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DTU Management’s group for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment (QSA) invites applicants for two positions as assistant and/or associate professor in the field of sustainability assessment. QSA is among the leading in the world in developing and applying life cycle assessment methodology to evaluate the sustainability of products, technologies, and services. QSA offers an excellent research environment with around 25 international employees, including staff, postdocs, and PhD students.

The positions are offered in the field of sustainability assessment of products and technologies. Focus will be on one or more of the following research topics: 

  • Developing quantitative methods for determining absolute targets for environmental sustainability and for implementing them in sustainability assessment of products and systems
  • Developing and implementing methods for quantitative sustainability assessment of research projects, technologies and products addressing United Nation’s global sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a full life cycle perspective
  • Developing hybridisation approaches of input-output analysis and product life cycle assessment (LCA), focusing on the link from inventory analysis to life cycle impact assessment and dynamic assessments with a shift from retrospective to prospective perspective

Responsibilities and tasks
DTU’s vision is technological research to help societies transition rapidly to a sustainable world. With the announced positions, DTU wishes to strengthen our capacity for sustainability assessment focusing on developing quantitative metrics and methods for measuring the progress of new products and technologies towards achieving United Nations’ global goals for a sustainable development (SDGs) and more specifically meeting the human needs while staying within the carrying capacities of the planet’s biophysical systems. The positions target fundamentals of sustainability assessments addressing the SDGs and facilitating a shift from a relative to an absolute sustainability perspective (moving from “better” to “good enough”). It is the DNA of the QSA group to combine strong scientific impact with societal impact through translation of quantitative metrics into decision support, targeting decision makers in industry and policy development.

Your research should include one or more of the following aspects: 

  • Determining absolute limits for environmental impact or damage (locally, regionally or globally) that future technological developments need to respect to allow us to stay within a safe operating space and translate these limits into requirements to individual technologies, products or organisations
  • Developing quantitative metrics and operational frameworks for comparing environmental sustainability impacts across the SDGs related to products, technical systems or companies in a life cycle perspective.
  • Integrating multi-regional environmentally enhanced input-output statistics into methods for sustainability assessment of future technology development by hybridisation with process-LCA, ensuring a sufficient coverage of emission flows in the inventory modelling and an adequate linkage to impact assessment, and developing a dynamic approach supporting a shift from a retrospective to a prospective perspective

The positions will enable you to train the next generation of researchers in the field of quantitative sustainability assessment, and to collaborate with researchers and stakeholders across sectors at the highest level including top-academic institutions around the world, European and international governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations, and industry. Your main activities will include: 

  • Teaching future engineers sustainability assessment (for international candidates, DTU can provide Danish language courses enabling the candidates to teach in Danish within 2-3 years).
  • Building/further developing a strong research profile allowing you to attract external funding to the field
  • Building collaborations with researchers from other DTU departments covering a wide range of technology domains.

Qualifications
Candidates for an

  • Assistant professorship must hold a PhD degree (or equivalent), and have completed postdoctoral research.
  • Associate professorship must hold a PhD degree (or equivalent), as well as academic qualifications equivalent to those obtained by holding an assistant professorship and documented didactic/pedagogic training

The positions require a unique set of interdisciplinary academic expertise along with technical and training skills to establish the new research areas of absolute sustainability assessment of products and technologies and/or assessment of the SDGs, and/or hybrid input-output and dynamic systems assessment. You will therefore bring the following: 

  • You bring strong expertise and an adequate track record in one or more of the research topics listed above
  • You have the ability to motivate colleagues, peers, and students to give the very best and create an interdisciplinary atmosphere to achieve ambitious goals.
  • You enjoy teaching at bachelor and master level and are eager to develop your skills towards effective teaching in sustainability assessment for engineers.

You, as perfect candidate for our position, will moreover bring in the following: 

  • You are driven by pushing boundaries and defining future research agendas around sustainability assessment.
  • You enjoy working with complex topics using a systems perspective.
  • You are active in initiating and guiding international collaboration.

Assessment
In the assessment of the candidates, consideration will be given to 

  • Experience and quality of teaching
  • Research impact and experience, funding track record, and research vision
  • Societal impact
  • Documented innovation activities, including commercialization and collaboration with industry
  • International impact and experience
  • Leadership potential and collaboration
  • Communication skills

Consideration will also be given to:

  • Experience in developing quantitative methods and mathematical models for inventory and/or impact assessment

We offer
DTU is a leading technical university globally recognized for the excellence of its research, education, innovation and scientific advice. We offer a rewarding and challenging job in an international environment. We strive for academic excellence in an environment characterized by collegial respect and academic freedom tempered by responsibility.

Salary and terms of employment
The appointment will be based on the collective agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. The allowance will be agreed upon with the relevant union.

The assistant professor position is a permanent entry-level faculty position. After a maximum of 4 years, an assistant professor can be promoted to an associate professor position after assessment. More information can be found here: Career paths at DTU

Further information
Further information may be obtained from Group Leader, Professor Michael Hauschild tel.: +45 4525 4664.

You can read more about the QSA research group here

Application procedure
Please submit your online application no later than 5 January 2020 (local time). Applications must be submitted as one PDF file containing all materials to be given consideration. To apply, please open the link "Apply online", fill out the online application form, and attach all your materials in English in one PDF file.

The file must include: 

  • Application (cover letter)
  • CV
  • Teaching and research statement, with a focus on the “Assessment” bullet points listed above
  • Documentation of previous teaching and research, as related to the “Assessment” bullet points listed above
  • List of publications (applicants applying for the position as associate professor should indicate scientific highlights)
  • H-index, and ORCID (see e.g. http://orcid.org/)
  • Diploma (MSc/PhD)

In the field “Please indicate which position you are applying for”, please indicate whether you are applying for the position as Associate or Assistant Professor.

Applications and enclosures received after the deadline will not be considered.

All qualified candidates irrespective of age, gender, race, disability, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply.a

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