"PhD Position on Responding to Values and Value Tensions in Transitions in the Built Environment"

Job Description

Want to shape future transitions? Join us in supporting practitioners and policymakers as they navigate real-world, value-based change in the built environment.

This PhD position is part of the NWO-funded AMBITIONS project, a transdisciplinary consortium in the built environment. Together, we explore how value-driven tools can help practitioners and policymakers navigate value tensions that arise at the intersection of multiple transitions. One of the aims of the project is to develop a systemic view of values and maps the values and value relationships (conflicts and complementarities) within and between public values articulated in the transitions relevant to the built environment with an emphasis on the energy transition, the transition to a circular economy and the preventive public health transition.

As part of your research, you will carry out the following research activities:

• Develop a conceptual framework that helps to explicate how policymakers can respond to values and values relationships found at the regional and local level with respect to transitions in the built environment;
• Empirically apply this framework and carry out interviews with key stakeholders in and outside the consortium;
• Do a comparative analysis of policy responses to public values and value conflicts in various transitions in the built environment to identify best practices. The results will be laid down in a policy brief for policymakers.

Your research will be part of Work Package 1 of the AMBITIONS projects. This WP focuses on the national, policy-making level of transitions whereas other WPs focus more on the regional and local level. WP 1 aims to understand 1) how values are systematically connected to each other, and 2) how policy makers can identify and respond to public values and value relationships. The focus of your research will be on the second objective. The first objective will be investigated by a postdoc at the Utrecht University (UU). We aim for a close collaboration between TU Delft and UU in WP 1. A description of the AMBITIONS project is available on request.

You will join the section Ethics and Philosophy of Technology at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. You will collaborate with researchers at the TU Delft Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Utrecht University, University of Twente, and Avans Hogeschool. Together, you will be part of an active network of leading researchers in Design for Values, the Built Environment, and Transition Studies.

Job Requirements

• You have, or are about to receive, a Master's Degree in (applied) philosophy, Science and Technology Studies (STS), policy sciences, transition studies or another relevant discipline.
• You have demonstrated affinity with, and expertise in philosophy (in case you do not have a degree in philosophy).
• You have affinity with technology and values
• You have good analytical and conceptual skills, and preferably some experience with empirical research
• You are proficient in English.
• You are able to do independent research and have good writing and publication skills.
• You are willing to collaborate also with the non-scientific partners in the consortium and to contribute to societal impact.

You will be supervised by Prof. dr. ir. Ibo van de Poel (Technical University Delft) and dr.ir. Udo Pesch (Technical University Delft)

Your work location is Delft. We expect that you will move to the Netherlands, to the region where the university is located or to a region from which a daily commute is feasible

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.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

Application Procedure

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 8 March 2026 via the application button and upload the following documents:

• CV.
• Motivational letter.
• A writing sample.
• A short proposal about how you would want to carry out the research (1 page).

You can address your application to Ibo van de Poel and Udo Pesch.