PhD Position on Twin Transition of Infrastructure: Paradoxical Leadership

Job description

Digitalisation and sustainability are both transforming infrastructure, but they do not always align. Digital twins, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other data-driven solutions can support better services and more sustainable operations, yet they can also create extra energy use and new dependencies. This PhD project asks how leaders in infrastructure organisations understand and navigate these tensions in their strategic and day-to-day decision-making.

This PhD post on paradoxical leadership is part of the NWO-funded Vidi "Infra-PaX" project. You will study how leaders and their teams (at a micro-level) deal with competing demands such as short-term performance versus long-term value and digital efficiency versus environmental impact. Rather than looking for simple “best practices”, the project examines how leaders work through persistent paradoxical tensions over time and how their responses evolve as the context changes. Please see more about the research here: https://youtu.be/bHaZjh5OXTQ

The research is designed as a longitudinal, embedded case study in the Dutch infrastructure domain. Your work will combine qualitative interviews, observations, document analysis and ethnographic fieldwork. The project will contribute to academic debates on paradox theory, leadership, infrastructure and project management. It will also generate practical outputs for the sector. Alongside your PhD thesis, you will be encouraged to publish in journals, present at conferences and take part in stakeholder-focused activities such as workshops, focus groups and knowledge-sharing events.

You will be based at TU Delft and work in a multidisciplinary research environment connected to infrastructure management, project studies and sustainability transitions. The supervision will be by the project lead together with a broader team of interdisciplinary supervisory team at the section Integral Design & Management and strong links to industry and academic partners. You will also work alongside the second PhD candidate in the project, sharing fieldwork, collaborating and reflecting on the micro- and macro-level aspects of the research project, Infra-PaX.

This is an opportunity for an MSc graduate, interested in the twin transition and leadership, who wants to grow into an independent researcher while staying closely connected to real-world infrastructure challenges. You will learn how to design and carry out rigorous field research, how to publish your work, and how to translate academic insights into practical knowledge that leaders and policymakers can actually use.

Job requirements

• A master’s degree in construction management, civil engineering, project management, business administration, information systems, innovation studies or a related field.
• A strong interest in leadership, organisational change, digitalisation, sustainability and infrastructure.
• Affinity with empirical research methods, especially qualitative interviews, case study research, observations, document analysis and, ideally, ethnographic work.
• The ability to connect academic ideas with challenges faced by infrastructure organisations and public-sector stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills and a genuine curiosity about how people make decisions under competing demands.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Dutch is an advantage, but this is not specified as a formal requirement for this PhD project.
• The ability to work independently while successfully collaborating with a multidisciplinary research team.
• Willingness to conduct fieldwork in infrastructure organisations and to contribute to publications, presentations and stakeholder engagement during the PhD trajectory.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Working at TU Delft means contributing to solutions that really make a difference.

For over 180 years, we have been training engineers who make an impact worldwide in companies, government bodies, or as entrepreneurs. Our alumni turn knowledge into concrete solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow. These challenges are changing rapidly. That is why we focus on themes such as energy, climate, digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart mobility every day. Our education and research are directly aligned with what society needs now and in the future.

At TU Delft, our people make the difference. With their knowledge and curiosity, our staff provide a high-quality education and conduct pioneering research that extends beyond the campus. You will have the opportunity to take the initiative, work with others, and grow as a professional. Working at TU Delft means join an international community of professionals and students. Together, we create knowledge, innovations, and solutions that help move the world forward.

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice. The Faculty of CEG comprises 28 research groups in the following seven departments: Materials Mechanics Management & Design, Engineering Structures, Geoscience and Engineering, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transport & Planning, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences.

PhD Position Distribution Systems Flexible Operation under Uncertain and Incomplete Information

Job description

The Delft University of Technology is hiring a doctoral candidate on the subject "Distribution systems flexible operation under uncertain and incomplete information". The Ph.D. position is part of the Future Network Services (FNS) Project.

