项目介绍

2024年9月19日

About the job

For a position as a PhD candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree.

The PhD candidate will be involved in the Horizon Europe project WoodStock, which supports the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative by developing climate-smart solutions and strategies for effective wood use, including the use of under-utilized wood resources in the construction sector. Global wood demand is expected to grow significantly over the coming decades, necessitating sustainable timber strategies beyond virgin wood. However, the amount of available under-utilized wood in the forest and building stock in the EU is not clear. There is a need for accessible and transparent methods to evaluate both circular practices and climate mitigation strategies. In addition, while harvested wood products (HWP) accounting is obligatory in the EU, it has low granularity and is not aligned between countries. WoodStock will go beyond the state-of-the-art by developing a Material Flow Analysis (MFA) model for wood and embedded carbon flows within the whole forestry-wood value chain. Using scenario techniques, WoodStock will provide insights into the potential and limitations of alternative wood utilization strategies. WoodStock will develop alternative options for circular building designs, following the NEB principles and harnessing the power of digital twins. The potential of these options will be evaluated in terms of their scalability, their contribution to climate change mitigation and forest resource use, as well as health and well-being by co-creation activities with regional actors in 6 Living Labs in 6 different European regions.

The PhD candidate will develop, with the support of a post-doc / researcher and in collaboration with the project team, a dynamic material flow analysis (MFA) model for the Norwegian wood sector and its embodied carbon cycle. This model will subsequently be used (i) to develop scenarios for climate change mitigation under wood availability constraints, taking into account the under-utilized wood resources in forests and buildings, novel and climate-smart wood construction practices, and circular strategies; (ii) to support the development of a new HWP tier 3 level method based on material flows rather than half-lives and decay models; (iii) to work with other research groups in the consortium on the development of harmonized approaches for wood flow accounting and modelling in Europe.

Your immediate leader is Professor Daniel B. Müller.

Duties of the position

• Study existing literature on forest sector and MFA modelling approaches for wood use
• In cooperation with partners and colleagues at NTNU IndEcol, analyse the building stock in terms of its composition to identify under-utilized wood resources (e.g., re-use of wood components)
• In cooperation with partners, analyse forest growth models and practices to identify under-utilized wood resources
• Develop a dynamic MFA model for wood use and embodied carbon in Norway
• Work with project partners to develop scenarios for wood use in the future
• Work with project partners to support the development of novel HWP approaches based on MFA
• Work with project partners to link the MFA model to a dynamic LCA model 
• Collaborate with colleagues at NTNU IndEcol to further develop the concepts, models, and applications of MFA models.
• Co-supervise master’s students on their projects and theses related to WoodStock.

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant background in natural sciences, engineering or similar
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master’s level
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master’s degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU’s grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty’s doctoral program.
• You must have documented work experience in industrial ecology and/or wood management 
• You must have documented work experience in the use of Python.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, PhD candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• Good communication skills
• Strong computer programming skills (preferably with Python)
• Strong written and oral English language skills
• Familiarity with Norwegian or another Scandinavian language

Personal characteristics

• Confidence in working independently
• Ability and willingness to work in inter- and transdisciplinary teams
• Creativity
• Critical thinking

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 3 years.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Engineering within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

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The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

The position is subject to external funding (EU).

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include: 

• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. If you have not completed the master’s degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master’s thesis has been submitted.
• A copy of the master’s thesis. If you recently have submitted your master’s thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master’s degree must be presented before taking up the position.
• Project proposal
• Name and contact information of three reference persons
• If you have publications or other relevant research work

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor’s and master’s education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality. 

EPT has established EPT Women in Science. The group is focused on supporting female PhD Candidates, Postdoctoral Fellows, Research Assistants and permanent academic employees within the Department. This support aims to help develop the careers of female PhD Candidates, Postdocs and Research Assistants, and is also made visible to our student body to encourage them to consider an academic path. As part of the EPT Women in Science initiative we are building an international network, inviting prominent female academics within and beyond the field of Engineering to speak at our events.

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The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

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As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Professor Daniel B. Müller, email: daniel.mueller@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please HR consultant Cathrine Kyung Ja Kravik, e-mail: cathrine.k.j.kravik@ntnu.no

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 21.10.2024.