PhD Research Position in Environmental Engineering and Decision Analysis

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November 11, 2009

PhD Research Position in Environmental Engineering and Decision Analysis

description: Eawag is the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, a Swiss-based and internationally active research institute within the ETH Domain, committed to an ecological, economical, and socially responsible management of water.

The Departments of ‘Urban Water Management’ and ‘System Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modelling’ have a vacancy for a

PhD Research Position in Environmental Engineering
and Decision Analysis

The doctoral thesis is part of the transdisciplinary project “Sustainable Water Infrastructure Planning” of the National Research Program “Sustainable Water Management” (NRP 61). The successful candidate will be part of a team of 3 PhD students that will develop a novel integrated, participatory planning procedure for municipal water infrastructures. The project focuses on dealing with limited data, the uncertainty of future developments, and ensuring high acceptance of the decision-making process by stakeholders.

The project combines engineering with decision sciences. The focus of this specific doctoral thesis is to combine quantitative models of water supply infrastructure with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to support the long term planning process. MCDA is a well-structured procedure combining cost-benefit calculations with subjective stakeholder preferences. Special attention is given to uncertainty: imperfect data, uncertain future scenarios, and the decision makers’ own uncertainty concerning his or her preferences. The developed concepts and approaches will be applied to running real world planning processes in Switzerland.

The candidate for this position is expected to hold a MS degree in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, or similar. He or she should have skills in mathematical modelling as well as the capability and interest to bridge the science-society interface in particular concerning the application of decision sciences and elicitation of stakeholder values. For this collaboration with municipalities and utilities in Switzerland, fluency in German is required. Additionally, we require the skills and willingness to work in an interdisciplinary team.

The position starts as soon as possible for a project duration of three years. PhD enrolment will be at ETH Zürich. For further information, please consult www.eawag.ch, www.nfp61.ch,, or contact Dr. Judit Lienert, Phone: +41 44 823 5574, Email judit.lienert@eawag.ch.

Please submit your application including application letter describing your personal motivation, CV, copies of your academic qualifications, and names and contact informa¬tion of three references in electronic form to Jadranka Vögelin, Human Resources Department: recruiting@eawag.ch, indicating reference number 094603.

Deadline for application is 5th December 2009.

Homepage: Eawag: Das Wasserforschungsinstitut des ETH-Bereichs