The energy transition is transforming the way distribution systems at the low-voltage (LV) level are operated. Expectations are that the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), also known as flexible assets, will continue to grow. DERs such as PVs, electric vehicles, and electric heat pumps, complemented by smart buildings, will unlock the required energy flexibility at the LV level to address technical issues such as voltage problems and network congestion. The way the flexibility provided by DERs and smart buildings can be exploited (e.g., via local flexibility markets) is still in development with many unresolved challenges. Two of these challenges revolve around data availability and operational uncertainty.

This PhD research project aims to investigate how distribution systems can exploit the flexibility of DERs and smart buildings, given limited data availability and increased operational uncertainty. Data availability is limited due to a lack of digitalization or privacy issues, while large uncertainties govern the operation of distribution systems because DERs (e.g., PV and EVs) are weather- and human behaviour-dependent. This PhD aims to address research questions such as how can AI and ML models support the coordinated operation of DERs and smart buildings in the context of limited data? How can AI and ML models increase distribution systems observability via surrogate models.

This is a four-year doctoral appointment. You will be jointly supervised by Dr. Pedro P. Vergara (Associate Professor) and Prof. Peter Palensky (Chair IEPG). You will be a member of the section Intelligent Electrical Power Grids in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. The project will offer opportunities to collaborate with industrial partners but also with academics from other disciplines, as required (mathematics, operations research). Within the team, we strive to develop methods that are mathematically rigorous and have near-term application potential. We are strong supporters of open science (publishing, source code, data). You will also be expected to assist in teaching activities (student supervision, labs) related to your subject area.

About the Future Network Services (FNS) Project

This PhD research is part of the Future Network Services (FNS) 6G Project, led by TNO. The FNS Project aims, among others, to deliver the innovations needed to enable real-time services for the electricity infrastructure via 6G technologies.

About the ESE Department

The research in the Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy is inspired by the technical, scientific, and societal challenges originating from the transition towards a more sustainable society and focuses on four areas:

• DC Systems, Energy Conversion and Storage (DCE&S)
• Photovoltaic Materials and Devices (PVMD)
• High Voltage Technologies (HVT)
• Intelligent Electrical Power Grids (IEPG)

The Electrical Sustainable Energy Department provides expertise in each of these areas throughout the entire energy system chain. The department owns a large ESP laboratory assembling High Voltage testing, DC Grids testing environment, and large RTDS that is actively used for real-time simulation of future electrical power systems, AC and DC protection and wide-area monitoring and protection.

The Intelligent Electrical Power Grid (IEPG) group, headed by Professor Peter Palensky, works on the future of our power system. The goal is to generate, transmit and use electrical energy in a highly reliable, efficient, stable, clean, affordable, and safe way. IEPG integrates new power technologies and smart controls, which interact with other systems and allow for more distributed and variable generation.

Job requirements
Essentials:

• Basic knowledge of power systems.
• Completed an MSc degree in a highly technical related discipline (computer science, electrical engineering, etc.) and you were at the top of your class.
• Excellent analytical skills and a solid basis in machine learning and/or operational research. You can understand literature in both disciplines.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English proven by a minimum score of 100 in TOEFL or IELTS of 7.0 per sub-skill (writing, reading, listening, speaking). Candidates do not need to present the test results as part of their application. These results will be requested at a later stage during the selection procedure. For more information see https://www.tudelft.nl/onderwijs/opleidingen/phd/admission
• You enjoy performing research. You are independent, self-motivated and eager to learn.
• You are keen to work with partners to link real-world challenges to fundamental research questions.

Desirables:

• Knowledge of electrical distribution systems, power flow, and congestion management.
• Experience with optimization methods and scheduling problems as well as optimization packages such as Pyomo.
• You enjoy programming and have experience with Python, machine learning, command-line tools, version control.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Working at TU Delft means contributing to solutions that really make a difference.

For over 180 years, we have been training engineers who make an impact worldwide in companies, government bodies, or as entrepreneurs. Our alumni turn knowledge into concrete solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow.

