The UMONS Research Institute for Energy has been selected for creating an ERA-Chair Team headed by an ERA-Chair Holder for building a strong, sustainable and highly-performing Research, Development and Innovation platform in the field of Energy Efficiency in city Districts according to the concept of “Net Zero Energy City Districts”. UMONS sets up measures and actions for achieving an ambitious R&D&I program aligned with the smart specialization priorities initiated by the regional authorities for its socio-economic successful growth and with the European priorities within the ERA. The principal technical objectives of the RE-SIZED (Research Excellence for Solutions and Implementation of Net Zero Energy City Districts) are concentrated on the combination of five major research areas such as i) electricity micro-grids, ii) thermal behavior of buildings, iii) energy production/energy storage systems, iv) control strategies of energy systems, v) urban planning and environmental assessment
Description
The job consists in an initial 3-year full time or part-time position (with possibilities to an extension of one more year to complete the PhD) within the Research Institute for Energy (RIE) at UMONS. The candidate will be recruited as a PhD researcher (with the chance to have the PhD as European/International Honour) in a new research team with the objective to create a scripting tool for urbanization strategies on the basis of contextualization, morphology, microclimatics effects, typology, density, mix, mobility (sustainable) and accessibility parameters while providing also the necessary input for the other areas. The candidate and the new team will have to interact strongly with existing departments of the Institute participating in the project. The candidate will have to develop research activities in the field of energy performance (use of classical software and development of simplified models) and to integrate her/his results within a global approach for city districts (in collaboration with other researchers). S/He will be involved in scientific communication (towards the scientific community as well as stakeholders).
Suitable background and qualification:
The candidate will hold a Master Degree in Architecture or Engineering (urban engineering/systems/planning, civil, environmental, etc) with deep knowledge in Urbanism and Sustainability. S/He will have experience in system and/or building modeling and a good pluridisciplinary approach to the practical aspects and regulations needed for local planning at the scale of a neighborhood. A good knowledge of norms, technical issues (heating and cooling devices) and geospatial analysis will be also in favor of the applicant. The candidate will be hosted in a multi-disciplinary and international working environment under a challenging job at a dynamic and ambitious University. Salaries are in accordance with the internal University agreement and consist of +/- 1950€/month (net amount). S/He will be an ordered and conscientious person with a taste for easy contacts. S/He will be fluent in English while good programming abilities would be beneficial.
Application procedure
Application must include:
- A motivation letter (1-page max) including your vision of the project.
- a Curriculum Vitae with:
o Professional and education profile
o List of publications (if any)
o Description of previous research activities (if any)
o Language skills
o Software (use and development) skills.
The selected PhD candidates will have skype interviews before final decision. It is expected to have the decision known to all the candidates till the 16/01/15 and the incorporation of the selected candidate asap (or till 16/02/15).
Application may be sent (preferably as a zip file) by e-mail till 08/01/15 to christos.ioakeimidis@umons.ac.be (ERA Chair Holder) and marc.frere@umons.ac.be (Director of the RIE and Prof. at UMONS).
Nr of positions available : 1
Research Fields
Architecture
Career Stage
Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)
Research Profiles
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Comment/web site for additional job details
Project summary
The University of Mons (UMONS) located in the Walloon Region of Belgium, by the intermediate of its Research Institute for Energy (RIE) has been selected (FP7 ERA Chair Pilot Call) for creating an ERA-Chair Team headed by an ERA-Chair Holder for building a strong, sustainable and highly-performing Research, Development and Innovation (R&D&I) platform in the field of Energy Efficiency in City Districts according to the concept of “Net Zero Energy City Districts (NZED)”. UMONS sets up measures and actions at the level of the Institution and the ERA-Chair hosting departments for creating the best environment and conditions for achieving an ambitious R&D&I program aligned with the smart specialization priorities already initiated by the regional authorities for its socio-economic successful growth and with the European priorities within the European Research Area (ERA). The principal technical objectives of the RE-SIZED project (Research Excellence for Solutions and Implementation of Net Zero Energy City Districts) are concentrated initially in the combination of five major research areas such as i) electricity micro-grids, ii) thermal behavior of buildings, iii) energy production/energy storage systems, iv) control strategies of energy systems, v) urban planning and environmental assessment.
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