The new gluon researcher at Industrial Design Engineering complements the gluon-team at Resilient Delta Initiative (RDi), a collaboration between Delft University of Technology, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Erasmus Medical Center known as ‘Convergence’. To better understand and address society’s most complex challenges, the Convergence seeks to maximize the positive contribution of academic research by effectively combining different forms of knowledge.

Since 2022, RDi has pioneered with implementing the novel research profile of the ‘gluon researcher’ in knowledge consortia that address complex issues regarding delta resilience, resilience on the labour market, and health inequalities in urban regions. The purpose of the gluon is to secure and accelerate collaborative learning.he gluon team is based in Rotterdam and currently consists of three full-time gluon researchers who implement and study knowledge integration processes in inter- and transdisciplinary consortia. In their ground-breaking work, the gluons have experimented with the design, implementation, and evaluation of integration processes in various settings, often using design principles and methods to deal with the wicked nature of RDI’s challenges. Lessons learned and soaring practical and academic demand for integration expertise now call for expansion and diversification of the gluon team. Two new gluon team-members are recruited simultaneously at IDE (TU Delft) and ESSB (EUR) and will focus on ‘doing integration’ in emerging transdisciplinary consortia with non-academic partners, and between the faculties. In doing so, they will closely work with gluon-PhDs who predominantly focus on the academic study of integration.

As gluon researcher, you will familiarize yourself with a large variety of fields of expertise in the consortia you work with, and experiment with methods for knowledge integration. You are responsible for offering integration advice, support to transdisciplinary consortia, and support collaborative efforts between the involved faculties. Ideally, you are trained in STS, sociology, anthropology, public administration and/or industrial (human-centred) design or another design- and integration focused discipline. But most of all, you are an intellectually curious, conceptually strong, independent thinker, who combines a capacity to listen with a tenacity to establish connections between people and their expertise. The position provides you with a great opportunity to satisfy your intellectual curiosity in a pioneering environment, to fulfill your ambition for societal impact with academic pursuits, without narrowing your scope all too soon.

You need to have:

• MSc in STS, sociology, anthropology, public administration with a proven interest and understanding of (Industrial) Design methods, and/or a degree in a design- and integration-based discipline related to understanding and addressing complex societal challenges. A PhD is recommended but not required
• Emphatic, team-oriented, keen to collaborate, good listener.
• Conceptually strong, intellectually curious, tenacious, pro-active
• Experience with and/or interest in inter- and transdisciplinarity (ITD) and application of design methodology in complex societal challenges  
• Preferably experience with the interface of academia and societal parties
• Excellent oral and writing skills in both Dutch and English

Fixed-term contract: 2 years.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Industrial Design Engineering

Matching the evolution of people with the speed of the revolution of technology. This is the focus of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE). Delft designers act as a bridge between advances in technology and the needs of people, organisations and society to create products, services and systems with purpose.

IDE is a leader in design research across the application areas of mobility, sustainability and health, as well as its development of design tools and methods. A 350-strong research team and over 2,000 students work together in our inspiring hall, labs and studios.

In close cooperation with industry, the public sector and NGOs we rehearse possible futures in research and education to design for a complex future.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.

For more information about this vacancy please contact Prof. B.F. (Bregje) van Eekelen, b.f.vaneekelen@tudelft.nl.

Do you have questions about the application procedure please contact A. (Amanda) Nieuwpoort, hr-hcd@tudelft.nl.