PhD candidate AI-Augmented Urban Sensing and Societal Readiness for Climate-Responsive Regeneration

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NTNU is a broad-based university with a technical-scientific profile and a focus in professional education. The university is located in three cities with headquarters in Trondheim.

At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

   

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About the position

Are you motivated to take a step towards a doctorate and open up exciting career opportunities? As a PhD Candidate with us, you will work to achieve your doctorate and, at the same time, gain valuable experience that qualifies you for a further career in higher education and research, both in and outside academia.

You will join a growing, internationally oriented research group at the Faculty of Architecture and Design that works at the intersection of climate consideration and heritage protection, adaptability, and the reuse of the built environment. We aim to advance the use of digital tools in research to support urban planning and design decision-making through co-creation and participatory design, thereby supporting societal readiness for climate-responsive regeneration. The group is building around the Onsager Fellow in the Department of Architecture and Planning (IAP) at the Faculty of Architecture and Design (AD) and is actively developing new research and education directions and European funding initiatives, offering an ambitious and collaborative environment in which to grow as an independent researcher.

Your immediate leader will be the Head of Department.

About the project

Cities are being asked to regenerate faster than the people who live in, plan and govern them can absorb the tools now used to support it. Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and contemporary urban sensing offer powerful support for microclimate analyses and could inform public-space design decisions and monitor environmental performance during urban regeneration in neighbourhoods. Their adoption, however, is outpacing the public discussion, professional practice and municipal governance needed to use them responsibly. The risk is that work with environmental data becomes technically advanced but socially weak: hard to understand, weakly trusted and poorly connected to design decisions.

This PhD position in AI-Augmented Urban Sensing for Planning to support Societal Readiness for Climate-Responsive Regeneration addresses the gap between the use of AI-enabled environmental knowledge and societal readiness for urban regeneration. The aim is to develop and test a societal readiness framework and a co-design workflow that translate AI-augmented urban data into legitimate, inclusive and climate-responsive regeneration decisions. The successful candidate will define indicators of societal readiness, the capacity of residents, practitioners, and public authorities to understand, govern, and use AI-augmented sensing, covering legitimacy, ethics, trust, data governance, and uptake in design. The candidate will further develop a transferable co-design workflow that integrates environmental data from open, citizen and municipal sensor networks, AI-assisted analysis, simulation, visualisation and stakeholder deliberation. This workflow will be tested in a primary living lab, preferably in a Nordic case study. 

The project will be connected to international collaborations and will contribute to the faculty’s commitments to human-centred technology and to addressing emerging changes in how we plan our cities and design spaces, with climate considerations, nature and heritage protection, through built-environment regeneration, adaptability, and circularity. It also supports the research group's wider ambitions under the ERC and EU funding programmes.

Duties of the position

• Complete the doctoral education leading to a PhD degree.  
• Carry out research of good quality within the framework described above.
• Produce academic publications in general high-impact international peer-reviewed journals and popular science dissemination.
• Participate actively in the research group’s activities and the department's academic community.
• Participate in and contribute to development of research groups initiatives and applications under the Norwegian Research Council and EU-funding programmes.
• Participate in international activities such as conferences and/or research stays at foreign educational institutions

Be prepared for changes to your work duties after employment.

Required selection criteria

• You must have a relevant Master's degree in Architecture and Urban Planning. Applications from related fields may be considered where there is a strong focus on the urban applications of advanced digital tools and AI.
• Your course of study must correspond to a five-year Norwegian course, where 120 credits have been obtained at master's level. Master students can apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented before starting the position and no later than September 1st 2026. 
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and have an average grade from your Master's degree study, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared to NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic foundation. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be considered 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 Programme .
• Excellent oral and written presentation skills in English.

PLEASE NOTE: For detailed information about what the application must contain, see paragraph “About the application”.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with NTNU’s guidelines for recruitment positions, based on general criteria for the position.

Preferred selection criteria

• Innovative analytical skills and practical experience in quantitative and qualitative perspectives. 
• Use of advanced digital tools for analysing and improving urban data and statistics, and visualisation in urban planning and design. 
• Experience with one or more of: GIS and spatial analysis, environmental sensing or the Internet of Things, data analysis, AI or machine learning, and simulation or environmental-performance modelling within a urban context.
• Experience with participatory, co-design methods and approaches.
• Interest or background in urban climate adaptation, architectural heritage or urban regeneration.
• Good ability to conduct reflective, analytical and critical matter discussions with students and colleagues. 
• Good overview and broad understanding of the field.
• Good oral and written presentation skills in Norwegian/Scandinavian at the B1 level, according to the language levels.

