Description of the research project

In the rapidly evolving landscape of electricity generation and distribution, enhancing the capacity of existing infrastructure is vital. The IDLEC project at the University of Twente, in collaboration with the company Liander, aims to address this need by exploring ways to safely increase the dynamic load capacity of the electricity grid, from transformers and substations to underground cables. The synergy of the research groups ET-DBM (Dynamics Based Maintenance) and ET-AMME (Asset Management and Maintenance Engineering) will be leveraged. The ET-DBM group will focus on the physics of failures and will design the algorithms for real-time monitoring systems, while ET-AMME will work on the asset management ensuring optimal deployment and utilization of the developed methods.

The Challenge

The goal of this research is to develop a framework (methods, models, monitoring systems) that enables Liander to dynamically load existing infrastructure components by briefly operating them above their nominal design capacity in situations where this can be safely achieved. Setting dynamic thresholds and implementing real-time monitoring of key performance parameters such as current and temperature are crucial in managing the degradation over the life cycle.

In addition, a health monitoring plan is needed to implement maintenance policies for dynamic loading in a timely manner this part of the research is more focused on asset management and how to organize Condition based Maintenance in cross functional teams.

The department of Public Law and Governance (PLG) is looking for 2 PhD candidates who will be working within the project ‘Causal Pattern Analysis of Economic Sovereignty’ (CaPANES), which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant 2021). PLG is a large, diverse and interdisciplinary department, home to nearly 130 academic staff and a range of legal and social science disciplines. You will develop and grow in research, both individually and as part of a team of fourteen legal historians. As PhD candidate in legal history, you will analyze the historical use of sovereignty concepts in cities of commerce. The CaPANES project hypothesizes that in the early modern period cities of commerce, even within states, had foreign relations of their own and made strategic use of legal terms that defined their economic sovereignty. The CaPANES project pursues legal-historical analysis of both the domestic context of cities of commerce and of their interactions with other cities and states. The CaPANES combines qualitative and quantitative methods (social network analysis, modelling), and aims to yield conclusions that are relevant also for discussions on present-day economic sovereignty. The PhD candidates will analyze the interactions between six cities of commerce (Florence, Toulouse, Rouen, Bruges, Southampton and Lübeck). The first PhD position is concerned with Bruges, Southampton and Florence (c. 1400-c. 1520), the second PhD position with Rouen, Lübeck and Toulouse (c. 1400-c. 1550). 20% of the appointment may be dedicated to teaching and/or administration.

Within the framework of an EU-Horizon Europe international project aiming at the development of high energy efficiency thermomagnetic (TM) devices. The doctoral candidate will be involved in: 1)Preparation of novel TM materials. 2) Macroscopic characterization of novel TM materials. 3) Improving the thermal diffusivity of TM materials. During three secondments the student will acquire additional characterization techniques and experiences in materials processing in a commercial setting. Expected Results:

• Thermo-magnetic materials with high thermal diffusivity and improved mechanical strength.
• Development of novel materials families beyond the currently known systems.
• Feedback to the materials modelling on materials properties.

Three secondments are integral part of the project: 1) University Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2 months (thermal diffusivity measurements); 2) Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung, Berlin, Germany, 2 months (mechanical testing); 3) Magneto BV, Delft, The Netherlands, 2 months (3D printing and materials testing). About HEAT4ENERGY HEAT4ENERGY is a 4-years EU-Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network project. The main goal of HEAT4ENERGY is to train a new generation of enablers for the European Energy Transition with the skills needed to assess the potential of new energy technologies. They will acquire these in practice by addressing the challenge of making the first realistic and energy efficient thermomagnetic energy converters for low grade waste heat (<100°C) to electricity and they will learn how to upscale these and bring them to a viable market level. The project offers training for science and technology for energy transition and climate action, as well as transferable and complementary skills and Open Science related training. Through secondments the HEAT4ENERGY PhD students will engage in all fields of materials development for energy, ranging from physics to industrial praxis.

For this post, you will join and actively participate in the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication (ACLC). The ACLC is one of the five research schools of the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR). We are seeking a talented researcher and teacher who can liaise between different ACLC research groups, develop interdisciplinary projects, and research-based teaching.The ACLC prioritises diversity (taken in a holistic sense, e.g., ethnicity, social background, gender, sexuality) and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for everyone.

