PhD Position on Socio-technical Resilience Engineering in Critical Infrastructures

PhD Position on Socio-technical Resilience Engineering in Critical Infrastructures at TU Delft

PhD at TU Delft, Faculty of Technology, Policy, and Management: Research the centrality of functional interdependencies to enhance the resilient performance of critical infrastructures.

Job description

Critical infrastructures consist of interconnected systems, assets, and entities that are physical, digital, or human. These are essential to the functioning of society and the economy and span key sectors such as energy, transportation, healthcare, water, food, finance, telecommunications, and government services. Disruptions within these systems can lead to tightly-coupled consequences that compromise public safety, economic stability, and national security.

This PhD project focuses on human-center design. This approach recognizes that humans are not just users but integral contributors to sociotechnical systems. The design centers on human capabilities for reliability and adaptability while accounting for the growing influence of technologies such as artificial intelligence, semi-autonomous systems, and augmented reality.

Several systemic socio-technical safety methods have emerged in recent decades. These include the Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST), the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM), and the Systems Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP). As a PhD candidate, your research may involve developing or applying these methods or other systems engineering principles to address challenges in infrastructure resilience. You are encouraged to propose your own original research directions that align with the overall objectives of the project.

At the policy level, the European Union has introduced measures aimed at strengthening infrastructure resilience. The Council Recommendations from 2022 and 2024, along with the Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive 2022/2557, reflect a shift from failure analysis toward proactive resilience-based risk governance. These instruments require Member States to:

• Identify essential service providers as "critical entities" through national risk assessments.
• Ensure that these entities implement targeted measures to prevent, mitigate, and recover from disruptive events.
• Address a range of threats including natural hazards, cyberattacks, insider threats, system disruptions, and public health emergencies.

Complementing this regulatory framework, the increasing complexity and interconnectivity of infrastructure systems demand that researchers develop a deeper understanding of interdependencies. These interdependencies help anticipate vulnerabilities and pinpoint weaknesses in system performance. The project considers four primary types:

• Physical interdependencies occur when the material output of one system directly influences another, such as electricity powering telecommunications.
• Cyber interdependencies arise when the operation of one component depends on digital inputs or data from another system, such as healthcare platforms reliant on cloud infrastructure.
• Topographical interdependencies result from assets or networks being co-located, which can lead to shared vulnerabilities or constraints, such as transport and emergency services sharing access points.
• Functional interdependencies encompass mechanical, biological, digital, and human interactions, where the performance of one entity relies on the function of another. Humans are a key source of such dependencies, especially as digitalization, algorithmic decision-making, and autonomous agents become more prevalent. These changes compel a rethinking of traditional design principles.

Functional interdependencies often shape or influence the manifestation of other dependency types. This PhD position will explore how identifying and managing functional interdependencies can strengthen the safe and resilient performance of critical infrastructures. The research will examine their role in coordination with and in response to other forms of interdependency.

Job requirements

We want PhD candidates to bring a personal contribution to responsible innovation and responsible risk management while also incorporating feedback about their ideas from their supervisors. As a PhD candidate, you will also receive all the training you need to evolve. As a candidate you also like to invest in developing new complex sociotechnical modelling approaches within a multi-disciplinary environment.

You are confident in identifying new emerging themes in the scientific literature and integrating these ideas into an original contribution with the help of your supervisors. While growing your own skills and knowledge, you are committed to interacting with research colleagues and coaching students. You have an interest in safety science and systems engineering. Having theoretical knowledge of Resilience Engineering, Safety-II, or other contemporary safety paradigms is a plus.

For this position you need:

• A relevant Master degree such as Systems engineering or Industrial Engineering, a degree related to Safety Science such as Safety Engineering, Human Factors Engineering, or a degree related to Policy & Governance.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• A keen interest in interdisciplinary research.
• Basic programming skills are a plus.
• Fluent in English; please see for more information about English requirements: https://www.tudelft.nl/onderwijs/opleidingen/phd/admission.

TU Delft

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. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact! 🚀

Faculty Technology, Policy and 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.

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 per month in the first year to € 3881 in the fourth year. 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.

Additional information
If you would like more information about this vacancy or the selection procedure, please contact dr. Arie Adriaensen, Assistant Professor of Safety of Infrastructures, a.adriaensen@tudelft.nl.