Sustainable Societal Development is a targeted research area across the university created in order to focus and develop NTNU’s contribution to solving major issues facing society. This means national and global challenges where Norway has particular advantages and where NTNU, with our profile and academic strength, can contribute.

The initiative on Sustainable Societal Development is split into four main focus areas:

Institutional framework conditions, the conditions necessary for sustainable policies and practices;
Sustainable urban development, the design and planning of sustainable and resilient cities, communities and regions;
Biodiversity and ecosystem services, knowledge about how human activities affect biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and the sustainable use of natural resources;
Analysis of environment and sustainability, advanced modeling and analysis of sustainability at the society, business and production levels.

Additionally, four cross-cutting initiatives transverse the main focus areas. The cross-cutting initiatives are ICT as an enabling technology, ethical perspectives related to sustainability, sustainable design and business models, and land use and the sustainable use of natural resources, and will address topics across the four main focus areas.

Five PhD positions are advertised for a period of 3 years. One year of additional funding can be applied for, which will then include 25% compulsory work over the resulting four year period. Compulsory work is defined as teaching duties related to the strategic research area, and may also include committee and board membership and other administrative tasks.

Candidates will be enrolled in a relevant PhD program at NTNU depending on his/her topic. The candidate will be employed at the Faculty of which he/she has been admitted, and will most likely find his/her supervisor and daily workplace there. Candidates enrolled in the doctoral program at NTNU’s Museum of Natural History and Archaeology (Vitenskasmuseet) will have employer responsibilities. Collaboration across faculties will be emphasized, and at least two faculties must be involved in the candidates' team of supervisors.

Two Postdoctoral positions are also available. The positions are advertised for a period of two years, and can be applied for within the same research areas as the PhD positions. There is no compulsory work related to postdoctoral positions.

The sustainability initiative is guided by the motto, "Knowledge for Change.” We are searching for candidates who can help reach this goal through a contribution to a shift towards more sustainable solutions and research under focus areas i) - iv), while incorporating at least one of the cross-cutting initiatives. Candidates who can investigate the interface between focus areas and transverse themes, like the examples shown below, are therefore sought after.

Environment and sustainability analyzes and sustainable business models with emphasis on analysis, but where the results will be used as a support for strategic decision-making for sustainable solutions and sustainable business models. Current themes:

Analysis of sustainability performance in value chains, indicators and their uses as decision support for businesses.
Value Options and different criteria for the selection and implementation of sustainable business models.
Development of multi-criteria decision support tools for sustainable processes for change.

Contacts: Professor Helge Brattebø, Industrial Ecology (helge.bratteboe@ntnu.no) and Professor Annik Magerholm Fet, Institute of Industrial Economics and Technology Management (annik.fet@ntnu.no)

Institutional framework and ethical perspectives on issues related to analysis of laws, regulations and standards, and the ethical dilemmas that arise between different value choices and actors' interests when the goal is sustainable communal development. A shift to climate sustainability (e.g. a full restructuring of the energy system) requires major societal changes. Institutional changes, new laws, regulations and standards are often politically and ethically challenging. Such changes are difficult to get approved politically and involve decisions and priorities affecting some more than others. In this lies a great challenge, for example relating to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI).

Contacts: Professor Espen Moe, Department of Sociology and Political Science (espen.moe@ntnu.no) and Professor May Thorseth, Programme for Applied Ethics (may.thorseth@ntnu.no)

Sustainable Urban Development and Enabling technologies - ICT with relevant themes related to the development density, feature mix and intensity of use of urban areas. Research under this area will be to:

Look at the assumptions made in urban planning and compare with indoor and outdoor movement patterns of people and objects.
Conduct empirical and theoretical development analysis based on case studies from downtown Trondheim (Midtbyen) - Sluppen (Kunnskapsaksen).
Examine the need for expanded and improved data on allocated land and building use, including data about the planned and actual uses of buildings and spaces.

Contacts: Professor Role Aranya, Department of Urban Design and Planning (rolee.aranya@ntnu.no) and Professor John Krogstie, Department of Computer and Information Science, (john.krogstie@ntnu.no)

Biodiversity and ecosystem services, with issues related toland use and its consequences, in which environmental accounting will be used to examine the status of various environmental parameters and trends along spatial and temporal scales, and the investigation of instruments relevant in stopping the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Current themes are related to analysis of:

Biodiversity and drivers affecting biodiversity.
Ecosystem services / natural resources, and the driving forces affecting these.
Valuations of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Use of means to counteract negative developments related to land use, biodiversity and ecosystem services.

All PhD positions related to this area will become part of the new Centre for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (CeBES). Contacts: Professor Gunnar Austrheim, University Museum (gunnar.austrheim@ntnu.no) and Professor Bente Graae, Department of Biology (bente.graae@bio.ntnu.no)

Qualifications

Employment will be activated in accordance with existing regulations of 31.01.06. The requirement for Ph.D. positions is a completed master’s degree in a relevant field of research or education of equivalent level. Applicants must have a strong academic record from their previous studies, and a weighted average grade, for the last two years of their master's or equivalent education (equivalent to 120 credits), of B or higher in terms of NTNU's grading scale. Applicants with no letter grades from previous studies must have an equally good academic foundation. Applicants who are unable to meet these criteria may be admitted only if they can document that they are particularly suitable candidates for education leading to a PhD degree.

For Postdoctoral positions, a completed PhD degree is required. An excellent publication record is an advantage.

Fluent English skills are required.

Personal suitability to enter cross- disciplinary research teams will be aspired to high importance. Suitable candidates should have the ability to cooperate, have good communication skills, be flexible and solution-oriented.

Salary and Working Conditions

The PhD position is paid according to salary level 50 in the national salary scheme, gross NOK 35 783.40 per month. The Postdoctoral Fellow is paid according to salary scale 24, level 57 in the national salary scheme, gross NOK 40 208.40 per month. 2 % is deducted for the State Pension Scheme.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants. The employee is expected to accept possible changes in work tasks. Primary residency in Trondheim is a prerequisite.

It is a major political objective to achieve a balance of age and gender in the national labour force and to recruit people with an immigrant background. Immigrants are encouraged to apply for all positions.

Application

The application should include a project description of a maximum of five pages on his/her relevant cross-disciplinary research area. The project description should be written in collaboration with a supervisor who also will confirm his/her interest in the project, ability to supervise the candidate and contribution of publications in international scientific journals. The application should also include a CV, recommendations, certificates and diplomas, and a publication list.

Joint work will be evaluated. Individual contributions to each paper should be specified with a short descriptive summary.

Information about the applicants may be open to public inspection as provided by the Freedom of Information Act.

Further information about the positions is available from Head of Research Professor Annik Magerholm Fet, phone 73593509 and e-mail annik.fet@ntnu.no, Coordinator Tone Woie Alstadheim, phone 73598926 and e-mail tone.alstadheim@ntnu.no, or the other professors mentioned in this announcement.

An application including attachments should be sent electronically through this page. Attachments may also be sent to: NTNU, Faculty of Social Science and Technology Management, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway. Please mark the application SVT-1226.

Further Information
http://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/113516/five-phd-positions-and-two-postdoctoral-fellowships-avaliable-in-ntnus-strategic-research-area-on-sustainable-development
Application Deadline : 1 June 2015