Smart Buildings & Cities EngD program

The Smart Buildings & Cities EngD program wants to contribute to the transition towards smart, intelligent and sustainable cities where quality of life is high. This transition requires new solutions which can only be created through multiscale and transdisciplinary (design) approaches. This requires technical designers who are able to work in a multidisciplinary environment and know how to communicate with different disciplines and stake holders. This EngD program educates trainees to become those technical designers! Please note that this program is about technological design, i.e., the process of solving problems by means of a technological design, this in contrast to (PhD) research, which is the process of understanding problems.

The Department of the Built Environment of the Eindhoven University of Technology offers you a trainee position to follow a two-year post-master technological designer program, which leads to the degree of 'Engineering Doctorate' (EngD). The program consists of two main parts running in parallel:

• Half of the program consists of post-master level education in the form of generic design projects and courses about design methods, entrepreneurship and professional skills. Furthermore, it includes several technical courses about topics relevant to SBC. This part of the program also offers ample opportunity to develop professional skills.
• The other half of the program is dedicated to an individual design project in collaboration with a company. It is the trainees main responsibility to manage and execute the project. Each trainee is supported by an advisor from the company and an advisor from the university. A business plan for implementation or marketing of the designed product or process is part of the final deliverables.

In the company design project you will develop and test an innovative system for (re) installing cables and pipes in the streets of a Dutch city (Leiden). This new system allows cable maintenance without causing damage to existing cables and pipes and at low cost. The system consist of a rack the can carry the cables and pipes at different levels, while being accessible vertically. As part of the research you will develop a process model and information model to implement the rack, cables and pipes, and to manage the data to support this process. You will test the new system and the developed models in practice in a pilot study. You can get support from construction companies, municipality, and network suppliers  Another task in the project is acting as the project leader of this innovation project. Therefore you need to organize events and execute stake-holder management.

Because you are collaborating with Dutch partners, speaking and writing in Dutch fluently is a prerequisite.

The PDEng trainee will be embedded in the Information Systems group of de department of the Built Environment - https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/design-and-decision-support-systems/information-systems-in-the-built-environment/

• A MSc degree in Building Science or Civil Engineering.
• An interest in development of new products and services with the support of new ICT methods and techniques.
• An academic attitude in order to develop new technologies and perform applied research with an integral view on what is needed for the future built environment.
• A design-oriented attitude.
• Ability to work in a team and interested in collaborating with the industrial partners.
• Fluent in spoken and written English.
• Fluent in spoken and written Dutch.

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an international setting with a close relationship to industry. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for two years.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale TOIO (€ 2,089).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• To support you during your EngD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will have free access to a personal development program for EngD trainees.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.