Personal characteristics

To complete a doctoral degree (PhD), it is important that you are able to: 

• Ability to work independently and in a structured, goal-oriented manner.
• Strong motivation for the subject and curiosity regarding interdisciplinary research.
• Present and discuss your research and expertise to diverse stakeholders and professionals.
• Show strong motivation and dedication to developing research skills and contributing to large research projects.
• Capable of analyzing complex data and drawing well-founded conclusions from different perspectives.
• Be flexible and open to adjusting the plan for the project as needed.
• Work constructively under pressure in the context of collaborative research within a multidisciplinary department.  

Emphasis will be placed on personal qualities.

We offer

Evaluate and remove/add what is relevant for the position.

• An exciting job with an important mission in society
• Developing tasks in a strong and international professional environment
• Career guidance and follow-up during the PhD period
• Open and inclusive working environment with committed colleagues
• Working capital that can be used to implement the project
• Mentor programme as a new employee at NTNU
• Favorable terms as a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK)
• Free Norwegian language training at a basic level (A2)

As a PhD Candidate at NTNU, you will have access to employee benefits.

Diversity

Diversity is a strength, and at NTNU we aim to be an employer that reflects the diversity in society and that makes use of the potential of the population's collective skills. Our vision is Knowledge for a better world and our values ​​are creative, critical, constructive and respectful. We believe that an organization that is equal, diverse and gender-balanced is essential for us to achieve our goals. 

We strive to attract employees with different skills, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to even better problem solving of our societal mission in research and education. 

If you think this position is relevant and interesting, we encourage you to apply, regardless of gender, functional ability and cultural background, or whether you have been out of work for a period of time.

At NTNU we want to increase the proportion of women in scientific positions. We have a number of measures to promote equality.

Salary and conditions

In the position of PhD Candidate, code 1017, your gross salary will normally be NOK 550 800,-per annum depending on qualifications and seniority. A 2% statutory contribution to the State Pension Fund is deducted from the salary. 

The employment period is 3 years.

For employment as a PhD Candidate, it is a prerequisite that you gain admission to the PhD programme in Architecture (within three months of your employment contract start date, and that you participate in an organised doctoral programme throughout the period of employment.

As an employee at NTNU, it is important that you keep yourself up to date with academic and organizational changes and adapt to them.

For the necessary professional and social interaction, it is a prerequisite that you are physically present and available to the institution on a daily basis.

The appointment is carried out in accordance with the principles of the State Employees Act, and Export control (legislation that regulates the export of knowledge, technology and services). Candidates who, after assessment of the application and attachments, are considered to bein conflict with the criteria in the latter act, will not be able to be employed.

About the application

The attachments (including a description of your scientific work) must accompany the application as these documents form the basis of the application assessment. The documents must be in Norwegian/a Scandinavian language or English.

Please note: the application will only be assessed on the basis of the information we have received by the application deadline. Therefore, make sure that your application clearly shows how your skills and experience meet the criteria described above. The application and all attachments must be sent electronically via Jobbnorge.no. If you are invited to an interview, you must bring certified copies of certificates and diplomas upon request.

The application must include:

• Short letter of motivation (400 words/1 page).
• Project outline containing proposals for an overall description of research questions, theoretical perspectives, methodological design for the project and progress plan (maximum 1500 words/4 pages).
• Copies of transcripts and diplomas for Bachelor's and Master's degrees.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV).
• Copy of Master's thesis. If you have recently submitted your Master's thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed Master's degree must be provided before taking up the position.
• Publications and other scholarly work (if applicable).
• Names and contact information of three relevant referees.

Applicants are kindly requested to clearly label all submitted documents. Files must be named in a way that makes their content easily identifiable.

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. If your institution uses “diploma supplement” (normal for most European institutions), you must attach this. A description of the documentation required can also be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir), please attach this as well.

Joint work will be considered. If it is difficult to identify your contribution to joint work, you must attach a brief description of your participation.

When assessing the best qualified, we emphasize necessary qualifications such as education, experience and personal suitability. Motivation for the position, ambitions, and potential for research will also count when assessing the candidates.

NTNU recognizes a wide range of academic contributions and has committed itself to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment and CoARA (responsible assessment of research and recognition of a greater breadth of academic contributions in accordance with NTNU's social mission).

General information

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you wish to be exempt 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 exemption is not granted.

If you think this position looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, you are welcome to apply.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact IAP’s Onsager Fellow, Associate Professor Slađana Lazarević, email: sladjana.lazarevic@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR Advisor Natalia Swahn, e-mail: natalia.swahn@ntnu.no.

Application deadline: 18.09.2026

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For practical information about working at NTNU, please visit this webpage. 
 

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the tech capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.