Postdoctoral Researcher: Urban-Ocean Nexus

The project background
The blue economy is increasingly vital for maritime countries such as Indonesia and the Netherlands. The ocean supports diverse functions, including biodiversity conservation, carbon sink, energy production, fisheries, aquaculture, transportation, and tourism. Proponents emphasize the benefits of a diversified blue economy for achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Critics, however, contend that the blue economy leads to new territorial and resource conflicts, displacements of coastal communities, and degradation of ecosystems because of the increased infrastructure development. Both arguments fail to recognize that maritime countries such as Indonesia and the Netherlands have been urbanizing, with blue economy development and urbanization processes intricately linked, coshaping urban and blue frontiers in the coastal and offshore spaces.

As urbanization expands the seaward frontier of infrastructure development and blue economy development causes landward flows of materials and people, this project conceptualizes a novel, ‘urban-ocean’ nexus to assess the impacts of the urban and blue frontier development and to align marine spatial planning and urban planning in coastal and offshore areas. Specifically, the project applies this urban-ocean nexus to coastal and offshore areas of the Makassar Strait in Kalimantan in Indonesia and the North Sea off the Netherlands’ coast. The overall objectives of the project include: (1) to map and assess seaward and landward impacts of urban and blue infrastructure development on coastal and marine environments and territories; (2) to develop and apply a practical model to address the impacts and establish synergies between marine spatial planning and urban planning; and (3) to create a platform of co-creation and exchange of knowledge and experiences between researchers, students, and practitioners to design desirable urban and ocean governance arrangements. Through an inter-and-transdisciplinary approach and based on a well-established Indonesian-Dutch research consortium, this project contributes to multiple SDGs while advancing the Indonesian Vision 2045 and Blue Economy Roadmaps of Indonesia and the Netherlands.

Within this Urban-Ocean Nexus project, the postdoctoral researcher will lead a work package on “social impacts of the urban-blue frontier expansion in Indonesia and the Netherlands”. The researcher will focus on the issue of social inclusions and the changing water and society relationship due to the urban-blue frontier expansion. The central questions are: how do relations between water and society change, and how can we frame an instrumental understanding of water vis-à-vis the rights of nature? Furthermore, how does such an emic, cultural understanding of water and vegetation vary among different social groups, and how should they be included in outlining new forms of governance to establish alternative visions of the blue economy? The researcher is expected to perform well in the large international research consortium, both collaboratively and independently while mentoring the project’s PhD researcher and master students who will conduct research within the project. Your specific tasks include:

• Conducting field research in collaboration with other researchers in the project in Indonesia and the Netherlands;
• Actively organizing meetings in international conferences and symposiums and workshops to set the research agenda with wider groups of colleagues;
• Publishing the research results in international academic journals;
• Engaging in impact activities to expand our networks of societal partners, expose our research to wider public, and embed the research result in policy-making and advocacy activities;
• Conceiving new research proposals;
• Teaching relevant master and bachelor courses and supervising student thesis projects at the IDS section (max. 10% of the appointment).

EngD in Designing a framework for the digitalization of condition-based maintenance for Lock Complexes of RWS (Case of Hengelo)

The Project

The transition to digital CBM is vital for asset owners as they face challenges such as labour shortages and aging infrastructure. Traditional CBM still relies heavily on information coming from manual inspections, analysis, and planning. While generic digital tools exist, they often fail to deliver efficiency gains for complex and specialized assets like navigation locks.

Navigation locks are made up of many structural and mechanical components, each with unique degradation mechanisms. These can be detected and structural condition indicators drawn when changes in certain parameters are detected/triggered. Understanding these “triggers” is essential for building a digital CBM ecosystem that truly works. By identifying and clustering triggers, and deploying sensors optimally, we can create a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system that offers reliable, real-time insights into the condition of a lock complex.

Challenge
The aim of this project is to design a framework for the SHM system of the Hengelo Lock Complex. You will investigate how the condition of the lock is currently assessed and identify triggers that allow for automated, continuous SHM with minimal human interventions.

Your research will cover:

• Analysis of structural and mechanical behaviour of lock components.
• Review of relevant national, regional, and organizational regulations and guidelines.
• Evaluation of current practices and feasible structural health monitoring technologies.
• Cost–benefit assessment of sensor deployment and measurement interpretation strategies.

