The Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) programme Maintenance offers you a 2-year position combining post MSc education and a design project to be carried out at DEAC (Dutch Electric Aviation Centre). The educational programme, carried out at the University of Twente, will have an in-depth and broadening character with ample attention for professional development and will be partly tailored to the design project. In collaboration with DEAC in Teuge you will work on high level, creative new designs for complex issues.

The project is sponsored by the Municipality of Apeldoorn and connected to a larger research supported by Delft University of Technology, Aviation Academy and Deltion College.

Background

In the past decades, the global environmental impact of aviation has introduced large risks for future growth. At Schiphol, the discussion on noise hindrance has already limited the amount of aircraft movements. In the vicinity of the airport there is a growing concern on air quality due to ultra-fine particle concentrations. On a larger scale, governments and scientists have proposed to substantially reduce global CO2 emissions in order to limit climate change.

While these trends seem to pose a threat to aviation in general, they also generate opportunities. One possible technological solution to most of these environmental concerns is the development of hybrid or electric aircraft. In these aircrafts traditional engines are replaced by electric motors that are driven by batteries, hydrogen fuel cells or other electrical power sources. These electric motors are relatively quiet and the aircraft themselves do not emit CO2 or other pollutants. The Dutch government has targeted a frontrunner position on the development of hybrid/electric aviation and has established a roadmap for Hybrid/Electric Aviation development in the Netherlands.

The Assignment

Introducing important modifications such as hybrid/electric aviation system on existing aircrafts does not require “low-level” adjustments, but it encompasses a complete re-thinking and re-design for fitting and interacting with both the surrounding aviation systems and with the airport ecosystems and infrastructures. As maintenance operations deeply affect both the operability and the financial side of an asset during all the lifetime, a Design for Maintenance (DfM) approach needs to be considered since an early stage in parallel to the development of the system itself.

The DfM research on the Hybrid/Electric Aviation System, will mainly focus on:

• how the system should be designed so as to facilitate the maintenance operations regarding Reliability, Maintainability and Supportability factors ensuring same or higher level of safety for the operators and the infrastructures;
• from a design perspective which are the most suitable maintenance policies (corrective, preventive, predictive maintenance) to deploy, taking into considerations the effects of the introduction of hybrid/electric aircraft system on procedures and behaviors, or possible new security threats, vulnerabilities or limitations

• You hold a MSc degree in Maintenance Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering or in a similar discipline;
• You have affinity with aviation and you are aware of the strict regulations regarding, design, safety and certification specific for the aviation sector;
• You have demonstrated affinity with design and multidisciplinary assignments;
• You have a passion for finding solutions for complex technological issues;
• You have excellent collaboration and communication skills;
• You are self-starting and self-motivating, willing to take initiatives and feel the responsibility for your own project;

Candidates with a non-Dutch qualification and who have not had secondary and tertiary education in English can only be admitted with an IELTS-test showing a total band score of at least 6.5, internet TOEFL test (TOEFL-iBT) showing a score of at least 90, or a Cambridge CAE-C (CPE).

INFORMATION AND APPLICATION

Please send the following documents before 31-07-2020 through the link below:

• Letter of motivation
• Curriculum vitae
• List with grades of courses attended
• References and, if applicable, a list of publications.

If you have any further questions about this vacancy of the PDEng programme in Maintenance, please contact Dr. A. (Alberto) Martinetti:

• Email: a.martinetti@utwente.nl
• Telephone: +31 53 489 6609

Information about the research group and facilities:

• Alberto Martinetti: www.utwente.nl/en/et/dpm/me/staff/martinetti/
• Maintenance Engineering Research Group: utwente.nl/en/et/dpm/me/#staff
• PDEng programme at the University of Twente: utwente.nl/pdeng

We offer a very challenging position for two years in an inspiring multidisciplinary and international environment. In this time we will provide you with a tailor made post-master design programme that has an educational component (~50%) as well as a design project (~50%) for which you will be partly located at the premises of DEAC in Teuge.

• A salary of € 1.970 gross per month;
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• A solid pension scheme;
• Minimum of 29 holidays in case of full-time employment.

On successfully completing the programme, you will receive a certified degree. You will be entitled to use the academic degree PDEng and will be registered as a Technological Designer in the Dutch register kept by the Royal Institution of Engineers in the Netherlands (KIVI).

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.