PhD Candidate in Re-valuing urban heritage to increase cities’ readiness to face climate change

15th February 2024
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English

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English
The Department of Architecture and Planning has a vacancy for a
PhD Candidate in Re-valuing urban heritage to increase cities’ readiness to face climate change
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About the job

This PhD position will revolve around urban heritage and adaptation measures for the climate-neutral, inclusive, and beautiful transformation of cities and communities, thus applying the New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles and values with specific emphasis on the neighbourhood scale. More specifically, the PhD Candidate will develop new knowledge and tools to better capture how the conservation and reuse of cultural heritage can increase Urban Readiness Level (URL) to face climate change. In this manner, the PhD will inform evidence-based decision-making, foster the uptake of measurable impacts in European cities, and, ultimately, contribute to re-valuing urban planning and design in the face of climate change.

Urban Readiness Levels provide a way to assess the status of a city's adaptation efforts and identify areas where further action is needed. They help gauge the city's progress in building resilience and addressing climate-related risks. Evaluating urban transformations in the context of climate change adaptation and urban heritage reuse involves a multi-faceted approach. This, among others, includes understanding the impacts of climate change on urban heritage, assessing cities' readiness to face climate change, and developing tools to measure the effectiveness of urban transformations towards climate neutrality.

As represented in the NEB Impact Model (CrAFt NEB Impact Model Summary.docx) and Re-Value Impact Model (initial version) | Re-value (re-value-cities.eu ) Impact model (IM) is an assessment and guidance tool geared at a whole systems approach for use in complex urban interventions, considering five main domains, called ‘pillars’, which consist of the triple bottom line for sustainable development complemented by a pillar on quality of life and one on governance.

The evidence-based decision-making is a critical step in facing urban complexity. This requires both holistic methods for new empirical insights and a synthesis capacity that can reduce the burden of information on decision-makers. Finding the potential solutions for evaluating and measuring if urban transformations in the cities are climate-neutral, resilient, inclusive, and beautiful is one of the critical research tasks under this position. By finding the answers and proposing solutions for practical evaluation of those research questions, the PhD candidate will provide important support for re-valuing urban planning and design in the face of climate change.

The candidate will be expected to explore the advantages of digitization, with new tools and platforms developed in the past years, to analyse available urban data and statistics.

Your immediate leader is the Head of the Department of Architecture and Planning (IAP).

Duties of the position

• Supporting your PhD Supervisor in developing an ERC grant
  • Updating and implementing your Research plan, including but not limited to the following:
  • Contributing to the development of the Urban Readiness Levels framework and connecting this to the NEB Impact Model
  • Implementing and testing the developed framework in the selected cities (Re-Value and CrAFt cities) with specific emphasis on urban heritage
  • Analysing at least four Re-Value’s and CrAFt cities and summarising the cities’ performance using suitable methods and tools
  • Developing evidence-based decision support, including qualitative and quantitative assessment.  The decision support should capture cities’ local resources, urban heritage, and other qualities and co-benefits of re-valuing urban planning and design in the face of climate change.
• Developing scientific publications in general high-impact international peer-review journals.
• Participating in and contributing to the relevant teaching (courses, workshops, students’ guidance) and ongoing research initiatives

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant background in architecture, urban planning, heritage protection and revitalisation, engineering, or a comparable relevant field with a particular focus on climate change.   
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• Master's students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented by the 15th of February 2024.
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program  

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• Innovative skills and practical experience in monitoring, evaluating, and documenting quantitative and qualitative perspectives.
• Use of advanced digital tools for analysing and improving urban data and statistics
• Good overview and broad understanding of the field
• Good ability to conduct reflected, analytical and critical-matter discussions with students and colleagues.
• Good written and oral English language skills.
• Proficiency in Norwegian language would be an asset.

Personal characteristics

• Strong motivation and dedication to developing research skills and contributing to large research projects.
• Motivated to solve environmental and urban heritage protection problems and advance sustainability and climate change topics.
• Ability to meet deadlines as part of large teams of researchers, in the role of both team member and task responsible.
• Ability to work both independently and in groups.
• Open to working in the context of collaborative research and innovation projects, preferably with international collaborations and interactions with the public and private sector and civil society.
• Will and ability to inspire and motivate other researchers and students.
• Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• A broad portfolio of EU projects, the CrAFt, NEB-STAR, Re-Value and other projects.
• Exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• An open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• Favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

• Help with immigration and home finding, if relevant

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 4 years and the employment should start latest in August 2024 (with 25 % teaching duties dedicated to the department, agreed upon when the contract is signed e.g. teaching, supervision, guidance, other tasks beyond the own research topic).
Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Architecture  within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

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The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants , and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English. 

Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include: 

• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees.
• A copy of the master's thesis. presented before taking up the position.
• Proposal of the Research plan including the duties specified above
• Name and contact information of three referees
• If you have publications or other relevant research work

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here . If you already have a statement from NOKUT, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation . You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions regarding the position, please contact Associate Professor Sladjana Lazarevic, e-mail: [email protected]. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR Advisor Astrid Steine Lyngby, e-mail: [email protected].
 

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 15.02.2024

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NTNU - knowledge for a better world

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

Department of Architecture and Planning

Our fields of expertise are architecture, urban design, physical and urban ecological planning, Smart Cities as well as real estate development and facilities management. We also work with ambient aesthetics, land use and transport planning, urban renewal, densification and urban redevelopment, as well as urban ecological planning in lower income countries. The Department of Architecture and Planning is one of four departments in the Faculty of Architecture and Design

Questions about the position

Sladjana Lazarevic

Associate Professor

[email protected]

Astrid S. Lyngby

HR-rådgiver

[email protected]

Apply for this job
Deadline

15th February 2024

Employer

NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Municipality

Trondheim

Scope

Fulltime (1 positions) Fulltime (%)

Duration

Fixed Term

Place of service
Alfred Gertz vei 3, Gløshaugen, 7491 Trondheim

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