The University of Twente and the Faculty of Engineering Technology focus on the grand challenges of the future. One of these key challenging areas is “Engineering for a Resilient World”. Within the Department of Civil Engineering, there is now a vacancy for a tenure track position focusing on the measuring and monitoring of resilience of artificial and/or natural infrastructure in cities and urbanized deltas. The position is part of an extensive capacity building programme on resilience engineering of the four technical universities of the Netherlands.

In our urbanizing world, the ability of critical infrastructure to keep functioning under conditions of stress or shocks is essential to creating and maintaining livable cities and deltas. Climate change, population growth, energy and mobility transitions as well as digitalization push our infrastructures to and beyond their limits. In response to these developments, there is a growing interest for flexible, nature-based engineering solutions and for reconstructing and maintaining urban infrastructure without interfering or disturbing the functioning of the urbanized region.

The emergence of new technologies (sensors, sensor networks and platforms, remote sensing) and advances in data analytics offer opportunities to greatly improve the performance monitoring of both artificial infrastructure (e.g. roads, dykes, bridges, sluices) and natural infrastructure (e.g. green infrastructure, rivers, natural flood protection such as coastal dunes or mangroves). In this position, you will use and develop innovative technologies and methods to advance the resilience of these infrastructures.

Your position will be embedded in the ‘Designing Systems for Informed Resilience Engineering’ (DeSIRE) programme, an extensive capacity building programme, set-up by the 4TU-Centre Resilience Engineering . Within this programme of the 4 technical universities of the Netherlands, 16 new tenure track positions have been created at 13 faculties across the 4TU, to conduct excellent research of societal value and set-up and contribute to educational programmes on Resilience Engineering. The programme aims to further interdisciplinary collaboration between the 16 tenure trackers, associated scientific staff and public and private partners.

• You will have the opportunity to develop your own research lines to address the challenge of monitoring and measuring the performance of infrastructure to improve resilience.
• At the University of Twente, you will closely collaborate with researchers of the different Civil Engineering groups and of other Departments and research institutes.
• In the DeSIRE programme, you will work in a team of top scientists on concrete resilience challenges for our broad network of partners in policy and practice.
• You will teach in the Civil Engineering (and Management) bachelor and master programmes.

• You hold a PhD in civil engineering or a related field, or in a relevant discipline with respect to sensor and (environmental) monitoring technology;
• You are a passionate academic with a track record in research related to measuring and monitoring the performance of natural and/or artificial infrastructure supported by a good publication record;
• You are embedded in relevant scientific and professional networks;
• You have experience in operating at the crossroads of disciplines and are enthusiastic about initiating new collaborations with colleagues of the different Civil Engineering groups, the University of Twente and the DeSIRE programme;
• You have a shown ability to attract research funding;
• You have experience in teaching and student supervision, are willing to obtain your University Teaching Qualification and look forward to teach in multi-disciplinary courses and mentoring BSc, MSc, PDEng and PhD projects;
• Your communication skills are excellent. You have an excellent command of the English language and, if applicable, are willing to learn Dutch;

Are you up for the challenge to improve the world in an exciting collaboration between disciplines? You can submit your application before the 28th of October using the link below. Your application should contain the following documents (all in English):

• Cover letter (2 page max.) explaining your motivation for applying and in which ways you represent a good match;
• An extensive curriculum vitae including a publication list and teaching evaluations (if any);

At a later stage, we will ask pre-selected candidates to provide:

• Name and contact information of two references;
• A statement of your vision on research, education and collaboration;

For further information, please contact prof. dr. Kathelijne Wijnberg (k.m.wijnberg@utwente.nl , +31 (0)53 4894701) or prof. Dr. André Dorée (a.g.doree@utwente.nl; +31 (0) 53 4894254

For information about DeSIRE: https://www.academictransfer.com/nl/employer/4TU/resilience-engineering-desire/

You will be appointed for a maximum of 7 years, with the prospect of a permanent position after a positive evaluation. You will be positioned at the Department of Civil Engineering. Our Department counts about 40 members academics staff and 40 PDEng and PhD candidates and is responsible for various educational programs (BSc, MSc, PDEng & PhD). We develop, apply and disseminate knowledge and novel solutions in the domain of civil engineering contributing to a sustainable, efficient, safe and resilient society. Our research characterizes itself as interdisciplinary and explorative. It considers the physical, human and policy context of civil engineering systems, as well as the management of such systems. The combination of these perspectives can be understood as the DNA of our approach in Civil Engineering.

Our university offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues in which internationalization is an important part of the strategic agenda.

• Starting salary between € 3.545,- to € 5.513,- gross per month based on your experience;
• 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;
• Professional and personal development programs;
• A high degree of responsibility and independence, while collaborating with close colleagues, researchers and other university staff is strongly encouraged.

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.