Vacancy: Industry PhD Student in Stormwater Treatment
About company and university
Uponor Infra AB is a part of Uponor Group, which is a leading international systems and solutions provider for safe drinking water delivery, stormwater and sewer, energy-efficient radiant heating and cooling and reliable infrastructure. Uponor employs about 3,800 employees in 26 countries, mainly in Europe and North America. In 2022, Uponor’s net sales totalled over €1.3 billion. Uponor is based in Finland and listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. Uponor – Rethinking water for future generations. www.uponor.com
Luleå University of Technology (LTU) experiences rapid growth with world-leading expertise within several research domains. Our research and education are carried out in close collaboration with international, national and regional companies, public actors and leading universities. LTU has an annual turnover of SEK 1.9 billion. Today, we have 1,815 staff and 19,155 students. Urban Water Engineering research at LTU covers the entire urban water system (storm water, drinking water supply and wastewater) including collection, transport and treatment, as well as organisation and planning. The research aims to contribute to a clean environment and the wise use of resources, while preserving the public’s health and safety. In the research group work appr. 40 people including senior staff and about 25 PhD students.
About the Role
Uponor Infra AB and Luleå University of Technology are looking for a PhD student in stormwater management technology with a focus on treatment process development and verification.
The research work takes place in collaboration between Uponor Infra AB and the Urban Water research group at Luleå University of Technology, where the doctoral student will be enrolled. The project is part of the competence centre Drizzle. Read more on the university’s website, www.ltu.se/drizzle. You will also find study plans for doctoral education on the university’s website.
The doctoral student will be employed as a research engineer at Uponor Infra AB R&D department. Here you plan and carry out lab and field studies, write scientific articles and complete your doctoral thesis. In between, you study postgraduate courses and participate in seminars and conferences in Sweden and internationally.
The focus will be on researching stormwater treatment processes, and planning and executing the required laboratory and field testing to verify the results. Furthermore, the study will include evaluation of different commercial stormwater treatment solutions. Optionally, you may also incorporate the digitalization possibilities with the treatment solutions.
You have two supervisors from LTU and a mentor from the Uponor R&D department. In the role of investigative engineer, you contribute to the R&D department’s other activities.
The doctoral assignment lasts for five years, after which your assignment changes to research engineer. During the time as a doctoral student, you work 80% with your research education and 20% as a Research Engineer.
The location of this position is in Fristad. Regular trips to Luleå are required. The doctoral courses and possible fieldworks can partly be done in other locations and the position therefore involve some travelling.
Requirements
You who apply must have a civil engineering or master’s degree with a focus on environment and water, for example civil engineering, water resource management, chemical/environmental engineering or other education that is deemed equivalent and qualifies you for doctoral studies in the research area.
You must have good ability to work independently, drive projects forward and be able to familiarize yourself with new issues.
The position requires good knowledge of both English and Swedish.
It is advantageous if you have knowledge in stormwater and/or sewage technologies and environmental chemistry, experience in lab and field work as well as statistical processing of data. A B driving license is also meritorious.
Understanding of extruder, rotation moulding, or injection moulding processes as manufacturing methods are not necessary but are considered advantageous.
Upon request, you must be able to provide contact details of two reference persons.
Contact Persons
Director, Research & Development, Uponor Infra, Kimmo Perälä (kimmo.perala@uponor.com).
Professor Maria Viklander, Urban Water, Luleå University of Technology (marvik@ltu.se)
Professor Godecke Blecken, Urban Water, Luleå University of Technology (godble@ltu.se)
Please send your application and CV in English latest on May 31th, 2023.
