career Management Regulation Annex 3 “Academic Evaluation Matrix” (required in case of university staff) or a free format evaluation of the academic activity undertaken so far and the competencies required for work (required form external applicants);
• a vision or an action plan for the following period of employment (the maximum total length 1500 words);
• other documents considered important by the applicant.

Regarding further information on the application documents and recruitment process please contact TalTech HR [email protected] .