PhD Position in Environment Science at ETH Zurich

The chair for Urban Water Systems and ETH Zurich seeks a dynamic and motivated doctoral student for the academic session 2021-2022.

The PhD Position in Environment Science is funded by the Future Cities Lab of ETH and NTU Singapore. PhD Position is based at ETH Zürich and Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.

Summary

Project Details

The overall goal of the project is to design and plan multi-functional blue and green infrastructures (BGI), which not only reduce flooding but also support local food production, mitigate heat island effects, increase water pollution control, recreation, biodiversity, and ultimately provide jobs or and higher life quality of citizens. In particular, the main objective of this PhD position opening will be to investigate the impact of different urban layout configurations, including blue and green infrastructure, on managing flood events. 

This is part of a larger trans-disciplinary project that has several doctoral students and researchers involved. The leading case study area is in Madagascar, with Singapore and Nepal as additional potential application areas. The project benefits from various on-going BGI related activities at the Department of Urban Water Management of Eawag and a network of researchers involved in the project.

Job description

The specific tasks associated with this PhD position will involve 1) the development of new or retrofit existing flood models for flood assessment in data-scarce contexts, 2) the selection of areas in Madagascar to test the developed methodologies, 3) the improvement of the computational efficiency of flood models to be able to explore an extensive range of urban landscape scenarios, and 4) the evaluation the impact of different urban landscape solutions and blue and green infrastructure on flood risk assessment and management.

The Future Cities Lab fully funds the PhD position and start is in Spring 2021. While this is a research-only position, a maximum of 10% time may be committed to teaching or supporting other activities within Eawag and ETH Zurich.

Application Deadline

The deadline for applications is March 26, 2021 

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants for this PhD position are expected to have an excellent MSc degree (e.g. Civil or Environmental Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics or Computer Science) with a strong interest in Hydroinformatics, Hydrology Risk Assessment. Ideally, candidates should demonstrate knowledge in programming as well as statistical analysis. Experience with flood modelling is also an asset.

Fluency in English is required. We are looking for highly motivated, committed, and creative individuals who can work in a team and have outstanding communication skills. Working in a top-level research environment with advanced infrastructure, the candidate will have a unique opportunity to develop their research abilities.

Application Process

We look forward to receiving your online application with the following documents:

• C.V.
• A concise statement describing your motivation to carry out a PhD project on this topic
• Transcripts
• Contact information of two references
• If available: Any work confirmations relevant for the application

Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered. Short-listed candidates will be asked to provide at least two recommendation letters.

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