PhD Position - Material-carbon nexus of urban systems

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We are looking for an excellent PhD candidate to join our Industrial Ecology Programme (IndEcol) at the Department of Energy and Process Engineering. As a PhD Candidate, your main goal is to write and successfully defend a PhD thesis. The appointment has a duration of three years with an anticipated start date in January 2023. The appointment is financed by the Department of Energy and Process Engineering (EPT).

The focus of this PhD is the material-carbon nexus of urban systems. Materials production is an important driver of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and its role in the context of the built environment is increasing due to the energy transition towards renewable energy sources. At the same time, the energy transition, smart solutions, and digitalization, e.g. in the building and transport sectors, increase the demand of critical materials. Circular economy solutions aim to increase material- and energy efficiency and to narrow and close material and energy loops. While resource efficiency and climate change mitigation often go hand-in-hand, there are also situations, where they conflict.

These sort of connections between materials production and GHG emissions, and circular economy and climate change mitigation, can be called the material-carbon nexus. Nexus refers to intersections among various environmental pressures. Nexus studies highlight that environmental problems should not be dealt as if they were isolated. In the case of materials production and consumption, climate change is not the only relevant connection. Materials are also linked to plastic pollution, release of toxic substances, and land-use, which affects climate change and biodiversity, for example. The focus of this PhD is on material-carbon nexus, but the scope can be slightly modified according to the personal interests of the applicant.

The main method of analysis in this PhD is environmentally extended input-output (EE IO) analysis, which can be further combined with household budget survey data to calculate the material- and carbon footprints of households. In addition, hybrid life cycle analysis (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA), and statistical analyses can be used. IndEcol is a pioneer in the development of industrial ecology methods, such as EE IO analysis and different LCA methods.

IndEcol hosts its own International MSc program and contributes to NTNU’s engineering education. The IndEcol group includes eight faculty members, the Industrial Ecology Digital Laboratory, and about 70 researchers, postdocs, and PhDs. We provide a lively research environment with a lot of peer-support.

The supervisor of this PhD position is Associate Professor Juudit Ottelin.