PhD position ‘Predicting uncertainty for improved river management strategies’ at the University of Twente Job specification The technology foundation (STW) of the national science foundation NWO recently funded the Perspectief programme: “RiverCare, towards self-sustaining rivers’. This vacancy concerns a subproject of the RiverCare programme. In RiverCare five universities and many public and private parties collaborate to get a better understanding of the fundamental processes that drive ecomorphological changes, predict the intermediate and long-term developments and develop best practices to reduce the maintenance costs and increase the benefits of interventions. The river projects currently carried out in the Netherlands provide a unique opportunity to achieve these objectives and use the results to develop or improve models, guidelines and tools that can be used for river management in the Netherlands and abroad. Project description Hydrodynamic models that predict water levels are currently calibrated on the situation before the realization of interventions. This leads to significant uncertainties in predicted water levels, which are often not included in decision making and lead to less robust designs with over-dimensioning and higher maintenance costs. In this project we aim to develop a method to account for the uncertainties inherently associated with these interventions. Recently developed Monte Carlo based methods are available for combined calibration and uncertainty quantification, but are time-consuming. The objective of this subproject is to develop a novel time-efficient method for combined calibration and uncertainty quantification and apply it to determine the most robust design of river interventions in cooperation with stakeholders. This research starts with the identification of the uncertainties that play a role in the prediction of the effects of river interventions, using literature, expert knowledge and quantitative uncertainty analysis methods (using models such as Delft3D or WAQUA). Subsequently, a time-efficient method needs to be selected to predict the uncertainties due to various river interventions. This method will be trained and validated on executed river interventions. The gathered information about the uncertainties and the developed methods to predict the uncertainty will be used to determine the most robust intervention given the uncertainties in certain situations. Finally, the uncertainty information needs to be made available to the stakeholders. The idea is that this subproject provides information and methods that can be used in the Virtual River serious game. This game is developed in another sub-project at the University of Twente and intends to support collaborative decision making among the diverse groups of stakeholders in river management challenges. The research will be executed at the University of Twente, under supervision of the promotor (Prof.Dr. Suzanne J.M.H. Hulscher), daily supervisor (Dr. Jord J. Warmink) and other members of the RiverCare consortium. This PhD project runs in close collaboration with the other sub-projects in the programme about river interventions, hosted at the universities of Twente, Wageningen, Delft and Utrecht. Also close cooperation is envisioned with the sub-projects about governance and stakeholder involvement hosted at the Radboud University Nijmegen and the development of the Virtual river serious game, hosted at the University of Twente. The project is co-funded by Rijkswaterstaat (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment) and the consultancy companies HKV and Witteveen + Bos. A user group will be formed to warrant the link to practice. Our offer We offer a very challenging position in an inspiring multidisciplinary and international environment. As a PhD candidate you will be offered a fulltime position for four years, after which you should have completed your PhD thesis. In accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities the gross monthly salary increases from € 2.083,- in the first year to € 2.664,- in the final year. In addition, the University of Twente offers attractive fringe benefits. Your profile We are looking for a talented, enthusiastic researcher with an active attitude and broad interests covering rivers, modelling and hydro-morphodynamic interaction. We consider it important that the candidate is able to view his/her research from a broader perspective (within the RiverCare programme, the scientific world and towards the practical application) and that he/she is willing and able to collaborate closely with other researchers in the programme and involved users in the team. Therefore, we welcome entrepreneurial candidates with an open mind, strong communicative skills and excellent comprehension of English, in both spoken language and writing. Candidates should hold, or soon obtain, an MSc degree in Civil Engineering, Physical Geography, Mathematics, Environmental studies or a related field. Experience in the use of hydrodynamic modelling is required, as is a good command of the English language. You need to provide your IELTS or TOEFL-iBT test results. Comprehension of the Dutch language is beneficial. Some of the desired skills can be acquired during an individual training programme of 840 hours that is part of the PhD project. More information and application For more information about this vacancy you can contact Dr. Jord Warmink, telephone +31 53 489 2831, e-mail: [email protected]. More information about the department is available at wem.ctw.utwente.nl. The start of the project is planned end-2014. Candidates that expect to graduate around the start of this project are also invited to apply. Please send your application, with a curriculum vitae, transcript (list with grades of courses attended), references and, if applicable, a list of publications before December 1st 2014 through the link below. You can apply until the 1st of December 2014. See academictransfer/25068 or utwente.nl/vacatures/en/
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 06:47:50 +0000
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