Postdoc on Artificial Intelligence for Collaborative Climate Risk Management

Develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for supporting transdisciplinary dialogue on climate risk management.

Job description

Climate changes, such as sea level rise, soil subsidence, extreme rainfall, and drought, induce new challenges and risks for real estate and infrastructures, especially in low lying urbanized deltas, as in the Netherlands. While people’s homes, communities, and livelihoods are at stake, real estate climate risks also stand to destabilize markets and society at large.

In this position, you will co-design and co-develop an Integrative Forum (IF) that aims to facilitate two-way transdisciplinary exchange and dialogue on climate risk management. The IF, on the one hand, provides a ‘soft space’ for debate and reflection between research teams, societal partners, and citizens at large. On the other hand, the dialogue in the IF provides an opportunity for innovative research on institutionalized logics, tactics, and procedures that hinder or enable effective cross-disciplinary collaboration.

An innovative aspect of this position is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for supporting the development of the IF. AI, specifically, natural language processing (NLP), techniques can support the IF by, e.g., recognizing the stakeholders’ values and norms, identifying arguments and perspectives, identifying disagreements, finding novel viewpoints, and modelling opinion dynamics.

The data for AI techniques comes from the recordings and transcripts (obtained with appropriate permissions) of the meetings in the forum, which will be organized regularly during the project. Further, where available, we can employ discursive data outside the forum, e.g., on social and news media.

You will address the following preliminary research objectives, which will be refined by you in cooperation with your supervision team.

RO1: Generate cross-disciplinary research insights and build collective governance capacity through dialogue, reflection, and mutual learning facilitated within the Integrative Forum.

RO2: Leverage AI to draw out stakeholders’ institutionalized logics, tactics and procedures to facilitate cross-consortium reflection and learning to build collective governance capacity.

RO3: Create generalizable institutional and strategic insights about how to enable productive two-way transdisciplinary and cross-actor exchanges which build capacity for integrated climate risk management in the built environment.

This position is part of Work Package 5 (WP5) of the Real Estate Development & Building in Low Urban Environments (RED&BLUE) research initiative, a major new program funded by the Dutch Research Council. More information can be found at: www.redblueclimate.nl. In addition to you, WP5 involves a PostDoc, with whom you will closely collaborate.

As a member of the RED&BLUE team, you will do high-impact research on a pressing societal topic relevant within the Netherlands and beyond. Your research will enable you to actively collaborate with other researchers and societal partners, providing you with exceptional mentorship, personal development, and networking opportunities. You will also build upon the work of other researchers and real-world urban use cases.

Requirements

This is an interdisciplinary position. We are looking for a candidate that may fit into one of the profiles below (or a combination).

• Profile 1: Holds a PhD in an Artificial Intelligence related topic and has experience or keen interest in exploring collaborative climate risk management as an application area of AI techniques. OR.
• Profile 2: Holds a PhD in a topic related to Climate Risk Management (e.g., real estate, spatial governance, planning or related specialisations in geography) and has experience and keen interest in exploring the application of AI techniques for climate risk management.
• Have excellent scientific skills, as demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications, preferably across two or more different scientific disciplines.
• Have a good command of the English language, required for scientific publishing.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to switch between operational and managerial levels within the various disciplines that are part of this research. · Team spirit and an open personality.
• A good command of the Dutch language is a positive point, considering the consortium members and case studies of this research as well as the societal dissemination of your results to Dutch audiences. If the candidate does not speak Dutch, they should be willing to learn Dutch as a priority, and we expect the candidate to reach the Dutch B1/B2 language level within one year.

Conditions of employment

• Depending on you knowledge and experience, a salary based on scale 10 (€ 2.960,- – € 4.670,-) of the Collective Labor Agreement of the Dutch Universities, plus an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
• The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
• Discount with health insurers.
• 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.

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 and aim to be as inclusive as possible (see our Code of Conduct). Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three disciplines – electrical engineering, mathematics and computer science. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make future-proof. We are also working on a world in which humans and computers reinforce each other. We are mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. There is plenty of room here for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1,100 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.

Additional information

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Pradeep K. Murukannaiah, Assistant Professor, tel: +31 15 27 82291.

Application procedure

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply before June 18, 2023, via the application form and submit as a single pdf file the following documents (in English):

• Motivation letter (max 2 pages).
• Curriculum vitae (max 2 pages).
• Names and contact information of two referees.
• A list of publications.

Please note:

• A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.

Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.