Eindhoven University of Technology (https://www.tue.nl/en/) is one of Europe's top technological universities, situated at the heart of a most innovative high-tech region. Thanks to a wealth of collaborations with industry and academic institutes, our research has real-world impact. In 2015, TU/e was ranked 106th in the Times Higher Educational World University ranking and 49th in the Shanghai ARWU ranking (engineering). TU/e has around 3,000 employees and 2,300 PhD students (half of which international, representing about 70 nationalities).

The PhD candidate will work at the Department of the Built Environment. Within the department of the built environment, education and research focus on the development and use of creativity and technology for the design and construction of a comfortable, healthy and sustainable built environment. The Department's philosophy is multidisciplinary, as fosters integral and innovative research approaches in the construction, control, evaluation and improvement of buildings and urban areas. This approach is based on fundamental scientific knowledge and uses mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative, to facilitate further application for the built environment.

Project description

The PhD candidate will work within the framework of the European Horizon2020 SC5-22-2017 RIA (Greening the economy - Research and Innovation Action), CLIC project (Circular Models leveraging investments in cultural heritage adaptive reuse), to start in January 2018. The overarching goal of the CLIC trans-disciplinary research project is to 'identify evaluation tools to test, implement, validate and share innovative 'circular' financing, business, and governance models for systemic adaptive reuse of cultural heritage and landscape, by demonstrating the economic, social, environmental convenience, in terms of long lasting economic, cultural and environmental wealth. This project is expected to help mainstream the HUL approach and tools for the integration of heritage management and urban planning, towards a smarter and more sustainable urban development.

The TU/e team is composed mainly by dr. Ana Pereira Roders (Chair Architectural History and Theory), dr. Gamze Dane and Prof. dr. Bauke de Vries (Chair Information Systems).

The TU/e team will address mainly four objectives:
(1) Create a common framework (survey) to support the analysis of best practices, barriers and bottlenecks of cultural heritage adaptive reuse, as well as, the assessment of their economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts
(2) To perform analysis and evaluation of the selected cultural heritage adaptive reuses, by implementing and validating the common framework in a series of five HUL workshops, two in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and one in Salermo (Italy), Rijeka (Kroatia) and Västra Götaland region (Sweden).
(3) To reveal the best practices, barriers and bottlenecks of cultural heritage adaptive reuse and the implementation of tools for their effective transfer and replication
(4): To reveal the economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts of cultural heritage adaptive reuse

Job description

The duration of the PhD project is four years. The candidate is expected to perform the following tasks:

- Research: Research in the domain of adaptive reuse of cultural heritage.
Period   Research tasks
Year 1   Systematic literature review and Common Framework Design (survey); HUL Workshop (1)
Year 2   HUL Workshops (2;3,4)
Year 3   HUL Workshops (5) and Comparative analysis (1:5)
Year 4   Common Framework Review/Update and PhD thesis/defense

- Teamwork: Collaboration with the TU/e team and with other CLIC project partners on its activities, tasks and deliverables.
Teaching: Contribution to TU/e teaching, tutoring, supervision and student assessment.
Travelling: Travel abroad to attend e.g. project meetings, summer scholars, conduct fieldwork (HUL workshops), present work at conferences and grant submissions. The candidate may perform a secondment of 3-6 months to other CLIC partner.

Candidate profile (essential)

- MSc and/or MA degree in Architecture, Urban Planning, Urban studies, Architectural History, Historic Preservation, Heritage studies, or a related degree
- Hands-on experience with mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative e.g. surveys, statistical analysis, workshops, content analysis, media analysis
- Solid knowledge on research areas such as Heritage Conservation, Adaptive Reuse, Heritage Impact Assessments, Heritage Management, Sustainable Architecture, and/or Sustainable Urban Development, preferably interlinking heritage and sustainability
- Strong analytic skills, along with an inquisitive and reflective attitude and the ability to think systematically
- Hands-on experience in scientific writing and publishing
- Strong social and team working skills
- English proficiency
- Availability to start in January 2018

Candidate profile (desirable)

- Hands-on experience with statistical programs and tools e.g. Excel, SPSS and database / information systems design
- Croatian, Dutch, German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian and/or Swedish proficiency (CLIC project languages)
- Solid knowledge on UNESCO Conventions, and in particular the HUL approach and tools

We offer a challenging job at a dynamic and ambitious university through a fixed-term appointment for the period of 4 years. The research in this project must be concluded with the attainment of a Ph.D. degree. As an employee of the university you will receive a competitive salary as well as excellent employment conditions. A salary is offered starting at € 2222.-per month (gross) in the first year, increasing up to EUR 2840.- per month (gross) in the last year. Moreover, an 8% bonus share (holiday supplement) is provided annually. Assistance for finding accommodation can be given. The university offers an attractive package of fringe benefits such as excellent technical infrastructure, child care, savings schemes, and excellent sports facilities. TU/e also offers you the opportunity for personal development by developing your social and communication skills. We do this by offering every PhD student a series of courses that are part of the proof program as an excellent addition to your scientific education.

More information on employment conditions can be found here: employment conditions .