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The Research Group of Sustainable Air, Energy and Water technology in the department of Bioscience Engineering (Faculty of Science) is looking for a full-time (100%) PhD student in the field of environmental systems analysis for the protein transition (LCA/MFA).

Position

• You will work actively on the preparation of a PhD thesis in Bioscience Engineering or Environmental Sciences, with focus on environmental systems analysis for the protein transition.
• You will work on the cutting-edge interdisciplinary project ProChain that aims to render our dietary protein more sustainable through a socio-technical digital twin. More particularly, the use of alternative or novel proteins will be investigated, including for instance insect and microbial protein. You will develop the next protein value chain through novel methods to quantify environmental impacts with the focus on modelling the flows of agri-food products. The pork meat production system in Flanders will be used as a case from which first a baseline material flow analysis (MFA) will be created followed by a prospective (forward looking) material flow analysis. Environmental impacts will be assessed by means of life cycle assessment (LCA).
• You will develop forward-looking agri-food value chain scenarios. You can build on previous work executed in our research group, where we have a material flow model and relevant data available. You are expected to independently further the development of the python model, and extend this with LCA scripts (i.e. Brightway and Activity Browser) and other data sources.
• You will work at the Sustainable Air, Energy and Water Technology Research Group (DuEL) of the Bioscience Engineering Department with dr. Marc Spiller and prof. Siegfried Vlaeminck. In the project you will collaborate with the team of prof. Steven Van Passel from EnvEcon (environmental economics), who studies the choices of actors in the value chain, and the team of prof. Amaryllis Audenaert of the Energy and Materials in Infrastructure and Buildings (EMIB) group, who are experts in life cycle assessment (LCA). You will be co-supervised by dr. Matthias Buyle from EMIB.
• You will participate in national and international conferences.
• You will prepare reports related to the progress of your research activities.
• You will publish scientific articles related to the research project.
• You carry out a limited number of teaching and research support tasks for the Department of Bioscience Engineering.

All information and how to apply here.