"Postdoc on Enhancing the indoor environment of bedrooms to support sleep quality of persons living with dementia and their caregivers"

Job description

The number of people with dementia is expected to continue rising due to our aging society. Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent among people with dementia, significantly impacting their quality of life and also increasing informal caregivers’ mental and physical burden. In the context of the larger project DREAm, this postdoc position will look at indoor environmental aspects and try to optimize that environment to improve the sleep quality of people with dementia, and with that reduce the burden on the informal care-giver. Interested in improving the quality of life of many people? Then please apply.

Information

We spend around one third of our time in our bedroom. A good night sleep is very important. This is certainly an issue of concern for people with dementia. Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent for this group of people and it can significantly impact their quality of life and increase the mental and physical burden of their informal care-givers. While pharmacological interventions appear to have limited effectiveness, non-pharmacological interventions provide a potential avenue to manage sleep disorders in people with dementia. Although non-pharmacological technological innovations and strategies hold promise, ecological validation studies remain scarce. One of these strategies refers to the indoor environment. Within the DREAm project (Dutch funded Health-Holland) the aim is to define and select strategies and validate technological solutions to reduce nighttime sleep disturbances in people with dementia, thereby improving the sleep quality and life of both the person with dementia and their informal caregiver.

As member of a multi-disciplinary consortium, which includes two medical universities and several industrial partners that provide technological solutions to the problem, our team provides input on the indoor environment, through our expertise in this field (air quality, thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics). Through literature review and registering daytime and night indoor room conditions and physiological parameters and perception of people with dementia and their caregivers, the research should increase our understanding of the potential correlation with sleep disturbances, through known indicators. Assessing the performance of interventions, also focusing on improving the (local) indoor environment, will be part of that. The methods for this research will mainly be desk research and (in-situ) experimentation.

As postdoc, you will be positioned in both the Building Performance and Building Lighting research groups at our department under supervision of dr.ir. Marcel Loomans and dr.ir. Mariëlle Aarts. In these groups other PhD student and postdocs will be working on related issues investigating the indoor environment. Additional expertise on ventilation and general building performance is to be found within the unit BPS (Building Physics and Services) where the research groups reside. Besides being well embedded in this research environment at TU/e, you will exchange information and results within the DREAm project, that encompasses other researchers, postdocs and PhD students.

The research groups in which you will reside are well-equipped, with ample computing facilities, and a state-of-the-art laboratory, encompassing a large variety of measurement equipment. The groups, furthermore, have close contacts with the Dutch HVAC and (day)lighting industry and are frequently cooperating with other researchers, both domestic and international.

Requirements

We are looking for excellent and highly motivated candidates with:

• a PhD degree in environmental psychology/building engineering or related disciplines, preferably with a background in the topics of research (sleep quality and/or people with dementia) and an interest in both indoor environmental quality assessment and experimentation.
• the ability to work independently, have strong communication skills and the attitude to participate successfully in an international and multidisciplinary research team.
• A sufficient English language level, both written and spoken (C1 level) is required. Preferably a IELTS/TOEFL test proofing the required level

Any of the following could be considered an advantage and should be mentioned in the motivation letter:

• Previous experience/affinity with research in the field of indoor environment and/or sleep.
• Previous publications and scientific communications

Conditions of employment

Fixed-term contract: 18 months.

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:

• 18 months full-time (1.0 FTE) postdoctoral appointment, preferably starting March 1st 2026 (flexible and open to discussion).
• Salary in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale 10 (min. € 4,241 max. € 5,538).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs on general skills, didactics and topics related to research and valorization.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• Partially paid parental leave and an allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A TU/e Postdoc Association that helps you to build a stronger and broader academic and personal network, and offers tailored support, training and workshops.
• A Staff Immigration Team is available for international candidates, as are a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) and a compensation for moving expenses.