Phd position on modelling human behavior in response to changes in urban heat and air quality

Are you interested in simulating human behaviour and making that part of one of the biggest digital twins for Destination Earth? Join our multinational European team to create true impact.

Today, cities face significant challenges caused by climate change and environmental degradation. More frequent heat waves and human activities contribute to deteriorating air quality. The dense and high-rise urban fabric and the high population density in urban areas complicate maintaining healthy environments. Poor air quality and heat affect human health by increasing vulnerability to pandemics and reducing lung function. Worse health outcomes also have economic consequences by affecting citizens' economic productivity. Poorer communities are disproportionately vulnerable, raising climate injustice concerns, and highlighting the crucial need for balanced decision making in urban design to ensure a healthy environment in modern cities.

Urban design decisions ideally rely on a balanced evaluation of criteria, utilizing science-based scenarios for atmospheric flow and human behaviour from digital twins (DT). These decision support tools must represent Earth-system processes at high resolution. The UrbanAIR project empowers municipalities not only to understand the consequences of choices in urban design on the environment, but also to adapt the city landscape to climate change, and to ensure citizens' safety in case of an extreme event (heat wave, excessive pollution).

This PhD project will focus on the socio-economic impacts of atmospheric climate change and hazards. It uses empirical methods (e.g. Household surveys) to study private adaptation decisions with computational social science methods (e.g. Spatial agent-based modelling) to explore how human behaviour evolves in various urban environments under climate stresses in particular heat. The PhD project will deliver two behavioral models one for city of Barcelona and one for Antwerp. This modeling effort will be accompanied by survey on households (designed by the student and executed by external entities) and other data. Moreover, connecting behavioral insights to the DT developed in the UrbanAIR project and using environmental data from the DT to use in the behavioral models is an important aspect of this PhD project.

A candidate should ideally have:

• Master's degree in Environmental Studies; Spatial or Environmental Economics; Complex Systems Science.
• Previous experience with agent-based modeling or with one of the programming languages (Python; Java; C++; Julia) is an advantage.
• Capacity to perform statistical data analysis is beneficial.
• Domain knowledge in the field of coupled social-environmental systems, climate change adaptation or global environmental change in general is an advantage.
• Excellent written and spoken command of English. For more details please check here the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.

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!

The Faculty of TPM provides an important contribution to solving complex technical-social issues, such as energy transition, mobility, digitalisation, water management and (cyber) security. TPM does this with its excellent education and research at the intersection of technology, society and policy. We combine insights from both engineering and social sciences as well as the humanities. TPM develops robust models and designs, is internationally oriented and has an extensive network of knowledge institutions, companies, social organisations and governments.

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 1 December 2024 via the application button and upload the following documents:

• CV
• Motivational letter
• Your MSc transcript with grades
• 2 names of potential referees

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 .

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.
• A knowledge security check will be part of the selection procedure.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.