This is a multifaceted project at the intersection of structural and mechanical engineering, asset management, and Civionics – sensor-based SHM of civil infrastructure.

Context and Supervision
The project is sponsored and hosted by Rijkswaterstaat, the executive agency of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. Rijkswaterstaat designs, constructs, manages, and maintains key infrastructure in the Netherlands.

You will be supervised by:

• Dr. Farid Vahdatikhaki (University of Twente)
• Dr. Roland Kromanis (University of Twente)
• Mr. Sukon Wu (Rijkswaterstaat)

You will work closely with Rijkswaterstaat to deliver a tailor-made design artifact with real-world impact. The project is based in Enschede/Hengelo.

On successfully completing the program, you will receive a certified and recognised degree. You will be entitled to use the academic title of Engineering Doctorate (EngD). You will be registered as a Technological Designer in the Dutch register kept by the Royal Institution of Engineers in the Netherlands (KIVI).

Teamleider Radboudumc Health Academy a.i.

Functie
Als teamleider binnen de Radboudumc Health Academy (RHA) ben je verantwoordelijk voor de hiërarchische aansturing van één of meerdere teams. De werkzaamheden focussen zich vooral op de teams werkzaam in het academisch onderwijs en zijn zowel coördinerend, adviserend als ondersteunend van aard. Jouw belangrijkste opgave is om de teams optimaal te laten functioneren. Kom jij samen met ons werken aan het beste onderwijs? We maken graag kennis met je!

De Radboudumc Health Academy kent een matrixstructuur. Naast de hiërarchische aansturing in de teams binnen de RHA, komt inhoudelijke sturing vanuit verschillende werkterreinen c.q. opleidingen; academische opleidingen binnen de medische faculteit, medische vervolgopleidingen, verpleegkundige opleidingen en bij- en nascholing voor medisch professionals.

Als teamleider ben je betrokken bij de beleidsontwikkeling en -uitvoering binnen jouw teams en de RHA als geheel. Samen met je collega teamleiders geef je leiding aan de ontwikkeling en uitvoering van de verschillende opleidingen die de RHA aanbiedt. Je informeert en adviseert de manager RHA over relevante ontwikkelingen in je teams en doet voorstellen ter verbetering van de werkzaamheden en -processen.

Daarnaast geef je sturing aan team-overstijgende projecten waarbij je in multidisciplinair verband nieuw beleid en processen ontwikkelt en implementeert. Je bent verantwoordelijk voor capaciteitsmonitoring binnen teams, aanscherping van taken en verantwoordelijkheden, je ziet toe op realisatie van het jaarplan en hebt oog voor het welzijn van teamleden. Bovendien vragen we je te werken aan procesoptimalisatie en -harmonisatie en hebben we een aantal inhoudelijke projecten waar je je tanden in kunt zetten.

De RHA is in beweging en er is veel dynamiek in de teams, al was het maar omdat we aan de slag zijn om onze processen aan te passen en te optimaliseren. Als leidinggevende stuur je, begeleid je en bied je vertrouwen.

Kortom: een brede en verantwoordelijke functie, waarin je concreet het verschil maakt voor een team en voor de kwaliteit van onze opleidingen.

Taken en verantwoordelijkheden

• Zorgen voor de planning en verdeling van de werkzaamheden binnen je team.
• Zorgen voor afstemming over de werkaanpak en over de uitvoering van het werk.
• Bewaken van de voortgang, kwaliteit en efficiency van de werkzaamheden en je doet verbetervoorstellen.
• Regelmatig werkoverleg houden.
• Voortgangsrapportages opstellen en een bijdrage leveren aan verschillende beheer- en/of bedrijfsvoeringproducten (bijvoorbeeld de begroting).
• Je bent verantwoordelijk voor het HR-beleid voor je team.
• Regelmatig met collega teamleiders overleggen over de ontwikkelingen in jouw team en de impact van deze ontwikkelingen op andere teams en vice versa.
• Ontwikkelen en realiseren van team-overstijgend beleid en procesoptimalisatie, in afstemming met de managers van de RHA.
• Leiding geven aan projecten waarbij je in multidisciplinair verband nieuw beleid en processen ontwikkelt en implementeert.