PhD in Digital Twin for Circular Built Environment - Tracking Building Elements in Closed-Loop

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At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

   

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About the job

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

We are looking to recruit a full-time doctoral (PhD) candidate for three years researching digital tracking and tracing solutions for wood-based materials in the circular built environment. The work place is in Gjøvik city, Norway, at NTNU’s Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering.

About the position

The Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering at NTNU in Gjøvik seeks a PhD candidate to work in the field of circular economy and wood-based construction. The positions aim to optimize circular value chains for wood-based materials by promoting sustainable wood use and ensuring transparent material tracking and optimisation of reverse logistics. The position will benefit from its close linking with the newly established project CIRCULess (https://circuless-project.eu/). This is a Horizon Europe funded project seeking to improve sustainability, traceability, and efficiency in the circular built environment and meet the demand for recyclable materials by implementing a circular economy in the wood-based construction industry.

The goal is for the candidates to obtain a doctoral degree and improve circularity in the wood-based construction industry. The duration of a PhD position is three years.

The Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering develops innovative and sustainable solutions for the society. The Department is divided into two subject groups, each with its research fields and involved in interdisciplinary research collaboration. The positions will be part of the department's subject group for the Built Environment and Geomatics and the research group focused on studying Digital Twins for a sustainable built environment. Currently, the group has several national and EU projects on the circular built environment, with several PhD candidates and Postdoctoral Researchers. The group has built a solid national and international network. Thus, the candidates will become part of an active research environment throughout the duration of the project. 

Your immediate leader is Head of Department.

Duties of the position

• Conduct high-quality research on digital twin for a circular built environment.
• Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team to develop circular wood value chain optimization through digital technologies.

In this PhD project, the focus will be on digital tracking and tracing of building elements within closed-loop value chain perspective.

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant background in civil engineering, architecture, computer science, or geomatics.
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level in engineering.
• You must have experience with BIM, GIS and data analytics.
• 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 (link)
• Proficiency in written and spoken English is a prerequisite. The candidate is expected to be fluent in both written and oral English. 

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

• An interest in circular construction, and/or construction processes.
• Experience with Unreal Engine (UE), and blockchain.
• Experience with digital product passport and/or reverse logistics.

Personal characteristics

• Ability to work independently as well as in cross-disciplinary teams.
• Ability to interact and collaborate with actors in academia, public sector, and industry.
• Ability to thrive and contribute to the work environment.
• Be self-motivated, focused, and goal oriented.
• Scientifically curious and open to new research challenges, demonstrate persistence in addressing technical problems.
• Good communication and dissemination skills.

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 within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

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.

Applicants from high-risk country will be in conflict with the export control in this position and will therefore not be selected for this position.

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 (max 2 pages).
• Names and contact information of three referees.
• List of publications or other relevant published research work (if available).
• Candidates from universities outside Scandinavia and English-speaking countries are kindly requested to document their English language proficiency (TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE), or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)).

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. 

The city of Gjøvik has a population of 30 000 and is a town known for its rich music and cultural life. The beautiful nature surrounding the city is ideal for an active outdoor life! The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world.

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 Vilma Zubinaite, Associate Professor, E-mail: vilma.zubinaite3@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR Adviser Kristine Rognlid Hagaseth, kristine.r.hagaseth@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: 12.01.2025