Postdoc in Key Enabling Methodologies for Urban Resilience

Do you want to help Dutch cities to become more resilient by connecting change methods and local policy and decision-making? We are looking for a 3-year postdoctoral researcher at the chair group Urban Economics (WUR) to identify how, when and for what purpose key enabling methodologies (KEMs) can support local governments in building resilient urban futures.

Dutch urban areas are transforming due to societal, environmental, technological and economic pressures. The majority of people will live in cities, while challenges relating to inequality, health, climate change, food and energy all accumulate within this urban context. Key Enabling Methodologies (KEMs), a collective term for groups of tools, strategies, and design methods used by researchers, policymakers, and professionals, can help to structure change and solve such complex entwined urban challenges (www.kems.nl). However, up to now KEMs often do not adequately support policymakers in addressing the complexities of urban challenges, leaving them feeling unprepared and unsupported. The 6-year NWO-funded project URRRRRBAN: Urban Resilience through Responsive, Relational, Representative and Responsible Policymaking (led by prof. Mascha van der Voort, University of Twente) attempts to fill that void between KEMs and policy, by addressing how KEMs can move beyond incidental use toward structural integration in policymaking.

As a postdoctoral researcher you will be responsible for execution of WP2 of the URRRRBAN project (led by Prof. dr. Emely de Vet, WUR, and Dr. Carissa Champlin, University of Twente). This WP monitors 4 cities (i.e., Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Enschede and Amersfoort) and 5 diverse cases from these cities (i.e., CivicAI, Energielab Zuid Oost, Open Urban Platform Amersfoort, VONK and Buurtbarometer). The WP seeks to generate practice-based evidence on what KEM works for whom, in what context, and under what circumstances. Each of the cases will be coordinated by a case coordinator, and the postdoc will identify and compare KEM utilization with desk research, document analyses, field observations and stakeholder interviews across the cases. This case-based approach will be complemented with an institution-based approach, where the postdoc will explore familiarity with KEMs and their institutional embedding with policy makers. Needs and preferences for KEM utilization and envisioned learning trajectories within municipalities will be identified, forming a basis for how to adapt KEMs for decision-support in local contexts and challenges.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• coordination, collaboration, and communication of research activities with the 5 cases and 4 cities;
• design and conducting research under the guidance of work package leaders;
• analyses and reporting of practice-based insights on KEM utilization in national and international journals;
• translate insights to other WPs (e.g., evaluation framework, recommendations for KEM iteration and embedding, and learning infrastructure);
• interacting and communicating with the project leaders and researchers to share work in progress and contribute to the overall project goals.

Your team
You will work at the chair group Urban Economics of Wageningen University. Your daily supervisor from Urban Economics will be Emely de Vet, and Carissa Chaplin (Department of Planning, Land and Urban Systems (University of Twente) will be your external co-supervisor. You will work closely with the URRRRRban partners in WP2, most notably the case coordinators and local municipality contact persons. Also, you will align your work with the teams of the other WPs of the program and regularly attend consortium meetings.

PhD position robust multi-criteria optical design under uncertainty

Uncertainties are inherent in many engineering design problems and can be translated into the underlying mathematical models. They may, for example, arise from perturbations in boundary conditions, input parameters, or geometrical properties. When neglecting the influence of uncertainties, the performance of a design solution may deteriorate significantly under these perturbations. The aim of robust design strategies is to account for these uncertainties in the design process, yielding solutions that are less sensitive to perturbations and therefore more reliable in practice. Mathematically, this leads to optimization problems with underlying random partial or ordinary differential equations that require careful modeling and analysis.

Imaging optics involves the design and optimization of imaging systems, such as cameras and telescopes, to most accurately capture and reproduce an image. Modern inverse freeform design methods compute surfaces that convert a given source light distribution to a desired target light distribution. These can be used to guide the design process for imaging systems. These methods naturally lead to challenging mathematical models, including nonlinear partial or ordinary differential equations. However, real-world optical systems are subject to manufacturing tolerances, alignment errors, and material variability. To achieve robust designs, existing inverse design methods must be extended to systematically account for these uncertainties.

The design process in imaging optics is inherently multi-objective, involving different competing performance criteria. This could be on a more systematic level the interplay of quality, cost and manufacturability but also image quality itself can be described by competing performance measures.
A further challenge is therefore to account for the effect of uncertainties on different performance criteria.
Standard formulations for single-criteria robust design do not capture these effects. This requires the development of new formulations and strategies building upon modern robust multi-criteria optimization methods based on Pareto losses.

The aim of this PhD project is to extend the existing freeform design strategies to include uncertainties using spectral methods for uncertainty quantification, such as polynomial chaos expansions, and enable the analysis of trade-off solutions under uncertainty. This allows for the integration of uncertainties in the freeform design of optical systems with a specific focus on telescopic systems. The mathematical disciplines involved are mathematical modeling, numerical analysis, and scientific computing.

Your tasks will involve:

• Conducting research on uncertainty quantification in the context of inverse freeform design,
• Developing and implementing design strategies tailored to robust multi-criteria design,
• Applying the developed methods for designing imaging systems,
• Analyzing and interpreting research data, publishing and presenting your research,
• Participating in academic activities, including seminars, workshops and teaching.

