PhD position PRE-MADONA: Governance Structures for the Digital Transformation of Mass-Scale Renovation Processes
Have you ever thought of developing yourself academically while also making a large impact on society? Have you ever considered developing and applying ground-breaking knowledge of governance structures to the grand challenges of energy renovations in the built environment? If you do so, you are our right candidate for this position within the PRE-MADONA project.
The Netherlands faces the enormous challenge of renovating and de-fossilizing 1.5m buildings and 7m homes by 2050. Existing approaches in practice are too slow and inefficient to meet these targets. The PRE-MADONA project develops a game-changing solution that incorporates data-driven methods to optimise large-scale renovation flows (Verbouwstromen). By bringing together contractors’ resources, clusters of buildings, and smart operations planning, PRE-MADONA accelerates renovations through repeated, standardized processes to ultimately save costs, time and resources.
The Challenge
As a PhD candidate responsible for developing a multi-layered governance framework for digitally transforming renovation processes, you will design governance structures to guide the implementation and upscaling of PRE-MADONA's envisaged digital ecosystem. As part of your project, you will address issues like data privacy and ownership, distribution of responsibilities and accountability, and technology access on organisational, project and district level, and explore how digital technologies impact stakeholders' perception of and interaction in renovation workflows under organisational, local, and national regulatory constraints.
Essential activities within your project will be to:
· map the socio-technical context and diversity of households in mass-scale renovation processes and the spread of data and information across stakeholders
· analyse the impact of digital technologies on the perception and interaction of stakeholders on renovation processes
· reveal the interrelationship between the use of digital technologies in renovation projects and the digital transformation of renovation workflows
· develop governance structures on the organisational, project and district scale that support the digital transformation of the renovation workflows in a socio-political, sustainable and inclusive way
You will be part of a team comprising three PhD researchers who are dedicated to the PRE-MADONA project. Together, you work on a multidisciplinary project with leaders in the domain of digitalisation and energy renovation. You will learn to conduct research independently and grow scientifically through collaboration and supervision by researchers from Saxion and Hanze Universities of Applied Science, supervisors from the Construction Management and Engineering cluster at the University of Twente, and a strong network of industry partners in the Dutch construction sector.
Information and application
For more information about the position, you are encouraged to contact dr. Andreas Hartmann: A.Hartmann@utwente.nl
Please upload your application via the ‘Apply now’ button before September 5th, 2025.
Your application should include a cover letter of max 2 pages (emphasizing your specific interest, motivation and qualifications), a detailed CV, an academic transcript of BSc and MSc education, result of an English test (if you attended a non-English taught MSc program), a publication list (if applicable) and contact details of two referees. Since only three documents can be uploaded per application, please combine documents if needed. An interview and a scientific presentation will be part of the selection procedure.
The first selection interviews are scheduled for October 6th, 2025 preferably in person at the campus of the University of Twente. A second round may be part of the procedure.
We aim for this project to start January 1st, 2026. We also welcome students to apply who expect to have finished their MSc thesis around this time.
About the organisation
The Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) engages in education and research of Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering. We enable society and industry to innovate and create value using efficient, solid and sustainable technology. We are part of a ‘people-first' university of technology, taking our place as an internationally leading center for smart production, processes and devices in five domains: Health Technology, Maintenance, Smart Regions, Smart Industry and Sustainable Resources. Our faculty is home to about 2,900 Bachelor's and Master's students, 550 employees and 150 PhD candidates. Our educational and research programmes are closely connected with UT research institutes Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Center and Digital Society Institute.
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