Would you like to contribute to crafting and developing better roads in the Netherlands that will be more durable? Are you passionate about high-end technological design? Then, this Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) programme may be for you. The PDEng is a 2-year post-Master Degree technological designers programme. This programme at the University of Twente contains an educational part and a design project. For the project, you will work with ASPARi network companies. The educational programme will have an in-depth character with ample attention for professional development and will be partly tailored to the design project. Together with external organisation, you will develop a high-level and creative solution for the given problem.

THE CHALLENGE

What is required for the successful implementation of digital technologies is the underlying data structure that can accommodate, align, and link the plethora of heterogeneous data that will be generated digitally. Without such a structure, data inundation can paralyze the implementation of any digital technologies and possibly create additional barriers to successful adoption. One example of a systematic effort for data structuring in the civil engineering domain is Building Information Modelling paradigm (BIM), where semantic technologies are used to streamline the digital communication of building data over its lifecycle. While BIM is en route to becoming mainstream in the building sector, other branches of civil engineering are lagging behind. In pavement operations too, while there is much effort in applying new digital technologies to improve the design, construction and maintenance of paved roads in recent years, there is very little done to systematically and semantically structure pavement lifecycle data.

THE MISSION OF THIS DESIGN PROJECT IS TO:

“Developing an ontology for life-cycle data management support”

The purpose is to present a high-level ontological framework that can be used to structure pavement lifecycle data. To this end, the successful candidate is encouraged to tackle the following tasks:

• Develop a taxonomy of various digital technologies that are, can, or will be used at different phases of pavement lifecycle (i.e., design, construction, operation, and maintenance);
• Identify the typology of critical input/out data schemes for technology-supported decision-making across the lifecycle of pavement;
• Develop, test and validate a high-level pavement ontology that can be used for structuring the pavement lifecycle data;
• Develop a roadmap for the integrated pavement management systems based on the developed ontology.

During the educational part of the programme, you will receive a customised education package consisting of, among others, courses in decision-support system design, systems engineering & design, sensor development, operations research, statistics, structural equation modelling and supply chain management.

We are searching for the best MSc graduated with a proven affinity with design and multidisciplinary assignments. Besides, you have the ambition and talent to accelerate in finding solutions / crafting designs for complex civil technological issues with a multidisciplinary character. Important professional skills are Dutch and English language skills, communication and interpersonal skills, teamwork, initiative and self-reflection. Prior knowledge in road design and construction will be useful to successfully complete the project but can also be part of the educational program. An interview will be part of the selection procedure.

INFORMATION AND APPLICATION

If you have any further questions about this vacancy of the PDEng programme in Civil Engineering, please contact Farid Vahdati at f.vahdatikhaki@utwente.nl or Seirgei Miller at s.r.miller@utwente.nl or telephone: 053 489 5886. General information about PDEng programmes you can find at http://www.utwente.nl/pdeng/ or http://www.utwente.nl/pdeng/en/

Please send your application, with a curriculum vitae, a list with grades of courses attended, references and, if applicable, a list of publications you may have done before December 15th. through the button below.

We offer a contract for 24 months. During these two years you follow a tailor-made post-master design programme with a combination of education (50%) and working on a design project (50%). Additionally, the University of Twente provides excellent facilities for professional and personal development, a holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus. On successfully completing the programme, you will receive a certified and recognised degree. You will be entitled to use the academic degree Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) and will be registered as a Technological Designer in the Dutch register kept by the Royal Institution of Engineers in the Netherlands (KIVINIRIA).

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which leads change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university of the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. We have a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out groundbreaking research.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Because of our diversity values we do particularly support women to apply.

The Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) is one of the five faculties of the University of Twente. ET combines Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering. Our faculty has approximately 1800 bachelor and master students, 400 employees and 150 PhD candidates. The departments of the faculty cooperatively conduct the educational programmes and participate in interdisciplinary research projects, programmes and the research institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centra and Digital Society Institute.