You will be asked to teach German and comparative language and linguistics courses in the Languages, Culture, and Region BA programmes of the department of Modern and Foreign Languages, in the BA Linguistics, in relevant programmes in the History and European Studies department, and in relevant (r)MA programmes of the faculty. These programmes adopt an interdisciplinary, research-led approach and you are expected to be open to fields that might not be directly related to your research focus (e.g., historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition).

The department of German Languages & Cultures is part of the department of Modern and Foreign Languages (MVTC) in the Faculty of Humanities. It is located in the historical centre of Amsterdam and home to scholars with a diverse range of research and teaching interests. Students of the three-year BA programme gain specialised topical and historical literary, cultural, and linguistic knowledge as well as broader comprehension of the region. The department also participates in various graduate programmes in the faculty, including the research MA Linguistics and Communication and the MAs Language, Literature and Education, Language & Society, and in various national programmes, such as Masterlanguage and Alfa4all.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Designing and conducting independent research in one or more of the domains of interest of the ACLC, such as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, neurolinguistics, general linguistics, discourse analysis, argumentation and rhetoric, corpus study, and computational linguistics, with a special focus on German in postcolonial ecologies. Expertise in one, or a combination, of the following domains is required: minority and majority languages, language acquisition and variation in a multilingual context, language and translocalisation in diasporic settings, heritage languages, language change, language policy, language and the media. The conducted research will result in academic publications in peer-reviewed international journals and/or books.
• Actively pursuing external funding for research, notably funding from research councils, national as well as European.
• Actively contributing to and developing national and international research networks and other forms of cooperation.
• Actively contributing to the research activities of the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication and to the school’s European research priority areas as outlined here.
• Developing, co-coordinating and teaching the BA programme in German languages and cultures and relevant (r)MA programmes across the faculty.
• Supervising Bachelor and Master theses and tutoring students; co-supervising PhD theses.
• Actively contributing to the development and improvement of the broader teaching programmes in the department.
• Taking part in committees and working groups, and carrying out departmental administrative tasks.

We are looking for a doctoral candidate for a fully funded position (0.8 – 1.0 FTE) to conduct individual research focused on understanding new meanings of value in the built environment.

In commercial property markets the focus is placed on assessing real estate as an investment asset. This type of thinking leads to discussions in industry and studies in academia centered around the identification of market and investment values, return and risk assessments, or financial portfolio management. Research demonstrates that this type of thinking limits investments that could yield in energy efficiency in buildings or broader sustainable and circular actions in real estate. Expenditures supporting these actions are often seen as affecting investment returns, creating tangible and hidden costs and risks to the investor and therefore lacking a compelling business case.

Traditional appraisal methods are too focused on determining property values based on physical building-specific features (e.g., size of the building, energy consumption, or number of rooms), taking a perspective of an exchange value of a building but ignoring intangible aspects that can create a different value for the customer. As value is traditionally understood as a monetary expression of customers’ willingness to pay, those intangible aspects of a tangible asset (building) should also be included in pricing and appraisal.

Therefore, a value-based pricing approach could be a potential way to encourage commercial real estate markets to move away from cost and competition to more value-based logics. A value-based approach is common for service and customer-experience driven economies where value is understood as subjective (and changing) to the user/buyer. However, this type of approach requires a different view to what we define as value and/or different approach to the overall valuation process. With this research, we aim at creating a framework that could serve as a tool for further development of new valuation/appraisal approaches for commercial real estate. To reach this, multiple steps need to be taken:

• Untangling value understanding of commercial buildings to different stakeholders and trade-offs they are willing to make
• Identifying the potential and limitations of value-based approach in comparison to traditional appraisal methods
• Defining metrics that could capture previously identified value properties/attributes
• Formulating suitable measures for improved commercial real estate value appraisal

This research would require knowledge and understanding of economic and business administration perspective, knowledge on commercial property markets and systems thinking in order to understand the complexity of the built environment and take a holistic approach towards it.

As part of the TU Delft, faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, department of Management in the Built Environment, we focus on rethinking, developing and applying new economic and financial value concepts for a future-proof built environment. We are constantly searching for adjustments in the system to enable flexibility and resilience of the built environment, creating benefits for people, industry and the society as a whole. As a PhD candidate, you will join our competent team with different backgrounds in economics, financial and civil engineering, management and architecture.

