Postdoc in Transdisciplinary Digital Twins for Climate-Smart and Health-Safe Cities

Job description

The challenge

Cities worldwide are increasingly implementing Blue-Green Infrastructure and Nature-Based Solutions to address climate-related challenges such as urban heat stress and flooding. While these interventions can improve urban resilience and liveability, they may also introduce new public health risks, including mosquito breeding and vector-borne disease transmission.

The UrbanHealthTwin project addresses this challenge by developing digital twin approaches for climate-resilient and health-conscious urban planning. The project integrates climate, water, urban, biological, epidemiological, and community knowledge into an explainable digital twin that supports evidence-based climate adaptation decisions in São Paulo and Rotterdam.

Your role

As postdoctoral researcher, you will lead the development of the UrbanHealthTwin digital twin platform, integrating climate, hydrological, epidemiological, biological, and urban-system models into an interactive and explainable decision-support environment for climate adaptation and public health planning.

You will coordinate digital twin activities across the wider international consortium and help ensure that the platform aligns with both scientific objectives and practical stakeholder needs. You will also investigate existing digital twin initiatives in Rotterdam and explore opportunities to connect and build upon ongoing city-scale developments.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the UrbanHealthTwin project and work package on Digital Twin for Urban Climate and Health Risk Integration.
• Develop knowledge-graph-based approaches for integrating heterogeneous datasets and models.
• Support simulation orchestration across hydrological, urban climate, epidemiological, and urban-system models.
• Design interactive and explainable digital twin interfaces for policymakers, planners, public health professionals, and community stakeholders.
• Translate complex model outputs into accessible insights for scenario-based climate adaptation decision-making.
• Support the integration of probabilistic exposure and risk maps into digital twin workflows.
• Contribute to case studies involving urban heat islands, waterlogging risks, mosquito breeding risks, and climate adaptation scenarios.
• Train and support project stakeholders in digital twin concepts, tools, workflows, and interfaces.
• Collaborate closely with academic and societal partners in the Netherlands and Brazil.
• Contribute to scientific publications, prototypes, and project deliverables.

Environment and collaboration

The successful candidate will work within the Integral Design and Management Section of the 3MD Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, TU Delft, and will be associated with the DigiConstruct Lab.

The project brings together researchers and stakeholders from TU Delft, Leiden University, University of Groningen, institutions in São Paulo, and a broader network of urban and public health partners. The role offers opportunities to lead digital twin development, coordinate an international research work package, collaborate with urban and public health stakeholders, and contribute to prototypes, case studies, publications, and scientific outputs.

Job requirements
We are looking for a candidate with strong computational and interdisciplinary research skills, and an interest in climate adaptation and urban health challenges. You:

• Hold a PhD, or are close to completing a PhD, in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Geomatics, Civil or Environmental Engineering, Urban Systems, Climate Adaptation, or a related discipline.
• Have experience with digital twins, geospatial modelling, simulation workflows, semantic data integration, urban analytics, or decision-support systems.
• Have strong programming skills, preferably in Python and/or JavaScript.
• Are comfortable working with geospatial and heterogeneous datasets.
• Have experience with GIS and spatial data processing, including geospatial datasets, map layers, or web-based mapping tools.
• Enjoy collaborating across disciplines and working with researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders.
• Communicate clearly in English and can explain technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Are willing to travel to São Paulo for an extended research stay and collaborate closely with Brazilian project partners.
• Are motivated to work in an international and transdisciplinary research environment.

Experience with knowledge graphs, semantic web technologies, web development, urban climate modelling, epidemiological modelling, FAIR data principles, or climate-risk mapping is considered an advantage.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

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.

