PhD Position Water Infrastructures, Spatial Planning, and Governance in Peri-Urban Africa

Shape Africa’s peri-urban water futures—join TU Delft’s CaSS PhD integrating urbanism, planning, governance and engineering to advance resilient water infrastructures.     

Job description

Understanding and enabling equitable water access in rapidly urbanising African regions is vital for climate-safe and inclusive development.

Peri-urban regions — the fast-growing zones at the edge of African cities — often fall between formal urban planning and rural infrastructure systems. As a PhD researcher, you will examine how decentralised water infrastructure (e.g. community-led or low-tech solutions) can be integrated into broader planning and governance systems, and under what institutional conditions these alternatives thrive. You will contribute to critical debates on spatial justice, infrastructure governance, and climate adaptation.

The project uses a comparative, mixed-methods approach:

• Spatial and historical analysis of urbanisation and water systems to map infrastructure mixes
• Policy and governance analysis, to understand how they enable or constrain different water options
• Case study analyses of decentralised water systems in multiple African cities
• Participatory and scenario-based research to develop climate-resilient peri-urban water futures.

This position is inherently multi/transdisciplinary. You will be embedded in both the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences and the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. Your supervisory team includes Dr. Roberto Rocco, Dr Job van der Werf, and Dr. Edo Abraham.

You will collaborate closely with three other PhDs within the CaSS Water Flagship, each focusing on complementary aspects of climate-related water challenges. You will also engage with stakeholders such as planning authorities, utilities, NGOs, and community groups through workshops and dialogue sessions, ensuring that your findings translate into real-world policy impact.

Job requirements.

We are looking for a PhD candidate with the following profile:

• MSc degree in a relevant field° obtained before the start of the position.
• Ability to conduct rigorous analytical work, combining descriptive and qualitative approaches with conceptual or quantiative modelling approaches.
• Demonstrated background, interest, or experience related to the topic of this PhD.
• Strong analytic, integrative, and reflective skills; systems thinking.
• Committed, broad-minded, curious, and conscientious.
• Proficient in English in both written and oral communication.
• Skills in geospatial analysis (e.g. GIS).
• Available to travel to and conduct field work in partner countries in Africa.

Relevant fields of background can include:

• Urbanism, Spatial Planning, or Human Geography.
• Water Management, Environmental Engineering or related fields.
• Development Studies, Political Ecology, or Public Policy.

In addition, the following would be considred beneficial but are not strictly required:

• Experience in or on African cities.
• Affinity with spatial or infrastructure justice.
• Strong collaborative skills.

This PhD position is part of the newly established interdisciplinary Climate Safety & Security centre (CaSS) at TU Delft | Campus The Hague. This centre runs an ambitious and comprehensive programme that considers climate change and stability in an integrated manner, with focus on human security, security of supply of fundamental needs (water, food) and essential resources (energy, critical materials). The PhD-student will contribute to the flagship water security within CaSS. The successful candidate will work 1 day/week at Campus The Hague and will have the opportunity to collaborate with researchers from across TU Delft, as well as policy makers from (national) governments and (inter)national organisations in The Hague and beyond.

For more information on CaSS see: www.tudelft.nl/en/campusthehague/research/cass.

TU Delft

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 Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences (CEG) is committed to outstanding international research and education in the field of civil engineering, applied earth sciences, traffic and transport, water technology, and delta technology. Our research feeds into our educational programmes and covers societal challenges such as climate change, energy transition, resource availability, urbanisation and clean water. Our research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide range of research institutions. CEG is convinced of the importance of open science and supports its scientists in integrating open science in their research practice. The Faculty of CEG comprises 28 research groups in the following seven departments: Materials Mechanics Management & Design, Engineering Structures, Geoscience and Engineering, Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Transport & Planning, Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences.

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.  

Will you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job? TU Delft is committed to make your move as smooth as possible! The HR unit, Coming to Delft Service, offers information on their website to help you prepare your relocation. In addition, Coming to Delft Service organises events to help you settle in the Netherlands, and expand your (social) network in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.  

Additional information

For any other questions about this vacancy, please contact Edo Abraham: e.abraham@tudelft.nl and Roberto Rocco: r.c.Rocco@tudelft.nl and Job van der Werf: j.a.vanderWerf@tudelft.nl       

Application procedure

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 22 August 2025 via the application button and upload the following documents:

• Short motivation letter (less than 1 page, 11 pt).
• CV (concise resumé).
• MSc thesis or other manuscripts where available.
• Transcript of records (simple copies or screenshots are sufficient; certified copies can be supplied at a later stage).

We foresee two rounds of interviews for short-listed candidates and envisage the first rounds of interviews to happen 2-3 weeks after the application deadline.

You can address your application to Edo Abraham.

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.