These challenges are changing rapidly. That is why we focus on themes such as energy, climate, digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart mobility every day. Our education and research are directly aligned with what society needs now and in the future.

At TU Delft, our people make the difference. With their knowledge and curiosity, our staff provide a high-quality education and conduct pioneering research that extends beyond the campus. You will have the opportunity to take the initiative, work with others, and grow as a professional.

Working at TU Delft means join an international community of professionals and students. Together, we create knowledge, innovations, and solutions that help move the world forward.

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three scientific disciplines. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we all use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make completely sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, we are developing the chips and sensors of the future, whilst also setting the foundations for the software technologies to run on this new generation of equipment – which of course includes AI. Meanwhile we are pushing the limits of applied mathematics, for example mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. In other words: there is plenty of room at the faculty for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1000 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.

PhD Position on Twin Transition of Infrastructure: Ecosystem Orchestration

Job description

Infrastructure organisations do not navigate the twin transition alone. Digitalisation and sustainability are shaped across wider ecosystems that include owners, contractors, consultants, policymakers, regulators, suppliers and communities. These actors often depend on one another, but they do not always move at the same speed or work towards the same priorities. This PhD project investigates how such ecosystems can be orchestrated when digital and sustainability ambitions are interdependent, long-term and often contradictory.

This post on ecosystem orchestration is part of the NWO-funded Vidi "Infra-PaX" project. You will study how paradoxes in the twin transition emerge and can be navigated across public-private infrastructure ecosystems rather than within a single organisation (macro-level perspective). You will study issues such as top-down versus bottom-up change, tensions between short-term gains and long-term values and stakeholder alignment in projects. Please see more information about the research here: https://youtu.be/bHaZjh5OXTQ

The research is designed as an embedded case study in Dutch infrastructure. You will carry out interviews across the infrastructure ecosystem, analyse documents and strategies, and use systems thinking to map paradoxical tensions and their path-dependencies over time. Your work will contribute to research on infrastructure governance, inter-organisational collaboration, paradox theory and socio-technical transitions. You will produce tangible outputs that stakeholders can use directly. As part of the project, you will engage with practitioners and policymakers through collaborative activities.

You will be based at TU Delft and work in a multidisciplinary research environment connected to infrastructure management, project studies and sustainability transitions. The supervision will be by the project lead together with a broader interdisciplinary supervisory team of the section Integral Design & Management and strong links to industry and academic partners. You will also work alongside the second PhD candidate in the project, sharing fieldwork, collaborating and reflecting on the micro- and macro-level aspects of the research project, Infra-PaX.

This is an opportunity for an MSc graduate, interested in the twin transition and complex ecosystems, who wants to grow into an independent researcher while staying closely connected to real-world infrastructure challenges. You will learn how to design and carry out rigorous field research, how to publish your work, and how to translate academic insights into practical knowledge that leaders and policymakers can actually use.

Job requirements

• A master’s degree in construction management, civil engineering, project management, business administration, information systems, innovation studies or a related field.
• A strong interest in infrastructure ecosystems, inter-organisational collaboration, governance, digitalisation and sustainability.
• Affinity with empirical research methods, especially qualitative case study research, interviews, document analysis and systems thinking.
• Interest in understanding how public and private actors coordinate across complex projects, policies and long-term transitions.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to connect organisational, technological and policy perspectives.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Dutch is an advantage, but this is not specified as a formal requirement for this PhD project.
• The ability to work independently while successfully collaborating with a multidisciplinary research team.
• Willingness to conduct fieldwork in infrastructure organisations and to contribute to publications, presentations and stakeholder engagement during the PhD trajectory.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Working at TU Delft means contributing to solutions that really make a difference.

For over 180 years, we have been training engineers who make an impact worldwide in companies, government bodies, or as entrepreneurs. Our alumni turn knowledge into concrete solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow. These challenges are changing rapidly. That is why we focus on themes such as energy, climate, digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart mobility every day. Our education and research are directly aligned with what society needs now and in the future.