Senior Project Engineer Utilities

• Uitvoeren van Compliance Gap Analyses
• Optimaliseren van operationele procedures en werkmethodieken
• Detecteren van non-compliance situaties en adviseren rond verbeteracties
• Uitwerken en opvolgen van technische verbeterprojecten
• Opstellen van procedures en veiligheidsrichtlijnen
• Uitvoeren van HAZOP, TRA, LOPA en andere risicoanalyses
• Ondersteunen van projecten binnen Utilities en Water Treatment
• Adviseren rond procesveiligheid en operationele risico’s
• Samenwerken met engineering, operations, maintenance en HSE

Manager Utilities

• Aansturen en coachen van een technisch utility-team (+10 medewerkers)
• Dagelijkse opvolging en optimalisatie van utility-installaties
• Verantwoordelijk voor continuïteit en betrouwbaarheid van:
  
  • Stoomsystemen
  • Perslucht
  • Koelinstallaties
  • Waterbehandeling
  • HVAC / luchtbehandeling
  • HS & LS netten
• Coördineren van preventief en correctief onderhoud
• Opvolgen van technische KPI’s, onderhoudsplannen en betrouwbaarheid
• Ondersteunen van shutdowns, revisies en technische interventies
• Implementeren van continuous improvement en PDCA-methodieken
• Analyseren van technische storingen, risico’s en optimalisaties
• Verder ontwikkelen en documenteren van onderhoudsprocedures
• Bewaken van QHSE, veiligheidsprocedures en technische compliance
• Samenwerken met operations, engineering, HSE en externe contractors
• Ondersteunen van CAPEX- en optimalisatieprojecten binnen utilities

Postdoc in active environment design for young adults

Introduction
Are you passionate about creating healthier and more active study and work environments? Join an interdisciplinary European project exploring how active design and behavioural interventions can reduce sedentary lifestyles among young adults.

Job Description
Sedentary lifestyles and declining physical activity levels among young adults are increasingly recognized as major public health challenges. Within the European REACT project, you will contribute to developing evidence-based active design strategies that transform university campuses and workplaces into healthier, more engaging, and activity-friendly environments.

Eindhoven University of Technology Department of the Built Environment and contribute to an international consortium including universities, public organizations, sports associations, and industry partners across Europe. The project combines urban design, behavioural science, public health, and evaluation research to develop scalable interventions that promote physical activity, well-being, and productivity.

Your primary role will focus on the scientific coordination and delivery of the REACT research and evaluation tasks. In particular, you will lead the development of:

• a state-of-the-art report on active design and its practices in Europe, including a literature review, a conceptual framework, and international good practices related to active campuses and workplaces;
• an evaluation protocol for pilot interventions implemented at a company venue (France) and a university setting (Portugal), combining quantitative and qualitative methods to assess behavioural, physical activity, and well-being outcomes.

As a Postdoctoral Researcher, you will be embedded in the Urbanism and Urban Architecture group (UUA), in particular the Healthy Cities key research theme. You will also collaborate closely with other REACT international project partners (i.e., European Federation for Company Sport, European Students’ Union, Banque de France sports association, University of Copenhagen, Portuguese university sports association, and Bulgaria BeActive) and support knowledge exchange activities, including workshops and dissemination events.

The position offers the opportunity to contribute to societally relevant research at the intersection of urban design, behavioural change, health, and active living, while helping shape practical interventions with real-world impact across Europe.

Job Requirements

• Motivated researcher, with a PhD in urban studies, public health, behavioural science, mobility studies, environmental psychology, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience with literature reviews, qualitative and/or quantitative research methods, and impact assessment research.
• Ability to conduct high-quality academic research, reflected in demonstrable outputs such as scientific publications.
• Experience with interdisciplinary and international collaboration is an advantage.
• A team player who enjoys working in a dynamic interdisciplinary environment and collaborating with academic and societal partners.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to independently manage research tasks and deliverables.
• Excellent (written and verbal) proficiency in English, good communication and leadership skills.

Conditions of Employment
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:

• Parttime employment, 0,1 FTE, 1 year.
• 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.
• Unlimited access to the modern on‑campus TU/e Student Sports Center at an exceptionally affordable rate.
• 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.

On our website you can discover even more information about our conditions of employment. Build on your career at TU/e!

About us
We are a leading international university where scientific curiosity meets a hands-on mindset. We work in an open and collaborative way with high-tech industries to tackle complex societal challenges. Our responsible and respectful approach ensures impact — today and in the future. TU/e is home to over 13,000 students and more than 7,000 staff, forming a diverse and vibrant academic community.

