Professor Humanitarian Engineering

For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for freedom, equality and solidarity, and this is very much alive on our campuses among students and staff alike.

At the VUB, you will find a diverse collection of personalities: innovators pur sang, but above all people who are 100% their authentic selves. With some 4,000 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer, in the private sector, in Brussels; an international city with which we are only too happy to connect and where (around) our 4 campuses are located.

Add to this our principle of free research - in which self-reflection, a critical attitude and an open, creative mind around scientific and social issues are central - and you have a university that is fundamentally groundbreaking and pioneering in education and research. In short: the VUB all over again.

Moreover, the VUB is a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of like-minded European universities, all ready to reinvent themselves.

The Faculty of Social Sciences & Solvay Business School , department Business Technology and Operations , is looking for a part-time professor.

More concretely your work package contains:

Education and Research domain:

Research in humanitarian engineering, with a particular focus on sustainable, responsible and socially impactful engineering solutions for urban challenges related to poverty, inequality, mobility and inclusion.

• You will undertake a limited teaching commitment, primarily consisting of supervising Master's and PhD students in areas related to humanitarian engineering, participatory approaches, sustainability, equity and inclusion in engineering practice.
• You will also contribute to research seminars, doctoral training activities, and international academic exchanges within the field.

Research tasks:

You will develop and lead an internationally recognized research program examining existing engineering solutions and non-technical strategies addressing urban mobility and related urban challenges, with particular attention to how such interventions positively or negatively affect vulnerable populations.
You are expected to
• Engage engineers, together with representatives and stakeholders from vulnerable populations, as co-researchers and research participants.
• Design and conduct participatory social-science research on engineers’ problem-solving approaches and perceptions of their societal roles and responsibilities, using an appropriate combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Develop and test a model and training approach that equips engineers to collaborate with diverse stakeholders and apply humanitarian-engineering principles in local urban contexts.
• Disseminate the project and its results through international scientific and societal channels.

Other tasks:

• You participate actively in the scientific activities of the Mobilise Research Group and the House of Sustainable Transitions (HOST) and contribute to the further development of research on sustainable and inclusive urban transitions, including interdisciplinary collaboration and the preparation of externally funded research proposals.
• You strengthen synergies between engineering research, social-science research and sustainability-oriented research within VUB.
• You contribute to collaborative research and funding acquisition at local, European and international level.
• You engage with engineers, community organisations, policymakers and other societal stakeholders to promote knowledge exchange and societal impact.

For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.

3 - Profile

What do we expect from you?

You hold a PhD degree in engineering relevant for the research field.

You have at least 10 years of demonstrable professional and/or academic experience in humanitarian engineering, including both international and locally embedded contexts.

You have at least 5 years of demonstrable experience in social-science research and are able to apply both quantitative and qualitative research methods to engineering-related societal questions.

You have at least 5 years of demonstrable experience with research, practice or capacity-building related to equity and inclusion.

You have an established research career with a strong record of scientific dissemination, peer-review processes and collaborative research activities.

You have proven experience in acquiring external research funding and in developing, coordinating or leading funded research projects.

You demonstrate strong oral, written and presentation skills, leadership experience with students and/or research collaborators, and the ability to create a positive and collaborative working environm