项目介绍

2025年1月29日

Job description

Background

The prestigious FWO Senior Project “Hearing the Past: Reconstructing the Aural Heritage of Antwerp in the 19th Century” is a cooperation between University of Antwerp and Ghent University and aims to uncover the city’s acoustic past by integrating historical texts with data models, sound ontologies, and AI-based NLP methods. This project not only preserves the city’s acoustic heritage but also enhances public engagement with its multisensory history and stimulates urban historical research, focusing on Antwerp’s 19th-century transformation. It proposes a paradigm shift, recognizing historical sounds as vital components of past environments, meriting academic interest and conservation. The reconstruction of soundscapes aligns with heritage studies’ efforts to portray the past as a multisensory phenomenon, advancing urban history through auditory research and promoting cultural heritage.

Aim

This Phd position focuses on constructing a virtual immersive environment that could be representative for Antwerp in the 19th Century, in a number of city quarters with diverse (geometrical) characteristics. Focus is on a realistic auralization including detailed rendering of urban sounds based on sound propagation modelling in open (such as squares and harbour areas) and more enclosed (such as streets) urban spaces. In addition, based on cooperation with language scientists and urban historians, information on the constituents of the historical urban soundscapes will be provided to fulfill the rendering task. These sounds enriching the virtual environment will be assembled based on available open databases or by anechoic and real-life recordings. The final goal is presenting this work at the expo “hearing the past”, including an evaluation of the auditory experiences of the visitors.

What we can offer

• We offer a full-time position as a doctoral fellow, consisting of an initial period of 12 months, which – after a positive evaluation, will be extended to a total maximum of 48 months.
• Your contract will start on March 1st, 2025 at the earliest.
• The fellowship amount is 100% of the net salary of an AAP member in equal family circumstances. The individual fellowship amount is determined by the Department of Personnel and Organization based on family status and seniority. A grant that meets the conditions and criteria of the regulations for doctoral fellowships is considered free of personal income tax. Click here for more information about our salary scales
• All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such as a wide range of training and education opportunities, 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fixed bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits.
• Mentoring and guidance throughout your PhD will be ensured by researchers at UGent and Antwerp University.
• There will be the possibility to follow training activities at UGent and abroad, and to attend national and international research conferences.

The WAVES research group, part of the Department of Information Technology at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University (where you will be based) is at the forefront of soundscape studies and urban sound propagation modelling since more than 2 decades.

Job profile

• The applicant holds an M. Sc. (or equivalent) degree in Architecture/Urban Planning, (Acoustic) Engineering, Music Technologies or a related field, with a strong interest in audio technology and soundscapes.
• The applicant should have experience with CAD (such as AutoCAD, Rhino, SketchUp, Blender, etc.) at a level of an independent worker and able to visually render an urban setting based on existing (historical) maps and data.
• Knowledge on acoustics and audio signal processing is a clear asset.
• The applicant should have some scripting/programming skills (e.g., Matlab, Python, etc.) to automate and analyze data.
• As you will be working in an international consortium, fluency in English (spoken and written) is mandatory.

How to apply

For further information or to apply (including motivation letter and curriculum vitae), please contact Prof. Dr. ir. Timothy Van Renterghem (timothy.vanrenterghem@ugent.be) or Dr. Hasan Baran Fırat (hasanbaran.firat@uantwerpen.be).
Preselected candidates will be invited for an (online) interview.
Starting date will be determined in agreement with the selected candidate.