Surgical operating rooms contribute considerably to the emission of greenhouse gases, pollution and waste. Clinicians, hospitals and patients, however, have to weigh the benefits of reducing the environmental impacts of medical treatments against many other considerations such as costs and health benefits. Which moral principles can guide us on how to include environmental considerations in these decisions?

After thoroughly investigating the state of the art at the crossroads of environmental and medical ethics, you will perform moral analysis to find answers to the following kind of questions. What are the respective responsibilities of hospitals, individual medical professionals, governments or patients, given the fact that environmental problems are social dilemmas? To what extent is a health professional in position to balance the common good against the wellbeing of patients? How does green decision-making fit the four principles of ethics in healthcare that are commonly distinguished since Beauchamp and Childress's seminal analysis, i.e. autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice? The objective is to formulate practical guidelines.

This project is part of a larger NWO-funded research project called CAREFREE (Creating A healthieR Environment for FutuRE patiEnts)) led by Maastricht University. The overall objective of the CAREFREE project is to increase the sense of urgency among stakeholders to behave more sustainably. The project has a multidisciplinary approach, combining methods from social psychology, ethics and philosophy, sustainability, surgery, anaesthesiology, pharmacology and toxicology, health economics and operations research. Therefore, you will collaborate in a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary setting, obtaining insights from and offering insights to researchers and actors in other fields than your own, such as psychologists, economists and clinicians.

This position is free of teaching duties.

Are you a dedicated emerging scholar in the field of wildlife ecology and conservation? Have you explored the complexities of ecosystem functioning, the role of wildlife at landscape level and effects of changes in land use or climate? Would you like to be a part of a diverse team dedicated to creating multifunctional, biodiverse and resilient landscapes? Then we invite you to apply for this position and join us in the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group! This position is part of Wageningen University's commitment to the new "Sector Plan Biology" (SPB) which has been developed to perform fundamental biological research in the framework of evolutionary and ecological theory to connect the various levels of biological organization to understand the dynamics of biological variation (biodiversity). In this position, you will develop, supervise and conduct high-quality research on multifunctional, biodiverse and resilient landscapes, such as the advancement of scientific understanding on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning that facilitates the conservation of wildlife. You will do this research in a collaborative manner, as part of a team that also includes members of the Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation group and the Forest Ecology and Forest Management group, and by involving other staff members of chair groups involved in the SPB. As part of this position, you will publish your research in international academic journals as well as reaching out to relevant stakeholders. You will also contribute to education by supervising PhD candidates and thesis and internship students, and by coordinating, teaching and developing courses at BSc and MSc level. This position falls under the University’s academic career trajectory called “Tenure Track”. Tenure Track is a career path for scientists who pursue to excel in education and research. We seek to attract scientific talent and to stimulate and support their development.

In an era where touch screens are an integral part of our lives, we are looking for a creative and innovative PhD student to pioneer the frontier of adding tactile functionality to this technology. Join us on our NWO funded project that bridges the gap between Human Technology Interaction and Chemical Sciences. Stationed in the Human Technology Interaction group you will study perceptual performance to inform the development of a refreshable tactile display.

Job Description

Imagine a world where displays can provide tactile information by morphing the surface. At TU/e we are working to make this a reality. Our collaborators in the Chemical Sciences department are working to create polymer skins with morphing surfaces that can transition seamlessly between flat and structured states. This innovation will enable us to build a tactile display that allows to feel features such as buttons, maps, Braille, and more. To make this a reality, we will need to quantify how well humans can perceive small surface structures. This is where your focus will be. The outcomes of your research will enable us to optimize the tactile capabilities of the display to the needs of the user. This project breaks boundaries between disciplines and will make a giant leap forward in terms of accessibility of touch screens for users with a visual disability.

As a PhD researcher in the Human Technology Interaction group, you will work in a setting with ample expertise and facilities for conducting research with human participants. Your focus will be on haptic perception, systematically investigating the perceptual properties of fine textures, including lines and dots. Utilizing psychophysical methods, you will quantify perceptual performance. Your results will enable pushing the limits of what is possible in tactile display technology. Your work will serve a dual purpose: advancing our understanding of the human haptic perceptual system and driving the development of our refreshable tactile display.

We invite applicants to join our international and interdisciplinary team of passionate and ambitious academic professionals at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft. One of the world's leading institutes in the field, ranked 3rd in the QS World University by Subject-Ranking. We are looking for a motivated person to strengthen our team at the Section Environmental Technology and Design (ETD), Department of Urbanism, in the 4 TU Project HERITAGE.

HERITAGE (HEat Robustness In relation To AGEing cities) is a research program aiming at the detection, reduction and prevention of heat-stress occurring due to the ageing of built environmental settings and buildings in Dutch cities through socio-technical solutions. This programme is a 4TU initiative connecting the four universities of technology in The Netherlands: the Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Twente and Wageningen University and Research.

The TU Delft team of HERITAGE is seeking a highly motivated and talented candidate for an interdisciplinary PhD position focussing on the relationship between urban form and outdoor and indoor heat in the context of climate change. We specifically welcome applications from candidates with an interest and experience in conducting data-driven research and linking spatial analysis at different scales.

You will be involved in HERITAGE activities related to work package 4 which aims to i) develop clustering classification methods to identify building and context types based on key form parameters that influence outdoor and indoor temperatures; ii) assess climate performance of morphological types by using climate simulations and on-site measurements

As a PhD candidate, your key responsibilities will be to:

• In collaboration with the promotor team, develop within the first year a GO/No Go report describing the detailed PhD proposal and the strategy for completion within the foreseen 4 years.
• Conduct systematic literature reviews to gain an in-depth understanding of relevant theories, concepts, and methodologies in urban climatology;
• Collect and analyse quantitative data to examine the relationships between local climate types and microclimate patterns;
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary research teams to develop innovative climate data collection and modelling strategies.
• Publish research findings in reputable peer-reviewed journals and present results at international conferences and workshops.
• Contribute to the teaching and supervision activities of the Urbanism Department (10% in year 2 and 3).
• Follow the Doctoral Education Skills Training Programme offered by the Graduate School (45 ECTS credits)

The section of Environmental Technology and Design (ETD) contributes to inter- and transdisciplinary, context-driven and problem/solution-focused research and education for the sake of a better environment. It involves a collaborative design and engineering approach, with social- and environmental-based methods and techniques as operative instruments, as well as the development and application of advanced urban data science and geospatial information technologies to support this primary aim. Research and education blend environmental technology, urban ecology, citizen participation and environmental behaviour at different scales. There is a strong emphasis on the interaction of these fields in terms of theories, methods and techniques, as well as their application via concepts, strategies and spatial interventions, as a significant part of ETD's research portfolio concerns applied science for and often with public and private partners.

TU Delft (Resources & Recycling group) and C2CA Technology B.V. are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to join our dynamic research team. The project is supported by the industrial doctoral training network entitled "Data Enabling Transformation and Optimisation towards Concrete Sustainability” (DETOCS), funded by the Marie Skolodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission in collaboration with an additional support from TU Delft.

Scientific Project

The primary objective of this project is to develop digital and AI-driven process technology for optimising the control and operations of the production of high-quality secondary cementitious materials. Specifically, the project has three components: 1) evaluating input material quality based on artificial intelligence (AI) and sensor data; 2) identifying physical correlations in key processes/units by literature review, numerical modelling and experiments, and 3) integrating AI evaluation and physical correlations into an overall process model for digital control and optimisation of the production process, which will be tested and validated in the industrial plant of C2CA Technology.

The generated results will offer valuable insights into the automatic evaluation of input materials from diverse sources (e.g., diverse construction and demolition waste) and the optimal production of secondary concrete materials, including SCMs, helping the transition towards sustainable concrete.

The doctoral candidate’s responsibilities are as follows:

·  Conduct a literature review related to methods for producing cementitious binders from secondary raw materials, including input quality evaluation, process physics, process modelling and optimisation, and relevant use of digital and AI technologies.

· Develop a model for evaluating the input material quality based on computer vision and sensor data.

· Identify physical correlations of key variables to be incorporated into the process model, by literature review, numerical modelling, and lab-/pilot-scale experiments.

· Develop an overall process model that can predict the output quality of processed materials, helping optimise process steps – which will be tested and validated through field experiments.

· Test & verify the process model at a first-of-a-kind commercial facility, built by C2CA Technology in the Netherlands

·  Communicate research findings through publications, presentations at academic conferences, and progress reports to stakeholders, including academic and industry partners.

· Collaborate with industry partners, sharing findings and integrating their expertise into the project. Furthermore, contribute to the overall DETOCS goals, working collaboratively with other researchers and consortium members and pursuing opportunities for professional development.

C2CA Technology B.V. is seeking a highly motivated graduate student to enrol in an Industrial Doctorate hosted in collaboration with the Department of Building Materials at RWTH, Germany. The project is part of the industrial doctoral training network entitled "Data Enabling Transformation and Optimisation towards Concrete Sustainability” (DETOCS), funded by the Marie Skolodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission. Scientific Project The project focuses on developing a novel, quicker-yet-still-reliable, and more general approach to assessing mechanical and durability performance of concrete mix designs using thermodynamic modelling and simplified first principle models for deterioration mechanisms. The latter will be based on theoretical physical mechanisms of concrete deterioration. The project comprises of DC6 in two stages: numerical modelling and experimental validation on concrete mixes. The key innovation in DC6 lays in development and validation of a streamlined form of physical modelling that is applicable to many concrete types and indicates performance reliably. The specific objectives include: 1) development of a streamlined physical models to predict key early (strength development) and late age performance (resistance to concrete deterioration) of concrete, for concrete produced with very low carbon cement (e.g., using Recycled Cement Fines as SCMs); 2) integration of the numerical model with environmental life cycle assessment and data obtained from industrial plants; 3) application of the method to predict optimal concrete mixes based on locally available materials, and 4) validation of the model predictions using data from laboratory experiments and industrial plants. The project consists of one employment period at C2CA Technology B.V., Netherlands. The first period of 18 months at C2CA in Netherlands, followed by a secondment of 18 months at RWTH in Germany. During the first period, three technical visits will take place, i.e., to Mannok (Ireland), Cementos Argos (Colombia), and EPFL (Switzerland).

Are you curious to develop smart, sustainable and secure network solutions for Internet of Things, and how this enables Digital Twining and Smart Industry? Eager to see whether we are indeed protecting the IoT devices we should care about most, such as, real-time control systems, or the ever-more-pervasive smart-home systems, and to further our understanding on the balance between controls and functionality involved? And the other way round: see what threats these ‘IoT devices‘ themselves pose to their environment?

If you see yourself making an impact in any of these areas – or you have other interesting Internet of Things topics to bring to the table –, you should consider joining our Department of Advanced Computing Sciences (DACS) as an Assistant Professor in Internet of Things. DACS is an international community of ~100 researchers at various stages of their career, embedded in the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE). Our department has more than 30 years’ experience with research and teaching in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

What are you going to do?

We are looking for a colleague to strengthen our research initiatives on emerging computing technologies to boost high-performance artificial intelligence and data processing in robotics, distributed, networked and embedded systems. Within that scope your focus area will be on Internet of Things for which you will bring in and develop valuable expertise. You will join our team that focusses on enabling smart cities, smart home applications, and smart industries. This team operates at Maastricht University in Maastricht and at the Brightlands Smart Service Campus in Heerlen.

As Assistant Professor, you will be active in acquiring research funding, in high-impact research, and support fellow junior researchers.

As our new colleague, you will contribute to DACS research. Our research activities span the entire spectrum from curiosity-driven research to responsible societal applications, often taking on an interdisciplinary character. Contributions to areas such as multi-agent systems, (medical) signal and image processing, FAIR principles, game theory, intelligent search techniques and affective computing are internationally recognized. What makes our research so interesting is that DACS maintains an industry network with over 80 private collaborators ranging from local SMEs to large multinationals. The department designs and develops data-driven solutions for a wide variety of business applications in sectors including transport and logistics, healthcare, and production and manufacturing. This why you can contribute to science and our society of tomorrow!

In addition to your research, you will contribute to our top-rated education. Our department offers one bachelor’s program and two master programs, all of which are nationally ranked among the top of their kind and involve Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. In September 2023, we will also launch a new bachelor in Computer Science. You will have an important voice in developing our education programs.