Postdoctoral Fellow - Integrated Assessment of Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency Measures

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The postdoctoral fellowship position is a temporary position where the main goal is to qualify for work in senior academic positions.  

The Industrial Ecology Program (IndEcol), Department of Energy and Process Engineering (EPT) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow to advance the integrated modeling of circular economy and resource efficiency strategies in climate change mitigation models. The modeling is to combine bottom-up life cycle assessment, dynamic stock models, and integrated assessment models. It is part of the CIRCOMOD project, a Horizon Europe project lead by Utrecht University.

The circular economy has been recognized at the EU and global levels as an important mechanism to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). Land, water, energy, biomass, and minerals comprise resources which are to be used more efficiently. The International Resource Panel has found that there are important potential synergies between reducing material footprints (the indicator for SDG 12.1) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. So-called integrated assessment models, which are central in informing climate change and biodiversity policy, capture material use and industrial production insufficiently. The industrial ecology community has traditionally focused on empirical research of resource use, material cycles, the life cycle impacts of products and technologies, and global supply chains and production networks. There is now a move towards forward-looking, mechanistic models which can provide scenarios of resource use and emissions as a function of technology choice and the implementation of specific mitigation strategies.

The RECC modeling framework focuses on the functional performance and dynamics of product stocks over time and combines life-cycle assessment, engineering models, and material flow analysis. NTNU is collaborating with climate research institutes in order to help climate change mitigation models correctly represent material demand and options for demand management in circular material flows. This is the focus of the CIRCOMOD project.

The Postdoctor would take a leading role in the further development and application of the current suite of models and assessment approaches to the decarbonization of identified with the aim to develop an approach that can be implemented in a range of economic and climate models. The work will be done under the guidance of Professor Edgar Hertwich and in collaboration with the entire consortium.

The Head of Department is Professor Terese Løvås. The position’s supervisor is Professor Edgar Hertwich.

Trondheim, Gløshaugen, is the place of duty.

This position is part of the CIRCOMOD project, a Horizon Europe project, lead by Utrecht University.