PhD Position in Digital Twins for Flood-Resilient Infrastructure

Doctorat / PhD Type de contrat : TEMPORARY Date limite de candidature : 2026-11-18T23:59:59+01:00

Develop and implement a Digital Twin that strengthens our ability to protect critical infrastructure against flooding. Job description Current and future impact of flooding to critical infrastructure (e.g. dikes, bridges) is a major concern worldwide. Unfortunately, the management of flood-prone structures is extremely challenging because underlying processes are complex and uncertain. If our capacity to anticipate flood-induced impacts on infrastructure does not improve, societal and economic consequences are likely to be unsustainable. Digital Twins (DTs) offer a promising opportunity to combine recent advances in modelling, data assimilation and machine learning. However, for DTs to support the management of flood-prone infrastructure, they must be effectively integrated with flood-risk modelling. The scientific challenge is to develop methods that enable Digital Twins to leverage multiple models, datasets and computational techniques to improve predictive capacity in real flood-risk contexts. FlooDT (Digital Twin for flood-resilient infrastructure management) is a prestigious and ambitious project funded by NWO. It aims to develop a new methodological framework to exploit the capability of DTs for managing flood risk “from climate prediction to structure protection”. TU Delft is leading the project and a consortium that involves multiple universities (e.g. ETH Zurich, Univ. Polytechnica of Catalunya) and stakeholders (e.g. Deltares, Rijkswaterstaat). The project has also the support of the TU Delft Digital Competence Centre (DCC). For this unique project we are seeking a motivated and talented PhD candidate for a 4-year appointment. In your role you will: Develop functional modules for Digital Twins, such as risk analysis, scenario modelling and processing of monitoring data. Develop hybrid (physics based/machine learning) modelling for flood risk. Apply and validate the Digital Twin functionalities for simplified representation of infrastructure (first) and real case studies (second). Implement the developed functionalities into end users' platforms. Co-organise workshops and co-coordinate stakeholder engagement (e.g. regular meetings, presentations, visits). You will join the FlooDT team and the Flood Risk and Hydraulic Structures section, a collaborative and international team where curiosity, interdisciplinary research and scientific excellence are valued. Our section closely collaborates with the other sections within the Department of Hydraulic Engineering, other departments within our Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geoscience and many research groups around the world. We offer strong support for your professional growth, including mentoring, training, and ample opportunities for international collaboration and networking. This position will open doors to exciting career opportunities in both academia and the future-facing companies…