PhD Position in Urban Building Energy Modeling for Socio-Ecological Transformation

The Architecture and Building Systems (A/S) research group at ETH Zurich, led by Prof. Arno Schlueter, is seeking a PhD candidate to investigate energy systems in the context of climate and human comfort at the building and urban scale. The research focuses on Urban Building Energy Modelling (UBEM) to support sustainable urban development and enhance the well-being of inhabitants. This position is part of the National Research Programme 81 (NRP 81 ‘Building Culture’) of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), within the project ‘Beyond Replacement Construction: Implementing the Socio-Ecological Transformation of the Swiss Built Environment’. The project addresses challenges of conventional densification strategies concerning environmental sustainability and socio-environmental issues, offering alternatives to demolition and total renovation. The PhD candidate will conduct independent and collaborative research, including literature reviews, data collection, and analysis, leading to novel contributions in the field. Responsibilities include writing academic papers, presenting findings at conferences, and managing the dissertation. In the first two years, the candidate will assist in teaching and support knowledge transfer by engaging with the public, industry, and policy experts. Specific tasks involve collecting diverse urban data to create comprehensive datasets, extending UBEM using the City Energy Analyst (CEA) to compute environmental metrics for selected vulnerable transformation areas, defining and parameterizing densification strategies such as vertical extensions and retrofitting, integrating stakeholder insights, and identifying optimal locations for densification based on spatial, architectural, and socio-economic assessments.