Assistant/Associate Professor in Wind Plant Aerodynamics

As offshore wind power scales up to meet ambitious net-zero targets, with the North Sea alone aiming for 300 GW by 2050, the intricate dynamics between vast wind farms and the atmosphere pose critical challenges for optimizing energy yield and system integration. Understanding the complex interactions and transient inflow conditions within these large-scale installations is pivotal for advancing the efficient and reliable future of renewable energy.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Join the Wind Energy Section at TU Delft as an Assistant/Associate Professor, contributing to both education and research within the Wind Energy Systems team. This role focuses on advancing the field of wind plant aerodynamics through innovative experimental methods, physical modeling, and data-driven approaches.

Your key responsibilities are:

• Educational Support: Engage with students in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, delivering lectures, labs, and tutorials related to wind energy systems. Mentor and supervise students at various academic levels, fostering their growth and development.
• Research Excellence: Conduct pioneering research to better understand and quantify large-scale wind plant interactions. Collaborate with academic and industry professionals, disseminating findings openly to peers and society.
• Leadership and Development: Secure funding from governmental organizations and industry partners, and build a research team comprising PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers. Develop leadership skills through mentorship and professional development programs.
• Community Engagement: Actively participate in and contribute to departmental and university-wide initiatives. Represent TU Delft in international scientific and industry bodies, expanding both personal and institutional networks.

Why Join Us?

Become part of an open-minded, friendly, and collaborative community that values diversity and inclusion. TU Delft welcomes your technological expertise and innovative ideas to further accelerate the energy transition. Female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply, bringing diverse perspectives to our team.

Professional Growth

TU Delft is committed to supporting your professional journey, offering mentorship and opportunities to progress to the level of Full Professor. Access to state-of-the-art research facilities and a supportive working environment ensures your research and teaching activities thrive.

REQUIREMENTS

You are passionate about academic work, you strive in an international environment, and you enjoy working with others to achieve meaningful results. You are committed to teaching and mentoring students, while growing your own competencies.

You also have:
• A PhD in the physical or engineering sciences, or any another relevant disciplines with a background in environmental aerodynamics.
• Experience in numerical or experimental modelling of environmental flows.
• An excellent command of spoken and written English, and a willingness to learn the Dutch language to a basic level of understanding.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The position is at the level of Assistant Professor (Academic Career Track) or Associate Professor, depending on background, experience and leadership (potential).

Assistant Professor

During the Academic Career Track, we expect you to grow towards an Associate Professor position within a maximum of eight years, for which a position will be available. With other Academic Career Track colleagues, you will participate in the Academic Career Track Development programme, where you are offered ample opportunities to develop yourself in the areas of Education, Research, Societal Impact & Innovation, and Leadership & Organisation. You will regularly discuss your development and results with senior staff based on a personalized development and performance criteria agreed upon at the start of your Academic Career Track.

Salary scale 11-12: €4.332,-- to € 6.737,-- per month gross.

Associate Professor

Salary scale 13-14: € 6.002,-- to € 8.025,-- per month gross.

Inspiring, excellent education is our central aim. We expect you to obtain a University Teaching Qualification (UTQ) within three years if you have less than five years of teaching experience. This is provided by the TU Delft UTQ programme as part of the Academic Career Track Development programme. TU Delft sets high standards for the English competency of the teaching staff. The TU Delft offers training to improve English competency. If you do not speak Dutch, we offer courses to learn the Dutch language within three years. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement of the Dutch Universities, plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%. Besides the salary, TU Delft offers the following:

• An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
• The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
• Discounts with health insurers.
• Flexible working week.
• Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget.
• Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses
• Fully paid pregnancy and maternal leave
• Partially paid parental leave
• Health Coach Program with a focus on healthy and energetic working

We offer a competitive starting package that matches your seniority resource requirements, and also offer access to world-class infrastructure and administrative support in one of the top Engineering and Technology Universities in the world.
For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service addresses the needs of new international employees and those of their partners and families. The Coming to Delft Service offers personalised assistance during the preparation of the relocation, finding housing and schools for children (if applicable). In addition, a Dual Career Programme for partners is offered. The Coming to Delft Service will do their best to help you settle in the Netherlands.

EMPLOYER

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

DEPARTMENT

Faculty Aerospace Engineering

The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology is one of the world’s most highly ranked (and most comprehensive) research, education and innovation communities devoted entirely to aerospace engineering. More than 200 science staff, around 270 PhD candidates and close to 3000 BSc and MSc students apply aerospace engineering disciplines to address the global societal challenges that threaten us today, climate change without doubt being the most important. Our focal subjects: sustainable aerospace, big data and artificial intelligence, bio-inspired engineering and smart instruments and systems. Working at the faculty means working together. With partners in other faculties, knowledge institutes, governments and industry, both aerospace and non-aerospace. Working in field labs and innovation hubs on our university campus and beyond. 

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

If you would like more information about this role, please contact Prof. Simon Watson, Professor Wind Energy Systems, email: s.j.watson@tudelft.nl