Professor in civil engineering – re-use in construction
(ref. ZAP-2021-95)
Employment percentage: Full-time
Location: Brugge
Materials and Constructions, Bruges Campus
Declarative Languages and Artificial Intelligence (DTAI), Diepenbeek Campus
Apply up to and including: Tuesday, January 25, 2022
There is a vacancy for a full-time academic position in the Civil Engineering Department of the KU Leuven in the field of “re-use in construction”. The vacancy is targeted for circular economy in the construction sector, taking into account the evolution of the society from linear economy to circular economy. The vacant position is located at Bruges Campus, part of the Faculty of Engineering Technology of the Science, Engineering and Technology Group KU Leuven. We are looking for internationally oriented candidates with an excellent research record and with proven educational competence within the field of sustainable building - re-use of structural components and structures in construction. The research activities in RecyCon (
www.kuleuven.be/recycon/english) focus on sustainable materials management in the construction sector, including relevant building techniques. The current main research lines are: new technologies in recycling of construction and demolition waste (C&DW), use of recycled materials (including processed C&DW as well as industry by-products) in high-end applications, development of alternative construction materials, selective demolition, reuse of excavated and stabilized soils as well as grout residues, and urban mining. The research group RecyCon has a solid reputation and an extended network both in Flanders and internationally. The research group links up with research in the Department of Civil Engineering, Building Materials and Building Technology Section (
https://bwk.kuleuven.be/mat/index_html), which has an extended international and regional network, strong connections with industry and non-profit organizations and stable recruitment of talented PhD students in a supportive working environment. The Building Materials and Building Technology Section has very good experimental infrastructure.
Website unit
Duties
Research
- You develop a research programme at international level on the reuse in the construction sector with possible topics including design for reuse, reuse of existing (used) structural components (members made of precast concrete, steel, wood…….), development of reusable structural systems (modular construction, demountable and deconstructable systems), reuse of existing buildings via experimental, numerical or theoretical approaches, or a combination thereof. Studies at pilot scale in close collaboration with the stakeholders are encouraged.
- You further expand the research facilities at KU Leuven Bruges Campus to comply with the planned research topics. In addition, you are willing to invest in large scale facilities shared between research groups.
- You set up collaborations within and outside of the department in close consultation with the members of the research group.
- You support and further expand research collaborations with national and international academic and industrial partners (particularly with SMEs), in order to achieve industrial innovation and scientific output that adheres to the highest international standards.
- You strive for excellence in your research and provide a contribution to the continued development of the research group.
- You acquire competitive funding.
- You publish at the highest scientific level, acquire resources for fundamental and applied research, develop international collaborations and supervise PhDs at an international level.
- You give the necessary attention to valorisation of your research results towards industry and government.
Education
- You ensure high-quality education within the programmes of the Faculty of Engineering Technology at the Bruges Campus. These academic programmes are aimed at educating engineers with a strong focus on industry-ready technological development.
- Your teaching activities take place mainly within the programme of civil engineering technology in the area of structural mechanics, design of concrete or steel structures or building information modelling. They are determined in mutual consultation and based on your specific profile. All professors are expected to teach a few basic undergraduate courses. During the first years of your appointment the amount of teaching activities will be limited. The Faculty of Engineering Technology values a good balance between research and teaching duties.
- You also contribute to the pedagogic project of the faculty/university through the supervision of master theses and as a supervisor of PhD students.
- You develop teaching in accordance with KU Leuven's vision on activating and researched-based education and make use of the possibilities for the educational professionalization offered by the faculty and the university.
- In addition to your teaching duties at the Bruges Campus, you may be asked, within the multi-campus model, to take up a limited teaching duty at the Ghent Technology Campus or at the De Nayer (Sint-Katelijne-Waver) Campus.
Service
- You are prepared to provide scientific, social and internal services.
- You are willing to perform applied research projects in collaboration with industry and government and to establish a network of industrial partners.
- You are actively involved in promoting the Faculty of Engineering Technology to future students and participate in information and public relations activities of the faculty.
Profile
- You have a degree in civil or architectural engineering or a similarly related degree, and a PhD whereby the subject of your doctorate’s thesis was related to the research field of re-use in construction. Industrial experience or an extended network in the relevant industrial sector is an important advantage.
- You have a strong (applied) research profile. The quality of your research is evidenced by publications in leading international journals, books and proceedings of international conferences, as well as successful project applications and valorisation in cooperation with industry. International experience is an important advantage.
- You have demonstrable qualities related to academic education. Teaching experience is an advantage.
- You possess organisational skills and have a cooperative attitude. You also possess leadership capacities within a university context.
- The official language at KU Leuven is Dutch. If you do not speak Dutch (or do not speak it well) at the start of employment to meet the legal requirements, KU Leuven will provide language training to enable you to take part in meetings. Before teaching courses in Dutch or English, you will be given the opportunity to learn Dutch resp. English to the required standard.
- For this position, it is expected that you are able to teach courses in Dutch or in English from the start (native or C1 level CEFR).
Offer
We are offering full-time employment in an intellectually challenging environment. KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that performs fundamental and applied scientific research. It is highly inter- and multi-disciplinarily focused and strives for international excellence. In this regard, it actively cooperates with research partners in Belgium and abroad. It provides its students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
You will work at the KU Leuven Bruges Campus, in a historic city with a seaport and modern industrial activities. Bruges has a 70 minute railway connection to Brussels, capital of the European Union, and about three hours to Paris, London and Amsterdam.
Depending on your record and qualifications, you will be appointed to or tenured in one of the grades of the senior academic staff: assistant professor, associate professor, professor or full professor. In principle, junior researchers are appointed as assistant professor on the tenure track for a period of 5 years; after this period and a positive evaluation, they are permanently appointed (or tenured) as an associate professor.
KU Leuven is well set to welcome foreign professors and their family and provides practical support with regard to immigration & administration, housing, childcare, learning Dutch, partner career coaching, …
To facilitate scientific onboarding and accelerate research in the first phase a starting grant of 100.000 euro is offered to new professors without substantial other funding, appointed for at least 50%.
Interested?
For more information on the contents of the job, please contact:
- Add to your application following documents in English (more information is available on the KU Leuven job site):
- Your biosketch in which you indicate your added value as an academic for research, education and service to society of your past career and of your future activities (maximum 2 pages);
- A file on your five most important publications or realizations;
- An extensive cv including a full publication list and if applicable a portfolio of your civil engineering projects;
- Your research plan with focus on the development of your research line and research team in relation with the colleague-researchers of the entity of employment (maximum 4 pages);
- Your vision on academic education and its organization (maximum 2 pages);
- Your contribution to society by outreach and public communication on science and technology, internal representation in boards and councils and service activities directly in relation to your developed expertise (maximum 1 page);
- Your vision on leadership (maximum 1 page).
KU Leuven places great importance on research integrity and ethical conduct and will therefore ask you to sign an integrity statement upon appointment.
You can apply for this job no later than January 25, 2022 via the
online application tool
KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at
diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be.