European Research Area (ERA): Research Engineer (PhD) position

European Research Area (ERA): Research Engineer (PhD) position in the field of ‘Heat, Electricity Demand and Comfort
Control in Buildings’
Project summary
The University of Mons (UMONS) located in the Walloon Region of Belgium, by the intermediate of its Research Institute
for Energy has been selected (FP7 ERA Chair Pilot Call) for creating an ERA-Chair Team headed by an ERA-Chair Holder for
building a strong, sustainable and highly-performing Research, Development and Innovation (R&D&I) platform in the field
of Energy Efficiency in City Districts according to the late concept of “Net Zero Energy City Districts (NZED)”. UMONS sets
up measures and actions at the level of the Institution and the ERA-Chair hosting departments for creating the best
environment and conditions for achieving an ambitious R&D&I program aligned with the smart specialization priorities
already initiated by the regional authorities for its socio-economic successful growth and with the European priorities within
the European Research Area (ERA). The principal technical objectives of the RE-SIZED (Research Excellence for Solutions
and Implementation of Net Zero Energy City Districts) are concentrated in the combination of five major research areas
such as i) electricity micro-grids, ii) thermal behavior of buildings, iii) energy production/energy storage systems, iv) control
strategies of energy systems, v) urban planning and environmental assessment.
Job description:
The job consists in an initial 3-year full time position (with possibilities to an extension of one more year to complete the
PhD) within the Research Institute for Energy (RIE) at UMONS. The candidate will be recruited as a PhD researcher (with the
chance to have the PhD as European/International Honour) in a new research team dealing with energy production and
management systems (heat, cold and electricity), energy demand and thermal behavior of built environment. The objective
is the development of a district energy model to evaluate electricity and heat demand as well as heat production and
thermal comfort. S/He will have to develop research activities in the field of energy performance of buildings (use of classical
software such as TRNSYS, EnergyPlus, etc, and development of simplified models) and to integrate her/his results within a
global approach for city districts (in collaboration with other researchers).The candidate and the new team will have to
interact strongly with existing departments of the Institute participating in the project. S/He will be involved in scientific
communication (towards the scientific community as well as stakeholders).
Suitable background and qualification:
The candidate will hold a Master Degree in Engineering (mechanical, chemical, etc), Physics or Applied Mathematics with
good background in thermal engineering, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. S/He will have a good experience in system
and/or building modelling. A good knowledge of norms and technical issues (energy performance of buildings) will be in
favor of the applicant. The candidate will be hosted in a multi-disciplinary and international working environment under a
challenging job at a dynamic and ambitious University. Salaries are in accordance with the internal University agreement
and consist of +/- 1950€/month (net amount). S/He will be an ordered and conscientious person with a taste for easy
contacts. S/He will be fluent in English while good programming abilities would be beneficial.
Application procedure
Application must include:
A motivation letter (1-page max) including your vision of the project.
a Curriculum Vitae with:
o Professional and education profile
o List of publications (if any)
o Description of previous research activities (if any)
o Language skills
o Software (use and development) skills.
The selected PhD candidates will have skype interviews before final decision. It is expected to have the decision known to
all the applicants till the 16/01/15 and the incorporation of the selected candidate asap (or till 16/02/15).
Application may be sent (preferably as a zip file) by e-mail till 08/01/15 to [email protected] (ERA Chair
Holder) and [email protected] (Director of the RIE and Prof. at UMONS).

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