PhD Student

Job description

The Sustainable Systems Engineering (STEN) group of Ghent University welcomes a candidate for a full-time PhD position on sustainability assessment of innovative technologies to valorize side-streams from fisheries and aquaculture systems. The PhD student will be appointed within the framework of the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership project “FOODIMAR” (sustainable climate-Friendly quality fOOD Ingredients from Marine side-stReams), involving academia, industry and consultancies.

The FOODIMAR project aims to develop innovative, cost-effective, and climate-friendly methods to produce high-quality marine collagen, gelatin, and glycosaminoglycans to meet the needs of both industry and consumers.

Within FOODIMAR, the aim is to assess the sustainability, including positive and negative environmental, economic, and social impacts, as well as the resource efficiency of the value chains under study. Several sub-objectives can be identified of which the PhD student participates in two or more of these aspects:
(1) The development of a specific methodological framework to go beyond the state-of-the-art by incorporating learning effects for different sustainability dimensions, such as LCA (life cycle assessment), LCC (life cycle costing), and S-LCA (social life cycle assessment).
(2) Compare the current valorization pathways of side-streams with the proposed FOODIMAR scenarios by applying the developed methodological framework.
(3) Conduct a resource efficiency study to quantify energy losses throughout the life cycle. Through the development of energy and mass balances, it will be possible to identify critical points for optimizing process in terms of thermodynamics and opportunities to enhance the environmental and economic performance.
(4) Perform a circularity analysis of the proposed case studies in the project. This analysis will encompass aspects such as circularity, resource availability, material value, and more.

In this PhD position, you will work in close collaboration with other STEN colleagues and international partners of the FOODIMAR consortium, e.g., SINTEF, Chalmers University and Tetis Biotechnology.

The scientific findings should lead to publications in international peer-reviewed journals and should be presented at international conferences.

The duration of the PhD is four years, of which three years will be funded in the FOODIMAR project. The promoter will provide additional funding to cover the fourth year, either through other relevant projects, personal grants, etc.

Job profile

Candidates are expected to have a background in engineering (bioscience or chemistry) and/or an affinity for sustainability analysis methods such as life cycle assessment, social life cycle assessment, and life cycle costing. Knowledge of resource efficiency and circular economy is also relevant. We are looking for candidates with a critical and analytical attitude and a sense of initiative.
Other profile requirements:

• You hold a master's degree in environmental engineering, bioscience engineering, chemical engineering, environmental science, environmental technology or equivalent.
• The degree requirements must be met at the start of the appointment;
• You have an interest in scientific research;
• You can operate both independently and in a multidisciplinary team;
• You have organizational/managerial skills and are highly motivated;
• You have good writing and presentation skills;
• You master the English language, written and orally, in an academic context;
• Having experience with quantitative and/or qualitative research is essential;
• Additional plus points:
• You have experience with LCA software such as SimaPro, openLCA, GaBi, etc., and (social) LCA databases (e.g. ecoinvent, Agribalyse, PSILCA, SHDB);
• You have experience with the development and comparison of different value chain scenarios;
• You have experience with circularity indicators;
• You have experience with resource efficiency analysis.
• You have experience with programming languages (e.g., Python).
• You have experience with process modelling (e.g., Aspen Plus).

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

• We offer a full-time position as a doctoral fellow, consisting of an initial period of 12 months, which - after a positive evaluation, will be extended to a total maximum of 48 months.
• Your contract will start on July 1st, 2024 at the earliest, there is flexibility to adjust this date if necessary.
• The fellowship amount is 100% of the net salary of an AAP member in equal family circumstances. The individual fellowship amount is determined by the Department of Personnel and Organization based on family status and seniority. A grant that meets the conditions and criteria of the regulations for doctoral fellowships is considered free of personal income tax. Click here for more information about our salary scales
• All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such as a wide range of training and education opportunities, 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fixed bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits (in Dutch).

How to apply

Please send an email, no later than May 17th, 2024, to: Dr. Erasmo Cadena (erasmo.cadenamartinez@ugent.be).
The subject of the email should contain the following title: 'Application PhD position + Family name’.

The following documents must be attached:

• 'CV’: your CV and an overview of your study results (merged into one pdf file).
• ‘Cover letter’: your application letter in PDF format.
• ‘Diploma’: a transcript of the required degree (if already in your possession). If you have a foreign diploma in a language other than our national languages (Dutch, French or German) or English, please add a translation in one of the mentioned languages.
• Contact details of 2 reference persons.
  
  

Note that the maximum file size for each field is 10 MB.

As Ghent University maintains an equal opportunities and diversity policy, everyone is encouraged to apply for this position.
Selection procedure:

• Preselection based on the provided documents.
• Selection based on interviews.

You will be recruited on the basis of competencies. Qualities of people are decisive, regardless of gender, religion, ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation or any disability.

For more information about the content of this position, please contact: erasmo.cadenamartinez@ugent.be.