PhD Position Business models for Digital Product Passport for Circular Steel

PhD Position: Business Models for Digital Product Passport for Circular Steel

Join our pioneering PhD project on Digital Product Passports and Business Models for the Green steel transition and become part of the innovative inter-disciplinary program Growing with Green Steel. 🌍

Job Description

The ICT group at the Department of Engineering Systems and Services of the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management has joined the National Growth Fund program Growing with Green Steel, which aims at making the Dutch steel sector circular, CO2-neutral, and high-tech by 2050. In GGS, Dutch universities, research institutes, and industrial parties will jointly develop new technologies for an accelerated transition towards green steel.

As part of the Growing with Green Steel program, we are looking for a PhD candidate to join our team. This position has the specific focus on the utilization of Digital Product Passports for enabling new business models for steel circularity and the green steel transition. This PhD project is positioned in Theme V Recovery, of the GGS program.

Join this unique programme, where you can apply your knowledge to a project with Tata Steel Netherlands, and ARN, and you will have a chance to collaborate with the wider GGS business and academic ecosystem.

Your research will be pioneering work on the cross-roads of policy, business, and ICT. You will examine business transformation towards more circular business network practices enabled by digital infrastructure and Digital Product Passports.

Imagine enabling the transition from linear towards more circular practices by enabling actors to utilize data from Digital Product Passports to make more informed decisions. Your work will be of importance to address societal topics such as circularity, resource resilience, and Critical Raw Materials. You can help make an impact on society!

Position Overview

This PhD position is aimed at candidates with a Master’s degree in business, information systems, data science, computer science, or related fields, with a strong interest in the topic of circularity. The successful candidate will be based at the Department of Engineering Systems and Services (ESS) at the Delft University of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Boriana Rukanova, Prof. Dr. Ir. Mark de Reuver, and Prof. Dr. Yao-Hua Tan. This PhD project involves close collaboration with partners from the GGS program, and candidates will have the opportunity to engage with interdisciplinary teams involved in the Theme Recovery, as well as the other themes of Production, Processing, Use, and System Change of the GGS program. The research will be socio-technical and theoretically will draw upon knowledge and insights from the field of digital infrastructures and digital platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• To develop and validate Business models for DPP utilization for businesses to improve their circular processes for the green steel transition.
• To develop design guidelines to facilitate the use of these models by businesses.
• Collaborate with experts from the GGS consortium to develop, test, and refine the models and guidelines.
• Work independently and contribute collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team environment.

Project Impact

The GGS program aims at making the Dutch steel sector circular, CO2-neutral, and high-tech by 2050. Applications are encouraged from candidates who are motivated to contribute to cutting-edge research for using digital platforms, digital infrastructures, and digital product passports for the green and digital transition.

Job Requirements

• MSc in business, (business) information systems, data science, computer science, or related fields.
• Strong analytical skills
• A strong interest in interdisciplinary research, circularity, and the use of ICT in inter-organizational network context
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively within a dynamic, multidisciplinary environment.
• Excellent command of English

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft 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. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant, and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent, and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale.

Faculty Technology, Policy & Management

The Faculty of TPM provides an important contribution to solving complex technical-social issues, such as energy transition, mobility, digitalisation, water management, and (cyber) security. TPM does this with its excellent education and research at the intersection of technology, society, and policy. We combine insights from both engineering and social sciences as well as the humanities. TPM develops robust models and designs, is internationally oriented, and has an extensive network of knowledge institutions, companies, social organisations, and governments.

Additional Information

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Boriana Rukanova (b.d.rukanova@tudelft.nl) and/or Prof. Dr. Ir. Mark de Reuver (g.a.dereuver@tudelft.nl).