At TU Delft, our people make the difference. With their knowledge and curiosity, our staff provide a high-quality education and conduct pioneering research that extends beyond the campus. You will have the opportunity to take the initiative, work with others, and grow as a professional. Working at TU Delft means join an international community of professionals and students. Together, we create knowledge, innovations, and solutions that help move the world forward.

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice. The Faculty of CEG comprises 28 research groups in the following seven departments: Materials Mechanics Management & Design, Engineering Structures, Geoscience and Engineering, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transport & Planning, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences.

Postdoc Measuring and Simulating Low Clouds

Job description

The project:

Earth’s dominant cloud type per area covered is Stratocumulus. These low-level, shallow, horizontally extensive clouds cover one-fifth of the Earth’s surface. Changes in cloud cover may amplify rather than mitigate global warming but the magnitude of this is highly uncertain. One of the greatest challenges in climate science is to predict how clouds in general, and stratocumulus in particular, will change in a warming world.

As part of TurPhyCloud, an EU-funded ERC Synergy Project, you are part of an international team that will deliver novel high-resolution in-situ measurements using advanced instruments mounted on drones and on a

helikite. Two field campaigns will take place at Utö Atmospheric and Marine Research Station in the Baltic Sea area. The measurements will capture the full complexity of processes in midlatitude stratocumulus. These will range from the kilometre scale down to micrometre scale at which turbulence influences the rate at which cloud droplets collide, condense and evaporate.

Guided by the results from the field campaigns, a new Microphysics Informed Large-Eddy-Simulation (MiLES) model will be developed. The tested and verified MiLES will be embedded in operational weather and climate models. Combining the unique stratocumulus measurements at Utö and the realistic simulations from the MiLES model, the project aims to develop major advances in our understanding of how cloud-microphysical processes in stratocumulus interact with radiation and turbulence.

Working style and research environment:

You will join the Geoscience & Remote Sensing department (GRS) working closely with PhD researchers, postdocs, and professors in an open and collaborative environment, where you will receive full support and training to grow in your career. This project is a collaboration between TU Delft and partner institutes in Germany, Sweden and Finland, thus offering the chance to work with leading experts in clouds and climate science. Regular seminars, meetings and conferences bring together a vibrant community of cloud researchers encouraging close scientific collaboration with within the TurPhyCloud Consortium.

Job requirements
We are looking for an enthusiastic PostDoc candidate to join the ERC Synergy Project TurPhyCloud, who will work on the interface between the atmospheric measurements, simulation strategies and analyses. You will co-develop the measurement and simulation strategies during the field campaigns, co-design the data management, but above all, analyse the measurement and simulation results to improve the understanding of microphysics-turbulence-radiation interactions in stratocumulus clouds.

As a PostDoc candidate you hold a PhD degree. As a suitable candidate, you may come from a range of backgrounds including, but not limited to, Climate Science, Physics, Mathematics or Computer Science. You have a solid background in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and be proficient in programming (e.g., Python, Fortran, or C++) and visualization tools. You have experience with in-situ and remote sensing measurements of atmospheric turbulence and cloud microphysics. Experience with simulation tools, such as RANS or LES models, is highly desirable.

You possess strong analytical skills, initiative, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively within an interdisciplinary team. Fluency in English (both written and oral) is required, as you will be expected to present your findings through peer-reviewed publications and at international project meetings and scientific conferences.

The position will regularly interact with other project members both at Delft and outside, therefore skills in teamwork and communication are a plus. We value an inclusive and collaborative environment and look for applicants who share these values. As part of your duties you will actively participate in teaching activities.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Working at TU Delft means contributing to solutions that really make a difference.

For over 180 years, we have been training engineers who make an impact worldwide in companies, government bodies, or as entrepreneurs. Our alumni turn knowledge into concrete solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow. These challenges are changing rapidly. That is why we focus on themes such as energy, climate, digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart mobility every day. Our education and research are directly aligned with what society needs now and in the future.

