"PhD Position PRE-MADONA: Digital Coordination for Mass-Scale Renovation Construction Processes"

Job Summary

The Netherlands faces the enormous challenge of renovating and de-fossilizing 1.5m buildings and 7m homes by 2050. The PRE-MADONA project develops a solution using data-driven methods to optimize large-scale renovation flows by coordinating contractors' resources, clusters of buildings, and smart operations planning to accelerate renovations and save costs, time, and resources.

Responsibilities

• Co-develop a Virtual Coordination Platform for Cluster-based Renovation Workflows.
• Explore needs in planning and programming renovation construction activities.
• Co-design coordination processes and create supportive planning technologies for infrastructure and building owners and contractors.
• Address planning data exchange and contribute to the development of the Renovation Digital Twin concept.
• Model data standards for design of renovations and exchange of construction planning plans.
• Model conceptually the interdependencies between stakeholders involved in planning and programming clusters of infrastructure and building renovation.
• Evaluate numerical or data-driven solutions for automated coordinated planning.
• Develop and evaluate self-learning interactive visualization technologies (immersive reality, planning, and simulation models) for joint planning assessments.
• Support demonstrators of the developed prototypes.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Highly motivated student with a MSc in construction management and engineering, urban design/planning, architecture, building science, or related fields.
• Experienced or willing to become expert in data approaches to construction data management, virtual and planning decision support systems, and interactive system development.
• Proactive, showing initiative and able to propose and critically evaluate your learning process.
• Great team player with good communication skills, able to work with peers and exchange knowledge.
• Proficient in English; basic proficiency in Dutch is helpful.

What the Employer Offers

• Challenging work in an inspiring multidisciplinary environment with enthusiastic colleagues.
• Four-year full-time PhD position, with a qualifier exam after 6-9 months.
• Full status as an employee at the UT, including pension and health care benefits.
• Gross monthly salary ranging from €3059 (first year) to €3881 (fourth year).
• Annual holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• Minimum of 41 holidays per year in case of full-time employment (40 hours/week).
• Access to facilities on a green and lively campus, including sports and other activities.
• Excellent mentorship and a stimulating research environment.