Doctoral Student Position in Wastewater Network Condition Monitoring

University of Oulu is an international science university creating new knowledge, wellbeing and innovation for the future through multidisciplinary research and education. Close cooperation with research institutes, companies and the public sector has created an internationally significant research and innovation hub that has changed the world. Every day 2.6 billion people use technology developed in Oulu. In addition, the university’s location close to the Arctic offers unique conditions for a wide variety of research.

The Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit is opening

a Doctoral Student Position

to work on wastewater network management. The position will be based in the Water Supply and Wastewater Engineering Research Group led by Assistant Professor Pekka Rossi (www.oulu.fi/water/). The candidate will work in the WATCON research project dealing with data-driven assessment and management of water and wastewater network assets. Making informed decisions on condition inspections and renovations is relevant, as wastewater networks are critical ageing infrastructure and thus require large investments.  The goal of the project is to improve wastewater network condition assessment with inflow and infiltration quantification using hydraulic parameters and water quality analysis including multi-isotope approach. The project is carried out in collaboration with Aalto university, whose research in the project concentrates on wastewater network asset management including data derived from CCTV inspections.

The Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit (WE3) research covers a broad area of expertise including hydrology, water resources, energy systems and environmental studies (www.oulu.fi/water). The research unit is a multinational group working in a modern, up-to-date research environment. The unit has a staff of 60 including 25 full-time doctoral students working with new discoveries in water resources science, engineering and management.  

Work description

A successful candidate is expected to have a background and experience in water engineering. Experience in wastewater network assessment and management will be considered as advantage. The candidate is expected to:

• Conduct field research on wastewater networks and laboratory research
• Study the hydraulics and selected water quality parameters for sewer inflow and infiltration monitoring
• Compare the usefulness of different sewer condition assessment methods

Qualifications

Assessment of the applicants’ qualifications will be based on the following criteria:

• Master´s degree in Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering/Sciences with major in Water and Wastewater Engineering or an equivalent degree
• Strong knowledge in Water Engineering including Hydraulics, Water and Wastewater management and Hydrology
• Experience and interest in design and operation of wastewater networks
• Fluency in both written and spoken English, good communication and teamworking skills
• Experience and interest in water chemistry (e.g., wastewater quality, natural tracers as stable isotopes) is an advantage
• GIS experience is an advantage
• Experience with programming with MATLAB, R or Python is an advantage
• Experience in scientific publication is an advantage
• Fluency in Finnish is an advantage

Terms of employment

The duration of the position is 2 years, beginning on March 1, 2022 (or as soon as possible thereafter). A six-month trial period will be applied to the position.

The salary is in accordance with the university salary system for teaching and research personnel level 2 of the demand level chart. In addition to the basic salary, supplementary salary will be paid for personal achievement and performance, the sum rising to a maximum of 50% of the basic salary level for the post. The typical salary for a starting doctoral student is €2,300-2,500 per month depending on experience and qualifications. The applicant will help on to apply for external funding for the following 2 years of the PhD work if needed.

How to apply

Applications, together with all relevant enclosures, should be submitted online by February 13th , 2022 at 23:59 (Finnish local time).

The eligible applicants best fitting the expected research profile may be invited to an on-site or remote interview. All applicants will be notified when the selection process has been completed.

The application should be written in English and include the following documents:

For further information, please contact:

Assistant Professor Pekka Rossi, pekka.rossi@oulu.fi , +358294484395 (Office hours 8-16)

Water Supply and Wastewater Engineering Research Group, WE3 Research Unit
Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu