Eindhoven University of Technology - Eindhoven, Netherlands

apply before April 21, 2023

The sustainable renovation of existing buildings is an excellent opportunity to increase the sustainability and circularity of our built environment. Both nationally and internationally (e.g. the EU Renovation Wave) this is seen as one of the major challenges in meeting the climate goals. However, renovation projects are complex and multi-objective design challenges, characterized by intensive decision-making and multidisciplinarity.

The project PACER (Collaborative, Digitized and Integral Processes to Achieve Circular and Emission-Free Renovation) addresses these challenges by developing collaborative, digitized and integral processes and tools and developing amended and new legal and economic frameworks to achieve circular and emission free renovation practices. A ‘pacer’ is defined as ‘one that sets the pace for another’, which is what this project aims to achieve in accelerating the pace of the transition to a circular and emission-free renovation sector.

The PhD will focus on evaluating the impacts and benefits of circular renovation solutions in an integral and holistic way. The main objective is for you to develop an integral decision-making tool that assesses the most relevant aspects of circular and sustainable renovations while considering a life cycle perspective and the value creation perspectives from every stakeholder.

In addition to being embedded in the PACER project, you will also benefit from the ongoing development of ‘De Renovatieverkenner’, which is a new national decision-making tool for renovations currently being developed for the Dutch government by Eindhoven University of Technology.

The aim is for the results of the PhD to be integrated in this national tool, which would allow you to have societal impact and large-scale application.

The PhD will be hosted and supervised by both the Building Performance Group at the Department of the Built Environment of Eindhoven University of Technology and the Energy and Resources Group at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. The PhD will be hired by Eindhoven University of Technology, but particularly during the first two years of the PhD, you would be expected to travel (reimbursed) to Utrecht for at least one day a week.

You will be expected to:

• Conduct original interdisciplinary research on the sustainability assessment of circular renovations of buildings
• Collaborate closely with the partners and stakeholders involved in the PACER project
• Co-organize interviews and workshops with stakeholders
• Write the deliverables required by the project
• Contribute to teaching tasks

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