PhD on next generation, people-centred analysis tools for holistic, sustainable renovation of Green Buildings and Neighbourhoods (GBN)

 

Applications are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Electrical and Computer Science programme. The position is available from 01 October 2022 or later.

Title:
PhD on next generation, people-centred analysis tools for holistic, sustainable renovation of Green Buildings and Neighbourhoods (GBN)

Research area and project description:
There is an urgent need to drastically improve the sustainability of the built environment, while simultaneously enhancing the quality of life of building occupants in terms of health, well-being, comfort and the "builing experience". There is significant potential for information technology (IT) solutions to assist architects and building managers in enhancing health, safety and comfort of occupants while accelerating the drive towards green, sustainble buildings: computer-aided architectural design (CAAD) software tools can support decision-making through automatic building floorplan analysis, and software simulations of daily operations.

This PhD project will be part of a new AU living lab, and will develop and pilot (1) new renovation decision support tools for refurbishing "Universitetsbyen", the University City being constructed from a former hospital over the next 5 years, and (2) a "toolkit" for producing tender-ready proposals for constructing Solar Panel Parks, which will be piloted at AU Foulum. The project is part of the activities of the H2020 project, PROBONO, funded by the EU and led by Acciona Engineering, Spain.

The project will illustrate how innovative, smart technology and digitalisation can be used to benefit society. Among other things, the project will provide a GBN Digital Twin implemented across the AU Living Lab as a virtual representation of associated GBNs including operational assets that comply with today's sustainability, emissions and health standards in a lifecycle perspective.

This is a research-focused role, where the candidate will conduct a specified program of research supported by research training and development under the supervision and direction of a Principal Investigator/supervisor. The student will integrate PROBONO research into their doctoral studies, the scope of which is to be agreed upon with the supervisor. The doctorate must therefore be aligned with topics relevant to PROBONO.

This Ph.D. project is hosted at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Aarhus University (AU-ECE), Denmark, and is supervised in collaboration with the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering of Aarhus University (AU-CAE), Denmark.

Project description. For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above, and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Qualifications and specific competences:
We are interested in a person with a background in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline (having completed a Master’s degree). A desire to engage in cross-disciplinary research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and architectural design will be important. It will be relevant, but certainly not required, to have experience with:

(1) knowledge representation and reasoning methods, ontologies, logic programming (Answer Set Programming, Prolog, Constraint Logic Programming)

(2) Building Information Modelling (BIM), computer aided design

The applicants should be enthusiastic about working in an interdisciplinary environment with multiple academic and industry partners (in the framework of the H2020 funded project, PROBONO), partly sitting in different working places, and with an academic view on practical challenges.

Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Finlandsgade 22, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark. 

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact:

• Dr. Carl Schultz (cschultz@ece.au.dk), Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark.
• Dr. Aliakbar Kamari (ak@cae.au.dk), Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark.

How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application. Application deadline is 15 May 2022 23:59 . Preferred starting date is 01 October 2022.

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide.

Please note:

• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.