At TU Delft, our people make the difference. With their knowledge and curiosity, our staff provide a high-quality education and conduct pioneering research that extends beyond the campus. You will have the opportunity to take the initiative, work with others, and grow as a professional. Working at TU Delft means join an international community of professionals and students. Together, we create knowledge, innovations, and solutions that help move the world forward.

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice. The Faculty of CEG comprises 28 research groups in the following seven departments: Materials Mechanics Management & Design, Engineering Structures, Geoscience and Engineering, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transport & Planning, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences.

PhD Position on Twin Transition of Infrastructure: Paradoxical Leadership

Job description

Digitalisation and sustainability are both transforming infrastructure, but they do not always align. Digital twins, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other data-driven solutions can support better services and more sustainable operations, yet they can also create extra energy use and new dependencies. This PhD project asks how leaders in infrastructure organisations understand and navigate these tensions in their strategic and day-to-day decision-making.

This PhD post on paradoxical leadership is part of the NWO-funded Vidi "Infra-PaX" project. You will study how leaders and their teams (at a micro-level) deal with competing demands such as short-term performance versus long-term value and digital efficiency versus environmental impact. Rather than looking for simple “best practices”, the project examines how leaders work through persistent paradoxical tensions over time and how their responses evolve as the context changes. Please see more about the research here: https://youtu.be/bHaZjh5OXTQ

The research is designed as a longitudinal, embedded case study in the Dutch infrastructure domain. Your work will combine qualitative interviews, observations, document analysis and ethnographic fieldwork. The project will contribute to academic debates on paradox theory, leadership, infrastructure and project management. It will also generate practical outputs for the sector. Alongside your PhD thesis, you will be encouraged to publish in journals, present at conferences and take part in stakeholder-focused activities such as workshops, focus groups and knowledge-sharing events.

You will be based at TU Delft and work in a multidisciplinary research environment connected to infrastructure management, project studies and sustainability transitions. The supervision will be by the project lead together with a broader team of interdisciplinary supervisory team at the section Integral Design & Management and strong links to industry and academic partners. You will also work alongside the second PhD candidate in the project, sharing fieldwork, collaborating and reflecting on the micro- and macro-level aspects of the research project, Infra-PaX.

This is an opportunity for an MSc graduate, interested in the twin transition and leadership, who wants to grow into an independent researcher while staying closely connected to real-world infrastructure challenges. You will learn how to design and carry out rigorous field research, how to publish your work, and how to translate academic insights into practical knowledge that leaders and policymakers can actually use.

Job requirements

• A master’s degree in construction management, civil engineering, project management, business administration, information systems, innovation studies or a related field.
• A strong interest in leadership, organisational change, digitalisation, sustainability and infrastructure.
• Affinity with empirical research methods, especially qualitative interviews, case study research, observations, document analysis and, ideally, ethnographic work.
• The ability to connect academic ideas with challenges faced by infrastructure organisations and public-sector stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills and a genuine curiosity about how people make decisions under competing demands.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Dutch is an advantage, but this is not specified as a formal requirement for this PhD project.
• The ability to work independently while successfully collaborating with a multidisciplinary research team.
• Willingness to conduct fieldwork in infrastructure organisations and to contribute to publications, presentations and stakeholder engagement during the PhD trajectory.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Working at TU Delft means contributing to solutions that really make a difference.

For over 180 years, we have been training engineers who make an impact worldwide in companies, government bodies, or as entrepreneurs. Our alumni turn knowledge into concrete solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow. These challenges are changing rapidly. That is why we focus on themes such as energy, climate, digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart mobility every day. Our education and research are directly aligned with what society needs now and in the future.

At TU Delft, our people make the difference. With their knowledge and curiosity, our staff provide a high-quality education and conduct pioneering research that extends beyond the campus. You will have the opportunity to take the initiative, work with others, and grow as a professional. Working at TU Delft means join an international community of professionals and students. Together, we create knowledge, innovations, and solutions that help move the world forward.

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice. The Faculty of CEG comprises 28 research groups in the following seven departments: Materials Mechanics Management & Design, Engineering Structures, Geoscience and Engineering, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transport & Planning, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences.