The Center for Resource Management and Solid Waste Engineering (www.uni-kassel.de/go/RMAT/) at the University of Kassel is offering a full-time research assistant position (40 hours per week, salary grade: EG 13 TV-H) within the project “Integrated Modelling of Material efficiency and Environmental impacts of building materials Cycles (IMMEC)”. The position shall be filled starting from May 1st 2022 for the duration of three years.
The IMMEC project addresses potential sustainability issues arising with increasing levels of circularity for the case of plastics in buildings and infrastructure. The major tasks of the research assistant will be to investigate the environmental performance of plastic use in the building and infrastructure sector from a circular economy perspective. This includes analyzing the material dynamics of plastics in the stock of buildings and infrastructure as well as case studies on specific building components and plastic products. A central element of the research will be to connect Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modelling to field research (e.g. sampling and waste characterization campaigns) in resource and waste management. The project research will be conducted in collaboration with the SUSTAIN group at the Luxembourg Institute of Science & Technology (LIST), because IMMEC is a joint project funded by DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and FNR (Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg).
The University of Kassel offers an extensive qualification program for doctoral students, which will be accessible to the successful candidate. There will also be opportunities to spend time at LIST and closely collaborate with the SUSTAIN group. In addition, the candidate will be able to build an international scientific network by taking part in project-related workshops as well as scientific conferences and by publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
Required qualifications:
- Master’s degree in a relevant field such as environmental engineering, environmental science, industrial ecology, civil engineering or similar. The master’s degree needs to be acquired before the recruitment date at the latest.
- Knowledge of quantitative methods and their application in either Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) or Material Flow Analysis (MFA), ideally both.
- Knowledge regarding waste management and recycling (ideally related to plastic waste management).
- Motivation to write a PhD dissertation in the field of environmental engineering.
- Cooperative attitude and willingness to work in a team.
- Strong communication skills and excellent command of English.
Desired qualifications:
- Strong analytical thinking,
- Skills in modelling and programming (ideally, knowledge of Python),
- Interest in connecting modelling techniques (e.g. MFA, LCA) to resource management and waste engineering applications,
- German language skills.
Applications should state the reference number 34795, include the usual informative documents (letter of motivation, CV etc.) and need to be submitted via the job portal at the University of Kassel (https://stellen.uni-kassel.de/jobposting/d0722af2b225e82dee862009c9c4ba2531fc2a010).
The application deadline is March 1st 2022.
For further information you may contact Prof. Dr. David Laner, phone: +49 561 804-3983, e-mail: david.laner@uni-kassel.de.