Post-doc Circular Campus

We invite applications for a two-year fulltime Postdoc position on the theme of Circular Campus. The TU Delft has the ambition to transform its campus into a sustainable campus. To achieve this, the TU Delft cooperates with the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment's Circular Built Environment hub  and Campus Real Estate (CRE). The TU Delft campus is a large campus with a large amount of buildings and infrastructure that constantly needs to adapt to new requirements, and expand. However, this building and renovation task becomes increasingly a challenge due to the negative ecological impact and the societal turmoil of a vast decreasing availability of materials. The circular economy's (CE) principles are seen as a solution to both challenges. The CE strives for a closed loop of materials and products to end the linear economy, a slowing down of the speed of the circle to use materials and products as long as possible, and a geographical as small as possible circle to use as much as possible local materials and products.

The Postdoc research will therefore need to combine concepts and methods from geography, industrial ecology, architecture, and spatial planning:

1) Geography: We need insights in what types of materials are stocked/available in the built environment, where they are located, and when they come available. This to strive for a more optimal match between harvesting of a building, and the (re)building. For this several databases will need to be combined, and where needed expanded. CRE uses currently the plaform 'Insert'  that acts as an online marketplace to sell and buy used products, materials and components. Currently this platform is used by the CRE in several pilots. The postdoc researcher will help monitor these pilots. Next, the CRE is currently developing the material passports of several new built buildings on the TUDelft campus. For the existing buildings, databases are being developed for relevant Shearing layers. The end deliverable is a clear visualisation of stock and flows of building materials.

2) Industrial Ecology: We need to understand the socioeconomic and ecological impacts of the whole (re)building process, in order to understand what part prioritizes more than another. For this, a collaboration with the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).

3) Spatial Planning and Urbanism: Eventually, all these insights need to be translated in clear policy recommendations for the TU Delft campus governance to improve. What needs to be done? Or who needs to be involved to improve the sustainable campus?

The candidate has:

• experience with GIS and the use of (material) databases and visualisation.
• a link with the built environment through different scales (material-building-region), via for example studying/working with the fields of urbanism, spatial planning, geography, industrial ecology.
• experience with interviews, organizing round tables, and writing policy recommendations.

Extra's are:

• a PhD in urbanism, spatial planning, geography, industrial ecology, or related fields.
• understanding the specific challenges of the TUDelft, Delft and the province of Zuid-Holland.
• experience with publishing scientific results in academic journals.
• experience with the topic of the circular economy, and specifically the circular built environment.

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

For international applicants we offer the Coming to Delft Service and Partner Career Advice to assist you with your relocation. An International Children's Centre offers childcare and there is an international primary school.

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. Karel Van den Berghe,
e-mail: [email protected] .

For information about the application procedure, please contact Manon de Gier, HR assistant,
via e-mail: [email protected] .

The position will remain open until January 15, 2023 (local Dutch time: UTC time + 2 hrs). You must apply via the "Apply now" button. Applications via e-mail will not be processed.

If you want to apply for this Postdoc position, please submit a motivation letter, a detailed CV, contact details of three references, and one or two short proposals of how you would tackle the challenge (each max. 1 A4). Proposal could address various issues, from the more societal discussions, to specific methods you want to use/develop. Proposals could also address what needs to be combined/researched that within the CE literature has not yet been covered. 

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.
• Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.

We invite applications for a two-year fulltime Postdoc position on the theme of Circular Campus. The TU Delft has the ambition to transform its campus into a sustainable campus. To achieve this, the TU Delft cooperates with the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment's Circular Built Environment hub  and Campus Real Estate (CRE). The TU Delft campus is a large campus with a large amount of buildings and infrastructure that constantly needs to adapt to new requirements, and expand. However, this building and renovation task becomes increasingly a challenge due to the negative ecological impact and the societal turmoil of a vast decreasing availability of materials. The circular economy's (CE) principles are seen as a solution to both challenges. The CE strives for a closed loop of materials and products to end the linear economy, a slowing down of the speed of the circle to use materials and products as long as possible, and a geographical as small as possible circle to use as much as possible local materials and products.

The Postdoc research will therefore need to combine concepts and methods from geography, industrial ecology, architecture, and spatial planning:

1) Geography: We need insights in what types of materials are stocked/available in the built environment, where they are located, and when they come available. This to strive for a more optimal match between harvesting of a building, and the (re)building. For this several databases will need to be combined, and where needed expanded. CRE uses currently the plaform 'Insert'  that acts as an online marketplace to sell and buy used products, materials and components. Currently this platform is used by the CRE in several pilots. The postdoc researcher will help monitor these pilots. Next, the CRE is currently developing the material passports of several new built buildings on the TUDelft campus. For the existing buildings, databases are being developed for relevant Shearing layers. The end deliverable is a clear visualisation of stock and flows of building materials.

2) Industrial Ecology: We need to understand the socioeconomic and ecological impacts of the whole (re)building process, in order to understand what part prioritizes more than another. For this, a collaboration with the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).

3) Spatial Planning and Urbanism: Eventually, all these insights need to be translated in clear policy recommendations for the TU Delft campus governance to improve. What needs to be done? Or who needs to be involved to improve the sustainable campus?

The candidate has:

• experience with GIS and the use of (material) databases and visualisation.
• a link with the built environment through different scales (material-building-region), via for example studying/working with the fields of urbanism, spatial planning, geography, industrial ecology.
• experience with interviews, organizing round tables, and writing policy recommendations.

Extra's are:

• a PhD in urbanism, spatial planning, geography, industrial ecology, or related fields.
• understanding the specific challenges of the TUDelft, Delft and the province of Zuid-Holland.
• experience with publishing scientific results in academic journals.
• experience with the topic of the circular economy, and specifically the circular built environment.

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

For international applicants we offer the Coming to Delft Service and Partner Career Advice to assist you with your relocation. An International Children's Centre offers childcare and there is an international primary school.

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. Karel Van den Berghe,
e-mail: [email protected] .

For information about the application procedure, please contact Manon de Gier, HR assistant,
via e-mail: [email protected] .

The position will remain open until January 15, 2023 (local Dutch time: UTC time + 2 hrs). You must apply via the "Apply now" button. Applications via e-mail will not be processed.

If you want to apply for this Postdoc position, please submit a motivation letter, a detailed CV, contact details of three references, and one or two short proposals of how you would tackle the challenge (each max. 1 A4). Proposal could address various issues, from the more societal discussions, to specific methods you want to use/develop. Proposals could also address what needs to be combined/researched that within the CE literature has not yet been covered. 

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.
• Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.