Background

Bright Renovation Insulation for housing by Advanced Materials and Methods (BRIMM) is a project that will accelerate insulation development for increased sustainability of homes in the Netherlands. By 2050, the Netherlands’ buildings are planned to be completely gas free, an enormous task as 3.7 million homes in the Netherlands are insufficiently insulated. Current renovation methods require large investments and time: almost two weeks per house. With the methods that will be developed in this project, a house can be renovated in less than two days at much lower cost using innovative sustainable materials. Within this project, Maastricht University will study the effect of these innovations on the indoor climate, well-being and health of the residents. This will be the topic of research for this specific PhD-candidate.

Effects of the indoor environment on well-being and health

Building renovations can significantly impact the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), e.g. via ventilation, thermal and lighting conditions. In turn, these IEQ factors affect well-being and health of the residents. Earlier studies of the department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences of MU have shown that dynamic thermal and lighting conditions can positively affect well-being, cognition and metabolic health. Moreover, air quality is an important IEQ factor. Therefore, in this project, the PhD-candidate will specifically study the impact of thermal conditions, ventilation strategies and lighting on human well-being, cognition and health.

BRIMM is a close collaboration between Maastricht University, Eindhoven University of Technology, the companies Aerobel, Takkenkamp, ​​Physee and Kriya Materials, the housing association ZoWonen, ZUYD Hogeschool, Brightlands Materials Center / TNO and Brightlands Chemelot Campus. Studies will take place in the Metabolic Research Unit of Maastricht University, and in a real-life living lab environment at Eindhoven University of Technology. The candidate will be supervised by dr. Guy Plasqui, dr. ir. Rick Kramer and prof. dr. Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt.

We are looking for an ambitious PhD candidate with a strong interest in human physiology. Special interest is required on how the indoor environmental quality may affect human physiology, well-being, productivity and health. The candidate should have interest in performing detailed laboratory experiments in respiration/climate chambers and in doing studies in real-life living lab conditions.

Previous experience with studying human participants is recommended. Candidates should have a recent Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences, Experimental Psychology, Biology, Human-Technology Interaction, or Building Physics.

The candidate should be able to function in a multidisciplinary environment and cooperate with other PhD candidates.

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

Temporary employment for 4 years. The first year will be a probation period, after a positive assessment the position will be extended for another 3 years, which happens in the vast majority of cases.

Your salary would be € 2.395,- gross per month in the first year up to € 3.061,- gross per month in the fourth year according to the PhD-candidate salary scale. An 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance is also provided. Each year an evaluation will take place.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 20,000 students and 4,700 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

NUTRIM School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism

NUTRIM School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism is part of the Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences of the Maastricht University. NUTRIM catalyses translational research into metabolic and chronic inflammatory disorders (i.e. metabolic syndrome/diabetes, IBD/intestinal failure and COPD) that will contribute to innovative personalized lifestyle and medicine approaches with a focus on nutrition, toxicology and metabolism. Within NUTRIM, approximately 400 scientists including 245 PhD students, and an additional 70 support staff members work interdisciplinary together in 16 Biomedical, clinical, and behavioral-science departments. Through its research master and PhD programme NUTRIM aims to educate investigators of high scientific excellence and ambassadors to support and develop this research field.

More information:

https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/research/graduate-schools/school-nutrition-and-translational-research-metabolism