PhD in Assessing Wastewater Treatment Innovations, Trade-offs and Socio-Technical Uncertainties

Are you excited about shaping the wastewater systems of the future? Join us in a Dutch research project where your assessment of wastewater treatment innovations will support decision-making.

PhD in Assessing Wastewater Treatment Innovations, Trade-offs and Socio-Technical Uncertainties

Job description

Innovations in wastewater treatment are emerging rapidly, offering exciting possibilities for meeting stricter water-quality standards, recovering valuable resources, and enabling safe water reuse. Yet even the most promising technologies carry uncertainties, from environmental and economic tradeoffs to questions about how they integrate with existing infrastructures, markets, and other elements of the broader socio-technical system. Therefore, as we shape the wastewater systems of the future, it is essential to understand not only how new technologies perform in technical terms, but also how these socio-technical uncertainties influence their impact across environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

Impact assessment methods, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing, and Techno-Economic Analysis, are structured approaches that have been applied in the context of water treatment and resource recovery. However, these methods often rely on historical data and have limited attention to uncertainties inherent in early-stage technologies. This project aims to address that gap. Building on previous work with ex-ante and constructive sustainability assessments, the project seeks to align impact assessment methods with a Responsible Innovation perspective that fosters anticipation and critical reflection on the impacts and societal acceptability of emerging wastewater technologies.

This project is part of the larger NWO Blue Vantage project, bringing together various Dutch universities, waterboards, drinking water companies, and industrial partners. You will join a modelling and assessment‑oriented work package and collaborate closely with other PhDs, Postdocs, and EngDs working on legal and regulatory innovations, transformation pathways, new treatment technologies, and digital twins.

Research topic

You will investigate the environmental and economic impacts of emerging wastewater treatment innovations, exploring the trade-offs and socio-technical uncertainties that characterize early-stage technologies. Your work will support the development of future wastewater systems by translating these insights into a practical decision‑support tool.

Particularly, you will:

• Develop an assessment framework based on literature and stakeholder engagement.
• Develop, model, and assess implementation scenarios for selected wastewater treatment innovations based on data from, e.g. pilots, digital twins, and transformation pathways available within BlueVantage.
• Build a decision‑analysis tool to compare treatment options and support evidence‑based planning of wastewater treatment systems.
• Explore stakeholders’ acceptability of different implementation scenarios in the Dutch context.

Job requirements

Need-to-have:

• A Master’s degree in industrial ecology, environmental engineering, bioprocess engineering or a closely related field, with wastewater treatment experience/knowledge.
• Experience with Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis.
• Experience or affinity with Participatory Research and Responsible Innovation.
• Strong communication skills to interact with supervisors, project partners and external stakeholders.
• Initiative and pragmatic spirit, hands-on approach to problem-solving.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with modeling and uncertainty analysis.
• Experience with qualitative research methods and qualitative data analysis.

TU Delft

Delft University of Technology 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.

The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences

The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice.

Conditions of employment

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months, followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.