PhD Position in Multi-Scale Assessment of Circular and Climate-Resilient Building Construction

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of Delft University of Technology is hiring a PhD researcher for the PhD Position in Multi-Scale Assessment of Circular and Climate-Resilient Building Construction to work on a recently awarded Horizon Europe project, entitled AURORA (Shaping safe, sustainable, and human-centered places) under the supervision of Assistant Professors Simona Bianchi and Olga Ioannou, and Associate Professor Maria Pregnolato.

Challenge: Accelerate the transition towards circular and resilient buildings.

Change: Develop multi-scale assessment methods.

Impact: Enable scalable pathways for urban environments.

Job description

The broader AURORA project aims at accelerating the transformation of the built environment towards climate resilience and circularity. The project has a strong social perspective aiming at both technological and governance innovation. It combines innovative construction technologies, digital workflows, multi-level governance approaches, and participatory processes to support the development and implementation of resilient renovation strategies. Through demonstration pilots across Europe, AURORA provides practical frameworks for municipalities, practitioners, and stakeholders to evaluate and implement sustainable construction and renovation pathways.

In your role as a PhD researcher, you will contribute to the development of AURORA resilient and circular strategies multi-scale assessment framework for designing circular and climate-resilient building construction and renovation pathways. Your research will focus on mapping and cataloguing innovative building technologies and investigating how individual products and product systems interact and can be combined into circular and resilient building configurations. Furthermore, you will contribute to the development of a digital database containing structured data for construction and renovation pathways, exploring how these can be adapted to different building typologies and hazard scenarios. You will then apply the developed framework to a Dutch urban neighborhood case-study.

Key activities include:

1. Mapping integrated construction and renovation strategies, covering structural systems, façades and building systems equipment across different building typologies, climatic conditions and hazard contexts.
2. Developing a catalogue of pre-evaluated configurations, supporting informed selection of resilient and circular construction and renovation options.
3. Assisting in the integration of assessed technologies and pathways into decision-ready parametric datasets and a structured database, enabling direct integration into AURORA digital planning workflows.
4. Applying the framework in real-time in a Dutch urban neighborhood.

You will collaborate with two research groups within the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment: Structures and Materials (restructgroup) and Building Design & Technology (architectural-facades-products), and one group within the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences: Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk (hydraulic-structures-and-flood-risk). The position is funded for 48 months, during which the candidate will conduct doctoral research while contributing to the broader AURORA research program. The project offers opportunities to collaborate with leading European universities, industry partners, municipalities and public authorities working on circular construction, digital workflows and resilient urban development.

Job requirements

• You have a MSc degree in Building Sciences, such as Architectural Engineering, Building Technology, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or a related discipline;
• You have demonstrated knowledge of one or more of the following areas: circular construction, resilience analysis, building technologies, building performance;
• You have demonstrated experience in multi-scale approaches linking materials, components, buildings and urban systems and quantitative performance assessment methods;
• Knowledge of GIS, digital workflows or programming (e.g. Python) is an advantage;
• You have excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Knowledge of Dutch is considered a plus;
• You are able to work independently and as part of a team, and to build collaborative, interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary networks;
• You are motivated to develop innovative methods to support circular and resilient transformation of the built environment.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

At TU Delft, our people make the difference. With their knowledge and curiosity, our staff provide a high-quality education and conduct pioneering research that extends beyond the campus. You will have the opportunity to take the initiative, work with others, and grow as a professional.

Working at TU Delft means join an international community of professionals and students. Together, we create knowledge, innovations, and solutions that help move the world forward.

Faculty Architecture & the Built Environment

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has a leading role in education and research worldwide. The driving force behind the faculty’s success is its robust research profile combined with the energy and creativity of its student body and academic community.

Staff and students are working to improve the built environment with the help of a broad set of disciplines, including architectural design, urban planning, building technology, social sciences, process management, and geo-information science. The faculty works closely with other faculties, universities, private parties, and the public sector, and has an extensive network in the Netherlands as well as internationally.

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.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3059 - €3881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.

• Hours per week: 38-40
• FTE: 1

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.

Will you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job? TU Delft is committed to make your move as smooth as possible! The HR unit, Coming to Delft Service, offers information on their website to help you prepare your relocation. In addition, Coming to Delft Service organises events to help you settle in the Netherlands, and expand your (social) network in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.

#EUfunded This is an EU funded project, named AURORA, with project number 101326153, within program H2020 / Horizon Europe.

As part of knowledge security, TU Delft conducts a risk assessment during the recruitment of personnel. We do this, among other things, to prevent the unwanted transfer of sensitive knowledge and technology. The assessment is based on information provided by the candidates themselves, such as their motivation letter and CV, and takes place at the final stages of the selection process. When the outcome of the assessment is negative, the candidate will be informed.