Do you want to be part of the circular revolution and contribute to affordable social housing? Join us as a PhD candidate in the EU-funded project Circular Building Convert!
Job description
Across Europe, thousands of office buildings remain underutilised or vacant while the demand for affordable and social housing continues to rise. Converting these spaces into housing can significantly contribute to circular urban transformation, reducing material waste, limiting carbon emissions, and extending the lifespan of existing structures. However, such conversions face multiple barriers-economic, regulatory, technical, and social-that slow down their adoption. These barriers often emerge from misaligned incentives, fragmented decision-making, and rigid regulatory frameworks that prioritise new construction over reuse.
Despite growing interest in circular strategies, real estate developers, municipalities, and affordable housing providers still lack structured approaches and decision-support frameworks that can guide them in assessing the feasibility of office-to-housing conversions. Key challenges include determining which buildings are suitable for conversion, navigating legal and financial constraints, and integrating material reuse into construction. Without clear and feasible strategies, many promising projects stall before implementation, and conversion remains the exception rather than the norm. The Circular Building Convert project seeks to address these challenges by developing joint strategies and action plans that support the large-scale adoption of office-to-housing conversions. This includes decision-support frameworks, policy recommendations, and tools that empower local authorities, developers, and housing associations to make informed choices about conversion projects.
As a PhD researcher, you will investigate the interplay between decision-making processes, regulatory frameworks, and circular strategies in office-to-housing conversions. Your research will contribute to the development of structured decision-support tools, identifying the economic, environmental, and legal conditions that enable or hinder adaptive reuse projects.
Your key research questions may include:
- How do decision-makers (including but not limited to investors, policymakers, and social housing associations) evaluate the feasibility of office-to-housing conversion projects?
- What factors-technical, economic, societal, and policy-related-influence their choices?
- How can decision-support frameworks facilitate the widespread adoption of circular conversion strategies?
- Which strategic interventions and incentive structures are needed to accelerate the transition toward office-to-housing reuse?
To answer these questions, you will employ qualitative and quantitative methods, including policy analysis, stakeholder interviews, case study comparisons, and participatory research with municipalities and real estate developers. You will collaborate closely with the Circular Building Convert project consortium, engaging with stakeholders across multiple European regions. Your research will contribute directly to the project's objective of developing a joint strategy integrating feasibility assessments, business models, and policy recommendations for office-to-housing conversions. Beyond traditional research methods, you will take part in co-creation processes with public and private actors, contributing to the development of actionable strategies that will be tested and refined through project pilots. Your work will bridge academic insights with real-world implementation, ensuring that findings are not only theoretically robust but also practically useful for stakeholders working on the ground.
Job requirements
We are looking for a highly motivated and independent researcher with an interdisciplinary mindset. This project may be an excellent fit for you if you have:
- An MSc degree in architecture, construction management, environmental studies, urban planning, or a related field.
- Excellent knowledge of circular economy principles, sustainable development, or policy frameworks related to housing and real estate.
- Strong skills in mixed research methods.
- Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills, with the ability to translate research findings into actionable recommendations.
- Strong communication skills and are comfortable engaging with policymakers, real estate professionals, and community stakeholders.
- Proficiency in English (C1 level or higher) and ideally another language relevant to the project (Dutch or French).
We encourage you to apply if you are passionate about driving circularity in the built environment and shaping actions for a more sustainable and resilient future.
TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
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 Architecture & the Built Environment
The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has a leading role in education and research worldwide. The driving force behind the faculty's success is its robust research profile combined with the energy and creativity of its student body and academic community. It is buzzing with energy from early in the morning until late at night, with four thousand people studying, working, designing, conducting research and acquiring and disseminating knowledge. Our faculty has a strong focus on 'design-oriented research', which has given it a top position in world rankings.
Staff and students are working to improve the built environment with the help of a broad set of disciplines, including architectural design, urban planning, building technology, social sciences, process management, and geo-information science. The faculty works closely with other faculties, universities, private parties, and the public sector, and has an extensive network in the Netherlands as well as internationally.
to go to the website of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.
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.
is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.
Additional information
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Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 30 April 2025 via the application button and upload the following documents:
- Detailed CV (max three pages).
- Motivation letter. This letter should include an explanation of the motivation for applying and what skills and experience the applicant contribute to the post (one page).
- Proof of writing (scientific paper, master thesis).
- The names and contact details of two references (letters not required at this stage).
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.
Het salaris bedraagt €2872 - €3670