You will be part of our Computational Illumination Optics group at TU/e, an applied mathematics group dedicated to problems in the field of optics with a lot of interesting industry-related applications (e.g., Signify, ASML and TNO). We will work together and support your research. The group belongs to CASA (Centre for Applied Analysis, Scientific Computing and Applications), that offers a collaborative research atmosphere with a lot of possibilities for exchange and social activities.

Teamhoofd afdeling Onderwijs (1 fte)

Je belangrijkste taken omvatten:

• Leidinggeven aan de professional services teams op het gebied van roostering, programmacoördinatie, exchange coördinatie, stagecoördinatie, Education Office, studieadvies, met aandacht voor welzijn, samenwerking en professionele ontwikkeling.
• Uitvoeren van HR-gerelateerde werkzaamheden, waaronder verlofaanvragen, de persoonlijke ontwikkelcyclus en begeleiding bij ziekteverzuim.
• Bewaken van de kwaliteit, voortgang en samenhang van onderwijsgerelateerde processen binnen de verschillende teams.
• Signaleren van knelpunten en, in overleg met de teams, ontwikkelen van voorstellen voor procesverbeteringen en aanpassingen.
• Deelnemen aan universiteitsbrede overleggen en bijdragen aan de verdere ontwikkeling van onderwijsprocessen.
• Afstemmen met de vicedecaan onderwijs over lopende zaken, ontwikkelingen en verbeterinitiatieven.

AI Compliance Officer (0,8 – 1,0 fte)

Als AI Compliance Officer maak je deel uit van het CIO Office en werk je voor de Chief Data Officer (CDO). Samen met collega’s binnen privacy, informatiebeveiliging (security) en documentaire informatiemanagement (DIM) draag je bij aan een verantwoorde en beheersbare inzet van AI binnen de EUR.

Je vormt de schakel tussen regelgeving, beleid en de dagelijkse praktijk. Je vertaalt complexe vereisten naar concrete acties, ondersteunt de organisatie bij AI-vraagstukken en helpt gebruikers om AI-oplossingen op een veilige, transparante en verantwoorde manier toe te passen.

Jouw werkzaamheden bestaan o.a. uit;

• Het classificeren van AI-toepassingen volgens de risicocategorieën van de Europese AI Act en het bepalen van de bijbehorende verplichtingen.
• Het registreren en actueel houden van AI-toepassingen in het AI-register.
• Het begeleiden van AI-usecases en het vertalen van wettelijke verplichtingen naar concrete en uitvoerbare maatregelen.
• Het coördineren van integrale compliancechecks, samen met collega's op het gebied van privacy, informatiebeveiliging en andere compliance-disciplines.
• Het beoordelen van AI-functionaliteiten in extern ingekochte software en samenwerken met inkoop- en contractmanagement bij AI-compliancetoetsen.
• Het toetsen of de benodigde maatregelen zijn getroffen en adviseren over vervolgstappen om AI compliant en verantwoord in te zetten.

Research Funding Officer

As a Research Funding Officer and organizational project manager, you support and coordinate acquisition and project management processes. You ensure that new research opportunities are identified, assessed, and successfully converted into proposals, grant applications, and projects. Additionally, you ensure that projects are executed within time, budget and regulatory constraints. Projects can range from fieldwork and experimental research to data management, modeling, and policy-oriented research. This gives you broad insight into the research activities of Wageningen Research.

You work closely with researchers, (scientific) project leaders, clients, and support departments within WMR and Wageningen University & Research (WUR).

Your tasks and responsibilities as a Research Funding Officer:

Research funding (approximately 70% of your time)

• identifying and monitoring assignments, tenders, and grant opportunities relevant to WMR and aligned with the organizational strategy;
• assessing grant and tender requirements and advising on opportunities, risks, co-financing, and partnerships;
• coordinating and guiding proposal and grant application processes, ensuring that financial, legal, and technical input is available on time;
• advising researchers and project leaders on acquisition processes, procedures, and grant conditions;
• monitoring the progress of acquisition and proposal processes and reporting on them.

Project management (approximately 30% of your time)

• supporting project leaders in the execution of research projects;
• monitoring project objectives regarding time, quality, budget, organization, and communication; identifying deviations and actively contributing to solutions;
• maintaining contact with clients, collaborative partners, and internal stakeholders;
• handling project coordination, administration, archiving, and documentation;
• initiating and implementing improvements in acquisition, proposal, and project management processes.

Your team
You will be part of the Acquisition Support & Project Management Team, consisting of approximately nine colleagues who provide process support for acquisition and research projects. Your primary work location is IJmuiden, where you will be at least two days a week. Besides these two days, working from our locations in Yerseke or Den Helder is an option. You will work in an international, applied-science environment centered on marine and freshwater ecological issues.

You will work here

Wageningen Marine Research (WMR) Wageningen Marine Research (WMR) is one of the nine institutes that make up Wageningen Research. WMR is a leading, independent research institute with locations in IJmuiden, Den Helder, and Yerseke, focusing on strategic and applied marine ecological research. Its products and services are created are created within a project-based way of workingand are diverse in nature, ranging from field research, experiments at a realistic scale, and exploratory laboratory-scale studies to data management and modelling.

What we offer

• a varied and challenging role at the intersection of business development and project management;
• a professional, collaborative, and stimulating work environment;
• the opportunity to work closely with ambitious researchers and experienced project professionals;
• the chance to contribute to impactful marine research with societal relevance;
• excellent opportunities for professional development and career growth.