Job description
Are you fascinated by the influence of nature on our emotions and behaviour? Passionate about nature-inspired facade design and its influence on occupant comfort and wellbeing? Eager to embark on a multidisciplinary research project and collaborate with industry partners? If so, then this PhD position might be perfect for you.
Information
Can we reduce stress, thermal discomfort and energy consumption for cooling in homes by harnessing visual exposure to nature-inspired facade designs? Can we disentangle the beneficial effects of daylight and nature exposure through windows? How can we best navigate the trade-off between access to view and the amount and quality of daylight and nature content provided by a nature-inspired façade? These are some of the scientific challenges you will work on in this PhD project.
This PhD position is part of the wider ΝWO KIC project “Nature4Homes: Nature-driven building skin interventions for energy efficiency, occupant comfort, health, and biodiversity in dwellings”, which brings together the domains of building engineering, building physics, environmental psychology, meteorology, and thermophysiology to develop nature-driven building skin solutions that enhance occupant health and comfort while reducing cooling demand. This PhD project focuses specifically on the domains of environmental psychology, lighting research, and building physics.
You will conduct your research within the Human-Technology Interaction group (HTI) at TU/e, which has a long history in lighting research and environmental psychology, with a secondment at the Environmental & Climate Design section at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), which has extensive expertise in building physics and indoor environmental quality.
In this PhD, you will investigate whether visual patterns from nature across different layers of the building skin (e.g., the façade itself, the view to the outside) within an occupant’s field of view can support mental wellbeing, increase acceptance, and enhance tolerance to visual and thermal discomfort indoors, particularly during periods of summer overheating. To address these questions, you will review the literature, perform experiments in virtual reality and real conditions, co-create nature-inspired façade elements, and test them in field studies. Your work would include collecting self-reported, physiological, and environmental data, and apply building simulation, computer vision, and advanced statistical methods for their analysis. The project also involves close collaboration with industry partners such as shading system manufacturers to develop nature-inspired façade interventions. These will be tested at the “Green Village” living lab housing of TU Delft. Throughout your PhD, you will be supervised by Dr. Kynthia Chamilothori (main supervisor) and Prof. Yvonne de Kort (promotor) at the Human-Technology Interaction group of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), as well as Dr. Eleonora Brembilla (co-promotor) at the Environmental & Climate Design section at TU Delft. You will be based at TU/e with a secondment at TU Delft.
Requirements
- A master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) in environmental psychology, lighting research, architectural or building engineering, or human-technology interaction.
- Proficiency in experimental research with human participants and quantitative data analysis, along with experience or eagerness to learn building simulation, façade technologies and programming.
- A research-oriented attitude.
- Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team and interest in collaborating with industrial partners.
- Motivated to develop your teaching skills and coach students.
- Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).
Conditions of employment
Fixed-term contract: 4 years.
A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station.
In addition, we offer you:
- Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate assessment after nine months. You will spend a minimum of 10% of your four-year employment on teaching tasks, with a maximum of 15% per year of your employment.
- Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 3,204 - max. € 4,051 gross base salary per month (full-time)).
- In addition to your base salary, you will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus, both calculated based on your annual gross base salary.
- Generous leave options: a standard 29 days (based on a 38 hour working week) per year that you can increase to 41 days by working two hours more per week (flexible working hours). This is prorated if you work part-time.
- As a TU/e employee, you participate in the ABP pension scheme, providing retirement pension and pension benefits for surviving dependents and occupational disability. TU/e pays 70% of the pension premium, while employees contribute the remaining 30%.
- High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
- An excellent technical infrastructure, and on-campus children's day care.
- Unlimited access to the modern on‑campus TU/e Student Sports Center at an exceptionally affordable rate.
- We support your wellbeing with free 24/7 access to OpenUp, providing you and your family with mental health support, expert guidance, and online training.
- An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
- A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the Expat Scheme) for international candidates.
On our website you can discover even more information about our conditions of employment. Build on your career at TU/e!
Employer
TU/e
We are a leading international university where scientific curiosity meets a hands-on mindset. We work in an open and collaborative way with high-tech industries to tackle complex societal challenges. Our responsible and respectful approach ensures impact — today and in the future. TU/e is home to over 13,000 students and more than 7,000 staff, forming a diverse and vibrant academic community.
Our university is located in Brainport Eindhoven — a world‑leading tech region with more than 7,000 high‑tech companies and strong R&D activity. Known for breakthroughs in AI, photonics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, Brainport is a place where technology serves people and society. Learn more about the Brainport region here.
Additional information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact the hiring manager, Dr. Kynthia Chamilothori, at k.chamilothori@tue.nl.
Visit our website for more information about the application process. You can also contact HRServices.IEIS@tue.nl.
Curious to hear more about what it’s like as a PhD candidate at TU/e? Please view the video.
Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page.
Working at TU/e
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