Postdoc Position in Digital Planning Framework for Circular and Climate Resilient Urban Environments

Challenge: Enable integrated planning for circular & climate resilient buildings.

Change: Develop digital multi-scale decision-support workflows.

Impact: Support construction and renovation planning.

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of Delft University of Technology is hiring a Postdoctoral researcher for the Postdoc Position in Digital Planning Framework for Circular and Climate Resilient Urban Environments, under the supervision of Assistant Professors Simona Bianchi and Olga Ioannou, and Associate Professor Maria Pregnolato.

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.

You will contribute to the development of AURORA resilient and circular strategies multi-scale assessment framework. You will do so by assessing and classifying existing products, product systems and building configurations in accordance with the AURORA assessment framework and the project’s demonstrator contexts. You will also establish data structures that enable the exchange and integration of this information within those contexts. You will ultimately develop a user-friendly, intuitive digital interface to enable decision-making of circular and resilient building pathways for built environment stakeholders (governance bodies, construction companies, and individual users). The developed digital workflows will be tested and validated through pilot applications, ensuring applicability across different building typologies, spatial scales and data availability conditions.

Key activities include:

1. Assessing integrated construction and renovation strategies, covering structural systems, façades and building equipment across different building typologies, climatic conditions and hazard contexts.
2. Translating assessed technologies and pathways into decision-ready parametric datasets and a structured database, enabling direct integration into AURORA digital planning workflows.
3. Developing a user-friendly, intuitive, digital interface to enable decision-making between built environment stakeholders.

As a Postdoctoral researcher, 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 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 PhD degree in Civil Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Building Technology, or a related field;
• You have demonstrated experience working in one or more of the following areas: resilience planning, decision support systems, building technology, sustainability assessments;
• Demonstrated knowledge of building and/or geographic information systems, data structures or software integration is a must;
• You have excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
• You are able to work independently and as part of a team, and to build collaborative, interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary networks;
• You are motivated to develop digital solutions supporting sustainable and climate-resilient built environments;
• Work experience in multi-institutional projects is not essential but will be considered an asset.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Working at TU Delft means contributing to solutions that really make a difference. 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.

Faculty Architecture & the Built Environment

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has a leading role in education and research worldwide. 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

• Duration of contract is temporary for 18 months.
• A job of 38-40 hours per week.
• Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
• The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
• Discount with health insurers on supplemental packages.
• Flexible working week.
• Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget.
• Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses.
• Partially paid parental leave.
• Attention for working healthy and energetically with the vitality program.

Additional information

• Salary range: €3546 - €5538.
• Hours per week: 38-40.
• FTE: 1.
• This is an EU funded project, named AURORA, with project number 101326153, within program H2020 / Horizon Europe.
• 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 its 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.
• As part of knowledge security, TU Delft conducts a risk assessment during the recruitment of personnel. 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.