PhD Position 24/7 Dynamic Comfort

Passionate about shaping climate-responsive and climate-inclusive design? Join TU Delft to revolutionise thermal comfort research in buildings and neighbourhoods.

Job description
Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, is offering a PhD position within the ‘24/7 Dynamic Thermal Comfort in Buildings and Neighbourhoods’ project, in short, the ‘24/7 Dynamic Comfort’ project. This research sets out to uncover how diverse social groups navigate and adapt to thermal transitions within and between indoor and outdoor environments across daily, weekly, and seasonal cycles. The study will investigate physiological, psychological, and behavioural responses during periods of acclimation and recovery.

As a PhD candidate, you will have the flexibility to shape your research focus within this scope. Potential outcomes can include, but are not limited to:

1. Developing thermal-transient indices for indoor-outdoor activities such as walking, exercising, and resting.
2. Proposing climate-inclusive design guidelines tailored to vulnerable groups (e.g., delivery riders, night-shift workers, etc.) and providing recommendations for the current adaptive comfort standards.
3. Formulating dynamic-comfort solutions for ‘sick-building,’ ‘sick-street,’ and ‘sick-square’ syndromes caused by insufficient climate-adaptive opportunities in existing buildings, urban infrastructure, and the intermediate spaces connecting them.

As part of the Sector-Plan scheme, you will join the Section of Environmental & Climate Design (E&CD) within the Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology (AE&T). Your primary responsibilities as a PhD candidate will include conceptualising, developing, executing, and disseminating your PhD research while enhancing its academic impact in the field of human comfort and related domains. You may also choose to become a research fellow (RF) at the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), where you can test your research ideas in real-world settings with support from the RF community, project coordinators, communication teams, and Dutch municipalities. This position will be supervised by dr. Zhikai Peng and involves collaboration with a multidisciplinary team spanning three other departments Architecture, Urbanism, and Management in the Built Environment within the faculty.

This ‘24/7 Dynamic Comfort’ PhD project focuses on creating safe, inclusive, and playful thermal environments. In alignment with these goals, your supervisory team is dedicated to supporting a positive and fulfilling four-year research journey as you work toward your doctorate. Join TU Delft to contribute to ground-breaking research and advance your career in an internationally renowned academic environment.

In the department of Architectural Engineering + Technology we currently have 6 PhD positions open. Click here to see all 6 vacancies.

Job requirements
Mandatory qualifications:

• You have a master’s degree (or degrees) in Architecture, Architectural Engineering, Building Technology, Urbanism, Geomatics, Behavioural Sciences, or a related field. You must obtain your master’s degree before 31 July 2025.
• You have strong motivations for research in human comfort and biometeorology.
• You have strong motivations to apply mixed quantitative and qualitative methods.
• You have research or practical experiences in environmental design or citizen sciences (good communication skills with relevant stakeholders).
• You enjoy working with a diverse, interdisciplinary research team, take initiative in field and lab studies, and disseminate your knowledge to both academia and society.

Preferable qualifications:

• Your master’s thesis, research projects, or publications should preferably be related to outdoor climates, with an interest in exploring indoor environments.
• Alternatively, your work may be focused on indoor climates, with a curiosity about outdoor contexts, or integrate both perspectives.
• You have prior experience in or an affinity with indoor or outdoor measurement campaigns (weather stations, sensors, surveys).
• You are proficient in or have an affinity with relevant data processing tools and simulation models.

TU Delft (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 Architecture and the Built Environment
The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has a leading role in education and research worldwide. The driving force behind the faculty’s success is its robust research profile combined with the energy and creativity of its student body and academic community. It is buzzing with energy from early in the morning until late at night, with four thousand people studying, working, designing, conducting research and acquiring and disseminating knowledge. Our faculty has a strong focus on 'design-oriented research’, which has given it a top position in world rankings.

Staff and students are working to improve the built environment with the help of a broad set of disciplines, including architectural design, urban planning, building technology, social sciences, process management, and geo-information science. The faculty works closely with other faculties, universities, private parties, and the public sector, and has an extensive network in the Netherlands as well as internationally.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

Conditions of employment 
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 € 2872 per month in the first year to € 3670 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 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.

Additional information
You will have the flexibility to extend your workplace to the AMS Institute and benefit from work-from-home arrangements. You may be eligible for reimbursement of relocation and commuting expenses, depending on your place of residence. Eligible candidates may also benefit from the 30% ruling, which provides a tax advantage for highly skilled migrants relocating to the Netherlands.

For more information about this vacancy, please contact dr. Zhikai Peng, e-mail: z.p.peng@tudelft.nl.   
 
For information about the application procedure, please contact Nynke Schik-Kuiken, HR advisor, e-mail: recruitment-BK@tudelft.nl.

The position will remain open until Sunday, the 2nd of February 2025, 23:59 CET (Central European Time). Selected candidates will be invited for a first round of interviews in the second half of February.

Application procedure
Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 2 February 2025 via the application button and upload the following documents:

• A motivation letter (no more than 600 words) addressing your interests and describing how your experience and research plans fit with the ‘24/7 Dynamic Comfort’ PhD project.
• A detailed CV - highlighting publications, examples of projects and/or achievements and earlier experience that prove skills relevant to this PhD project.
• A master’s thesis or an abstract of it, and, if applicable, one or two notable publications/writing samples you have authored or research projects you have contributed to (please write down clearly your contribution in case of group work).
• Undergraduate and graduate transcripts.
• Contact information for two references (letters not needed at this stage).

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. 

Please note:

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post. 
• A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
• For the final candidates, a knowledge security check will be part of the application procedure. For more information on this check, please consult Chapter 8 of the National Knowledge Security Guidelines. We carry out this check on the basis of legitimate interest.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.