Challenge: Gaining novel insights about criminal vulnerability in Europe’s most important ports.
Change: Developing new data analysis and modelling methods to provide an estimation of criminal activity.
Impact: Tackling subversive crime and corruption to create future-proof ports and protect society.

Ports are critical components of our globalised world, acting as hubs for the transportation of goods and materials that are essential to everyday life. However, they are also vulnerable to organised crime that threatens the safety and security of the port and its surrounding communities. This is one of the bigger societal challenges we face today. As a PhD in the Modelling of Regional Criminal Vulnerability and Supply Chains at TU Delft, a leading university in network science, you will be part of FORT-PORT, a project that aims to develop scientific methods to tackle this problem head-on. The project brings together experts from a range of universities and disciplines, including criminology, mathematics and computer science. One of the core goals is to create a predictive model of where and when crime is likely to occur, and how it’s organised, as well as a useable interface for that model.

You will be based at the Multimedia Computing Group in the Department of Intelligent Systems (INSY), co-supervised by Huijuan Wang from INSY and Robbert Fokkink from the Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics (DIAM). In your role, you will collaborate with FORT-PORT partners such as criminologists from Erasmus University Rotterdam, computer scientists from Utrecht University and security specialists from the Netherlands Defence Academy, as well as other scientists, governmental organisations and (port) companies to tackle crime and corruption in and around the port of Rotterdam. You will also combine network data analysis, multiscale models and data visualisation to provide a quantitative study of organised crime in the ports of cities such as Calais, Le Havre, Antwerp and Hamburg.

You are a recent graduate looking to use your analytical skills and innate curiosity to create a better, safer world. While the necessary scientific skills are important, you must also be able to thrive in a complex multi-disciplinary team with many stakeholders.

You also have:

• An MSc degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, or social sciences with specialisation in data analysis.
• Good programming skills.
• Some experience with network science, data analysis and complex systems is preferable.

Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis. For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2770,- per month in the first year to € 3539,- in the fourth year.  As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three scientific disciplines. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we all use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make completely sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, we are developing the chips and sensors of the future, whilst also setting the foundations for the software technologies to run on this new generation of equipment – which of course includes AI. Meanwhile we are pushing the limits of applied mathematics, for example mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. In other words: there is plenty of room at the faculty for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1000 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.