Our university is located in Brainport Eindhoven — a world‑leading tech region with more than 7,000 high‑tech companies and strong R&D activity. Known for breakthroughs in AI, photonics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, Brainport is a place where technology serves people and society. Learn more about the Brainport region here.

Sustainability, in its broadest definition, is the cornerstone of research and education in the Department of Built Environment. We take the lead in (re)shaping the built environment to be future-proof, safe, healthy, inclusive and respectful of planetary boundaries. We house the entire spectrum of technology, engineering, design, and human behavior disciplines in the built environment, with world-class experimental facilities at all scales. This allows us to address societal challenges from a uniquely integrated perspective.

Information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact the hiring manager Dena Kasraian, Assistant professor, d.kasraian@tue.nl.

Visit our website for more information about the application process. You can also contact HRServices.BE@tue.nl.

Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page.

Application
We invite you to submit a complete application using the apply-button. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references. Kindly note that we may reach out to references at any stage of the recruitment process. We recommend notifying your references upon submitting your application.
• List of up to five self-selected ‘best publications’.

Ensure that you submit all the requested application documents. Please note that incomplete applications may not be considered and could be rejected.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.

Please note

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• A pre-employment screening (e.g. knowledge security check) can be part of the selection procedure. For more information on the knowledge security check, please consult the National Knowledge Security Guidelines.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.

Postdoc in Coastal Infrastructure Reliability under Climate Change

Job description

Coastal and offshore infrastructure systems are increasingly exposed to changing environmental conditions, sea level rise, and sequences of extreme events. Understanding how these changes affect their reliability and resilience is essential for supporting adaptation strategies, risk-informed design, and long-term decision-making.

TU Delft coordinates the Horizon Europe project EU-INTERCHANGE, which develops climate services, datasets, and tools to assess the impacts of climate change on European regional and coastal seas. The project will generate state-of-the-art hindcast and future projection datasets of marine environmental parameters, including waves, water levels, ocean conditions, storm surge information, and climate-change scenarios. These datasets provide a unique opportunity to assess how present and future environmental conditions may affect the reliability of coastal and offshore infrastructure systems.

Within this position, you will develop and apply reliability and risk analysis frameworks for coastal and offshore engineering systems, with specific attention to the combined effects of marine environmental loads, sea level rise, climate change, and system deterioration. The work will contribute to the identification of coastal risks and to the development of approaches that support coastal resilience, protection, and adaptation.

You will use advanced statistical and probabilistic methods to assess failure probabilities and reliability under present and future climate conditions. This may include Monte Carlo methods, multivariate statistical approaches, Bayesian networks, vine copulas, or other suitable methods to describe the dependence between environmental variables, infrastructure components, and possible cascading system effects.

The activities you will be responsible for will combine the processing and analysis of large environmental datasets with the development of probabilistic models for engineering reliability assessment. You will derive relevant environmental loading conditions, quantify uncertainties, and translate climate projections into reliability indicators and risk-based information that can support coastal infrastructure planning and adaptation. As a final stage, the developed reliability framework will be embedded in the EDITO portal, ensuring that the project outputs can be accessed and used within a wider digital environment for marine and coastal data services.

You will work in the Hydraulic Engineering Department of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at TU Delft, in close collaboration with project partners across Europe. In addition to your research activities, you will contribute to joint publications, participate in project meetings, collaborate with academic and professional partners, and support the supervision of MSc students. This position offers a unique opportunity to develop an independent research profile at the interface of coastal engineering, reliability analysis, climate change impact assessment, and infrastructure resilience.

Job requirements
Essential requirements

• A PhD degree in civil, mechanical, offshore engineering, or a closely related field.
• Proven experience in the statistical analysis of marine environmental variables.
• Demonstrated experience in the reliability analysis of coastal, offshore, or other engineering systems.
• Proven strong programming skills (e.g. Python, Matlab).

Desirable requirements

• Proven experience in coastal hydrodynamics and wave modelling;
• A record of scientific publications demonstrating strong analytical and writing skills;
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team, and to communicate effectively with academic and professional partners.     

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

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.