This PhD position offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to advanced research, addressing the challenges of climate change and human health related to the indoor environment. The department of Architectural Engineering and Technology at Delft University of Technology is looking for a highly motivated and talented candidate connecting building design, occupants health, and climate change. The PhD position is part of the Cool and Clean Buildings flagship of the Climate Action Program.

The Climate Action program is a TU Delft-wide initiative and functions as a platform for climate (related) research, education and innovation. We work closely with all eight faculties. Under the banner of the four overarching themes, additional researchers and PhD candidates are being recruited to work on climate solutions in the flagship research programmes. The TU Delft vision on Climate Action is deeply founded in preceding decades of university wide climate action research. The goal of the Climate action research programme is to build on current strengths and identify the areas where there is a need to strengthen our capacities to keep up our (inter)national reputation as climate action university. The Cool and Clean Buildings flagship focuses on healthy indoor conditions affected by climate change.

Occupants will be exposed to even higher outdoor temperatures, more intensive heatwaves, increasing heavy rainfalls, and air pollution because of climate change. These changing outdoor conditions increase the risk of overheating in buildings and accumulation of indoor air pollution. As increased indoor temperatures and air pollution affect occupants’ health, resulting in cardio-vascular diseases, mortality, respiratory, eyes and skin complaints, the importance to protect occupants against harmful effects of rising temperatures and increased air pollution indoors is paramount. Especially because occupants spend generally 90% of their time indoors.

Uncertainty in the extent of rising temperatures within 80 years, indicated by IPCC (2023), raises the question of how adaptable buildings can be designed that accommodate for unpredictability of indoor conditions on the long term. The increasing occurrence of heatwaves or other extreme events necessitate also understanding of the performance of building characteristics that allow for adaptability in relation to the occupants’ health during these (short term) events. New adaptive behaviour may evolve from new experiences and knowledge of occupants as well as from new technologies that limit energy use and increase health of the occupants. Because of behavioural changes of occupants and uncertainties in predictions of climate change, insight is needed of how buildings, in conjunction with new technologies, are adaptable to changing conditions and needs.

A critical issue in understanding adaptability of buildings is a gap in data of actual adaptations of building characteristics, despite existing models and strategies for adaptable design. You will investigate relations between adaptability of buildings, health, and indoor conditions, with a focus on (to be) renovated dwellings. Moreover, you will develop patterns of adaptable building characteristics related to health aspects affected by high levels of temperature and air pollution. Research techniques applied can comprise of building assessment (e.g. inspection, measurements, drawings) and human assessment (e.g. questioning, focus groups, physiological measurements).