PhD Candidates in circularity and upcycling of timber related materials and products

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About the job

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree.

At the Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering in Gjøvik, we currently have two (2) full-time doctoral (PhD) candidate positions linked to the newly established research project CIRCULess, https://circuless-project.eu/. The duration of each PhD position is three years. The project is funded by the Horizon Europe programme and coordinated by NTNU. The project is dedicated to the recycling, upcycling, circularity and waste management of End-of-Life (EoL) concrete and timber-based materials and components. Through these positions, you will find an exceptional portfolio of industrial and academic partners from Norway and Europe, across a variety of sectors. The successful candidates will join the Group for Sustainable Composites led by Prof. Sotirios Grammatikos and Group of Digitalization for a Sustainable Built Environment, led by Prof. Lizhen Huang. The Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering is in possession of state-of-the-art research facilities for manufacturing, testing & characterization, non-destructive evaluation, and recycling, as well as advanced software and digital facilities for design, modelling and analysis. NTNU in Gjøvik is an important research hub in Norway, with a strong portfolio of running (national and EU) projects and significant ongoing collaborations with the industry. NTNU in Gjøvik is a campus of NTNU, located close to Raufoss Industrial Park, Mustad Industrial Park and Sintef Raufoss Manufacturing.

 

The successful candidates will be under the supervision of Prof. Sotirios Grammatikos. https://www.ntnu.no/ansatte/sotirios.grammatikos. 

 

Job description

The two PhD positions aims to develop innovative solutions for:

1. Advanced processing of reclaimed timber products, for new high added-value products. The focus of the candidate will be to work on developing procedures, to process and upscale used timber elements, in order to be recycled and upcycled. The work will deal with used timber from construction, demolition and manufacturing process industries, that requires processing such as paint-removal, de-nailing, etc. The candidate will work on existing technologies for processing and will also develop new digital-based and robotized solutions, in collaboration with the industry, with a view to evaluating and optimizing the processing procedure. 
2. Timber-enhanced composite materials development employing reclaimed timber. The main focus will be on new timber-filled polymer composite materials development, and their durability for specific applications, employing additive manufacturing and injection moulding methodologies. Timber from the manufacturing process industries will be sourced from different sources, as a filler, to develop new products, such as Wood-Plastic Composites.

 

Your immediate leader is Head of the Department. 

Duties of the position

• Participation in the research activities of the project in cooperation with partners of CIRCULess EU project
• Disseminate and publish research results
• Conduct high-quality research on the topic
• Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team to develop circular wood value chain optimization

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant background in timber engineering, materials engineering or a relevant engineering field
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level in wood science, materials science/engineering, mechanical engineering or civil engineering
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program (link)
• background in sustainability with focus on recycling/upcycling solutions 
• documented laboratory hands-on experience on material engineering
• strong knowledge on composite materials with focus on timber as engineering material
• Candidates should have documented excellent written and oral English language skills and experience in scientific writing are required.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• Experience from industry or experience from working in projects with multiple partners will be considered a merit
• Experience with National or European projects will be considered a plus
• Experience with non-destructive evaluation techniques such as Infrared Thermography, X-Ray Computed Tomography, etc
• Experience with polymer additive manufacturing and/or injection moulding
• Knowledge with processing technologies
• Knowledge with timber industry

Personal characteristics

We are looking for a positive, balanced personality who can think creatively and critically. The candidate must have excellent analytical and collaboration skills as well as an ability to work independently and in teams. Cooperation and communication skills are important for the position and will be highly weighted in the selection process. Emphasis will be placed on education, previous experience and personal suitability, as well as motivation, in terms of the qualification requirements specified in the advertisement. The candidate much have a researcher mind-set, be application oriented, with the ability to set up, organize and execute research independently

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

For both positions, the period of employment is 3 years without teaching duties. The allocation of part of the time to teaching /lecturing relevant courses is open, after agreement between the candidate and supervisor and the department leader, subject to discussion after recruitment.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

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The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

The position is subject to external funding.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include: 

1. Cover letter directed to Prof. Sotirios Grammatikos (max 1 page)

2. Curriculum vitae 

3. Certified copies of transcripts and diplomas with grades from post graduate studies (in English)

4. Research statement dedicated to the needs of this position (max. 2 pages) that should include:

• A short presentation of the motivation of the applicant
• How the applicant sees his/her background suitable for this position
• The applicant’s view of research challenges within the area of this position

5. Names and contact details of at least 2 reference persons who we can contact

6. A copy of the Master’s Thesis (for PhD candidates) or PhD thesis (for Researcher candidates), in PDF. If you are close to submitting, or have recently submitted your thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed doctoral degree must be presented before taking up the position

7. Candidates from universities outside Scandinavia and English-speaking countries are kindly requested to document their English language proficiency (TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE), or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)).

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality. 

 

The city of Gjøvik has a population of 30 000 and is a town known for its rich music and cultural life. The beautiful nature surrounding the city is ideal for an active outdoor life! The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world.

As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Professor Sotirios Grammatikos, Research Group Leader for Sustainable Composites, Director of Laboratory of Advanced & Sustainable Engineering Materials (ASEMlab), sotirios.grammatikos@ntnu.no, phone: + 4790577561, Adviser Peter Karlsaune, peter.karlsaune@ntnu.no. 

 If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR Adviser Kristine Rognlid Hagaseth, kristine.r.hagaseth@ntnu.no

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 12.01.2024