PhD student position in Engineering Science

at  Universit du Luxembourg

The University of Luxembourg is an international research university with a distinctly multilingual and interdisciplinary character. The University was founded in 2003 and counts more than 6,700 students and more than 2,000 employees from around the world. The University’s faculties and interdisciplinary centres focus on research in the areas of Computer Science and ICT Security, Materials Science, European and International Law, Finance and Financial Innovation, Education, Contemporary and Digital History. In addition, the University focuses on cross-disciplinary research in the areas of Data Modelling and Simulation as well as Health and System Biomedicine. Times Higher Education ranks the University of Luxembourg #3 worldwide for its “international outlook,” #20 in the Young University Ranking 2021 and among the top 250 universities worldwide.
The Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) contributes multidisciplinary expertise in the fields of Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Computer Science, Life Sciences and Medicine. Through its dual mission of teaching and research, the FSTM seeks to generate and disseminate knowledge and train new generations of responsible citizens, in order to better understand, explain and advance society and environment we live in.

A PhD position in engineering is available at the Chair for ‘Urban Water Management’ (Prof. Dr. Joachim Hansen), Department of Engineering. The successful candidate will be hired in the frame of the QUALISURE project funded by Interreg Greater Region (Principal Investigator: Dr. Silvia Venditti). The project aims to identify the emission hot spots in the catchment area of the Sûre reservoir (the largest drinking water source for Luxembourg), for which both Luxembourg and Belgium are liable. Existing wastewater treatment plants are expected to be optimized, and Nature-based solutions (NBS) intensified with innovative substrates will be installed (pilot scale) at the hot spots of emissions, both at wastewater treatment plants and Combined Sewer Overflows, so that their performance can be evaluated.
The PhD topic will aim to answer the questions related to the viability and optimization of NBS to reduce pollution by developing a novel concept. In addition to measuring micropollutants, nutrients and bacteriological contamination are also taken into account, especially for water reuse purposes. Laboratory tests will be performed before the pilot plant to characterize and select the most appropriate substrates respecting the principles of circularity and sustainability giving preference to local material. The results will be incorporated into a decision support tool developed by a project partner enabling the intelligent distribution of pollution in the catchment area. Finally, a cross-border master plan for maintaining the quality of the Sûre will be defined.