The Global Health Engineering (GHE) group is based within the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH. Our group is mainly composed of environmental engineers, economists and social scientists. Our work is transdisciplinary and all research focuses on engineering aspects of environmental and human health in resource-constrained countries. We are guided by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus on 6, 11, and 12.
Project background
Recently, the commercialisation of low-cost, modular anaerobic digesters (also known as “biogas digesters” or “biogas plants”) has increased demand for this well-established, but far from optimised, technology. Much of the interest associated with the new systems comes from the need for the methane-rich biogas, which can be used as a sustainable source of cooking fuel. Components for pressurising, storing, and burning biogas have also become plentiful. However, the resulting effluent contains harmful concentrations of pathogens and must be treated further before it is safe for handling or disposal.
Job description
Working at three, large-scale, school-based experimental sites in Kenya, we want to develop, test, and validate a suite of technologies that can be used to process the post-digestion effluent into a safe product for agricultural applications. This work will involve technology development and optimisation, extensive sensor piloting (especially related to methane and Volatile Fatty Acids), large-scale data management, complex stakeholder interactions, and long-term research stays in Kenya.
Your profile
We are looking for a candidate who is as committed to scientific discovery as they are to sanitation. The ideal candidate has:
- A Master’s degree in engineering
- Experience with environmental sampling, laboratory analysis, and sensors
- A passion for prototyping, designing and building: you like to make things and you have done it in the past
- A willingness to travel and work alone in difficult conditions: you are not afraid of getting your hands dirty
- Competency in using a programming language (R, Python, Julia, JavaScript) for data cleaning (read, transform, and join dataframes from different sources) and exploratory data analysis (data visualisation, descriptive statistics)
- A curious mind, a positive attitude, a love of research
- Excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills: you can make a new plan when something goes wrong
- Work experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and/or a knowledge of Swahili are desirable but not required
We offer
We are a small and committed team of about ten people with a collegial culture. We value transparency, openness and believe it is important to share our knowledge with others in formats beyond just publications. We reflect on our work and constantly improve it. We believe that the world can be improved by publishing the work openly. We do not just mean results, we share data, code, and designs under permissive licence so anyone can reuse and build upon our work without restrictions. chevron_right Working, teaching and research at ETH Zurich
We value diversity
In line with our values, ETH Zurich encourages an inclusive culture. We promote equality of opportunity, value diversity and nurture a working and learning environment in which the rights and dignity of all our staff and students are respected. Visit our Equal Opportunities and Diversity website to find out how we ensure a fair and open environment that allows everyone to grow and flourish.
Curious? So are we.
We look forward to receiving your online application (in English)including:
- A 1-page letter of motivation detailing previous research experience and relevant skills in field and/or lab work.
- A 1-page letter with two paragraphs:
- (1) Describe your Monday morning at work. What is it that you do during the first hour of the day?
- (2) Describe your file and data management practices. How do you organise yourself?
- A link to an online portfolio (e.g. GitHub) of previous work that shows the programming code for a data analysis project (if no public portfolio exist, a script with programming code can be submitted with the application package)
- A CV including publications
- Contact details of 2 referees
The application and selection process will follow these dates:
- 2024-04-01: due date for submission of application
- 2024-04-15: notification about passing first selection round (three selected candidates)
- 2024-04-22 to 2024-05-03: a week reserved for a personal, technical, and a group interview
- 2024-05-10: final notification about selection
More information about the Interview process:
- The interview will be remotely unless it is feasible for you to come to our offices in Zurich
- The personal interview will be 45-minutes-long and attended by Dr. Jakub Tkaczuk and Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Tilley
- The technical interview will be 45 minutes long and tests your competency in solving data analysis tasks. If you aren’t proficient in a programming language, the task can also be solved using a spreadsheet-based tool. You will share your screen while solving the tasks. Lars Schöbitz will be available for questions and support
- We will organise an informal call with our PhD students where you can ask any questions that you may have about how it is to work in our group
Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered.
Further information about Global Health Engineering can be found on our website. Questions regarding the position should be directed to Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Tilley by email (no applications).
