Offer Description
As a PhD candidate at TU Delft, department of Water Management, you will investigate how resource recovery could contribute to sustainable sanitation, in line with the interests, needs and capacities of local stakeholders. Research stays in Latin America, Africa and/or Indonesia are part of the position.
Despite the long trajectory of sanitation, wastewater treatment continues to be a challenge around the world. Previous efforts have been limited by investment and maintenance requirements, and in some places realized plans have become insufficient for increased demographics or to satisfy stricter regulations around pollutants. To overcome these sanitation challenges, the recovery of resources from wastewater has been proposed to reduce the economic burden of sanitation while diminishing environmental impacts of water treatment (i.e. by ‘closing the loop’ of resources like energy and nutrients). Even more, recovering water for re-use could contribute to satisfying water demands in locations where poor sanitation correlates with poor water access or quality.
However, recovering resources from wastewater still requires investments, and it brings a need to connect wastewater treatment with new actors, such as resource users, who may have specific interests and needs around wastewater treatment and recovered resources. Therefore, the aim of this project is to investigate how can resource recovery contribute to sustainable sanitation in alignment with local interests, needs and capacities?
You will investigate this question through a case study approach, with possible case studies in Africa, Latin America and Indonesia. For each case study, the aim will be to identify socially responsible solutions to recover resources from wastewater streams. For that, you will identify technical and non-technical requirements for sanitation, the potential for the recovery of water, biogas and nutrients, and the uses for the recovered resources in perspective of the local situation. Based on this analysis, you will propose and evaluate solutions for each case study, applying participatory design and/or evaluation approaches. Therefore, you should have interest in stakeholder engagement methods. From a cross case study comparison, you will identify how suitable solutions compare across case studies, and the critical aspects that determine the suitability of wastewater treatment and resource recovery solutions in different cases. From this analysis, you will derive recommendations for policy makers, investors, technology developers and operators seeking to advance sanitation in regions where it remains a challenge.
Requirements
Specific Requirements
Need-to-haves:
- Background in environmental engineering or bioprocess engineering. Industrial ecology background with experience/knowledge on wastewater treatment is possible;
- Experience or affinity with Industrial Ecology, Participatory Research and/or Responsible Innovation;
- Experience with Life Cycle Assessment and/or Techno-Economic Analysis;
- Good communication skills to reach out to external stakeholders;
- Initiative and pragmatic spirit to solve problems hands-on.
Nice-to-have:
- Experience with qualitative data gathering methods (e.g. interviews, focus groups) and qualitative data analysis;
- Experience with or knowledge on resource recovery and the circular economy;
- Experience with SimaPro, or other LCA software.
Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis. For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.
Additional Information
Benefits
Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.
Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2770 per month in the first year to € 3539 in the fourth year. As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.
For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.
Selection process
Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 22 November 2023 via the application button and upload your motivation and CV.
- You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
- A pre-Employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
- Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.
Additional comments
For information about the application procedure, please contact Mar Palmeros Parada at m.d.m.palmerosparada@tudelft.nl.
