All Things Urban

As one of the world’s leading training grounds for these engineers, TU Delft views its role in society as supplying technological solutions that take us significantly further along the road towards sustainability and a flourishing economy.

Cities are shaped by their ability to provide citizens with opportunities for prosperity. New modes of shared, on-demand and real-time transit services have improved serving citizens' business, industrial, social, cultural, educational and recreational needs. They welcome innovation necessary for sustaining growing populations. But improved connectivity also threatens to create larger, more sprawling urban areas with rippling consequences for socioeconomic inequalities, changes in land-use and climate, congestion, pollution and much more.

The Computational Urban Science & Policy (CUSP) lab is searching for a Postdoctoral researcher to advance the understanding of urbanisation and its relationship with inequalities in access to opportunities and resources. This position is in partnership with the TPM AI lab and The Municipality of The Hague. It requires the use of urban data, complexity science and machine learning. You will have the opportunity to interact with an extensive network of researchers at the faculty and in The Netherlands. You will be tasked with identifying the relevant sources of data across multiple facets of an urban system (modes of mobility, land-use, infrastructure, demographics) to spatially study the distribution of inequalities in access to diverse opportunities and services in The Hague. You will develop methods to:

Model and measure access (who benefits?) by combining insights from dynamic network models of human mobility with the distribution of urban form, opportunities and resources.
Design an equity framework that can be utilised by cities worldwide to monitor and address challenges in the unequal distribution of opportunities in cities. The structure should be scalable for both developed and developing nations.
During the Postdoc, you will conduct research and prepare scientific articles presenting the research. Depending on your own goals and interests, you can take a flexible approach in tackling the challenges of inequalities in cities. Specific tasks will be discussed and defined in further discussions with the successful candidate keeping in mind their ambitions in research in urban science and policy. You may gain experience in supervising PhD and MSc students in both labs as well as engage in teaching if you want to. You will be mentored by Dr Trivik Verma (Assistant Professor, leading the CUSP lab).

The CUSP lab focusses on understanding the fundamental processes that drive, shape and sustain cities. In our group, we leverage large-scale datasets borne of the digital age and networked societies to develop computational frameworks for advancing a transdisciplinary urban science.

The position will offer the following advantages to the selected candidate:

• You will be part of the CUSP lab with a diverse group of students and researchers working on advancing urban data science to address the challenges of urbanisation.
• You will be affiliated with the TPM AI Lab, a newly established AI lab of the faculty that serves a community of AI researchers in establishing internal and external collaborations.
• You will get an opportunity to interact with project partners at the TPM AI Lab (extensive network of academic and industrial partners) and the Municipality of The Hague (offering a policy and planning perspective on cities).
• Opportunities for developing your career through support for conferences, collaborations, training possibilities, and mentoring.

We are looking for applicants who associate with the following characteristics:

• A PhD in quantitative social science, computational science (network science, computer science, machine learning / AI, statistics), or a related field in Geography, Transportation or Urban Planning.
• Ability to work both independently and in teams and an interest in taking ownership of projects and seeing them to completion (including publications).
• An ambition to develop a career in academia by conducting high-quality research in reproducible ways at the intersection of cities, complex networks and data science.
• Persuasive writing, presenting and communication skills in English.
• Experience in working with large geo-referenced datasets.
• Experience in collecting, analysing and processing data in programmatic ways (e.g., using Python, R or any other functional programming language).
• A strong willingness to learn and apply new quantitative and qualitative techniques to data from multiple disciplines (an interest in transdisciplinary research)
• An affinity for networking, project acquisition and valorisation and an entrepreneurial mindset to ensure the impact and sustainability of your work.

You will be offered full-time employment (38 hours per week) for two years. Starting date is negotiable, but preferably by October 1, 2020. In the current world situation, delays in getting a visa to move physically are all understandable and will be taken into account.

Salary and benefits are following the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities. The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount on health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged. For international applicants, we offer the Coming to Delft Service and Partner Career Advice to assist you with your relocation. An International Children's Centre provides childcare, and there is an international primary school.

We’re not fully sure whether this role is open to international candidates. If you would need visa sponsorship or work authorisation, we recommend checking directly with the employer before applying.