Assistant/Associate professor in Flood risk management and resilient delta infrastructure

Flood risks in deltas are increasing. Moreover, a lot of the large scale infrastructure in the Dutch delta and other deltas (e.g. dikes, dams, weirs, barriers, sluices, quay walls) is ageing. It is crucial to come to a better understanding of the performance, reliability and resilience of hydraulic infrastructure in the context of flood risk management and other functions. . Hydraulic infrastructure reaching the end of its lifetime needs to be re-assessed in order to integrally address optimization of infrastructure replacement and maintenance.

The new tenure tracker will focus on improving methods for flood risk quantification and risk-based design using both grey and green interventions. You will advance methods for flood risk assessment, by introducing new aspects such as (modelling) cascading impacts of floods on various critical infrastructure systems, and novel evaluation methods which may also consider other functions than flood risk (e.g. navigation, nature for river systems).

Ideally, you will also develop and include approaches to monitor delta infrastructure, and to integrate the observations in assessments of the strength, reliability and durability of the infrastructure. Innovative observational techniques (and particularly combinations of observations) will be developed, and / or deployed at various scales (lab, pilot scale, full scale). The observations could also include “post-disaster” observations of damaged infrastructure and economic damages after events. The coupling with data science will be addressed, e.g. through the development of digital twins of the considered infrastructure. Monitoring and interventions need to be prioritized following the needs of asset and life cycle management.

The candidate preferably has expertise in multiple of the following fields: flood risk management, reliability engineering, monitoring and data science, and applications to (hydraulic) delta infrastructure. Given the interest in riverine flood risk issues in the department, it would also be relevant if the candidate has expertise in this field.

The key job responsibilities of a successful candidate for this Assistant or associate Professorship include:

• Research (40%): Delivering high quality, internationally leading research related to [xxx]. (Co)supervising PhD and MSc students aimed at successful completion of their theses. Effectively disseminating research outcomes via internationally leading journals and conferences is an intrinsic part of the job.
• Education (40%): Contributing to the organization and teaching of relevant courses in the BSc and MSc programs of Civil Engineering and Applied Earth Sciences, particularly the Hydraulic and off shore structures specialization (HOS). This includes the opportunity to introduce new content and teaching methods matching the candidate’s expertise and interests in the renewed MSc programs (offered from September 2022). Preparing, supervising and assessing of BSc and MSc student projects.
• Valorization (included in previous categories): Initiating projects and obtaining funding for new research and/or education projects. We encourage proactive engagement with both private and government sectors, i.e. industry, business and community partners for societal impact.
• Organization (20%): Contributing to organizational / administrative activities and committees within the Department of Hydraulic Engineering and the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The position is open for candidates for the assistant and associate professor level. At the level of associate professor, the candidate is expected to have proven capabilities and track record with the initiation and coordination of the research described above and fulfils the criteria of for this role within TU Delft.