Job: Investigador/a en Formación
Department: Agua, Aire y Suelo (WAS)
Location: Manresa (Spain)
Contract: Temporary
Working day: Full time
Sector: Other
Vacancies: 1
Discipline: R&D
Work modality: On siteEurecat (www.eurecat.org) is the main Research & Technology Organisation in Catalonia and the second largest private research organization in southern Europe. It brings together the experience of more than 700 professionals who generate an annual turnover of 55,8 million euros and provides services to more than 2,000 companies. Applied R&D, technological services, highly specialized training, technological consultancy or valorisation and exploitation of industrial property are some of the services that Eurecat offers for both large and small and medium-sized enterprises in all sectors. The technology centre participates in more than 200 large national and international consortium projects of high strategic R&I and has 181 patents and 10 spin-offs. The added value provided by Eurecat accelerates innovation, reduces spending on scientific and technological infrastructures, reduces risks and provides specialized knowledge tailored to each company. It has eleven centres in Catalonia (Spain) and one in Chile (Latam).
Eurecat develops and optimises technologies and processes to improve the management of water, soil and air and associated resources. We conduct research, development and innovation projects with businesses across all industries to enhance economic, environmental and social sustainability.
We use advanced modelling and experimental tools at various scales (laboratory, pilot plant and real scale) to develop and validate new technologies and their applications. We work with a wide range of technologies for treating pollutants to mitigate their release into the natural environment and for resource recovery and to support the transition to a circular economy.
https://eurecat.org/en/field-of-knowledge/water-air-soil/
The RMIT research group involved in the PhD thesis have expertise in Water (Treatment, Distribution, modelling), Wastewater (MBR, Membranes in Agriculture, Aquaculture), Saltwater Intrusion, Resource Recovery (Mine Tailing Ponds, Dye and Salt from Textile Effluent), Novel Technologies (FO, MD) and specifically in modelling the fate of nutrients in urban catchments and the impacts of nature-based solutions.
Eurecat and RMIT are offering a PhD position to develop a doctoral thesis in Hydrogeochemical modelling under Dr. Laura del Val https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-del-val-alonso/?originalSubdomain=es and Jega Jegatheesan https://www.rmit.edu.au/profiles/j/jega-jegatheesan supervision
The research will be framed in a Horizon Europe project, GREENHOOD, https://greenhoodproject.eu/ (2025-2028). It pioneers a comprehensive approach to address the global challenge of unbalanced nutrient flows in regional ecosystems. Operating across four European countries and one associated region, GREENHOOD focuses on re-balancing nutrient flows and reducing N/P emissions.
The research will focus on the Ebro River basin: Optimization of the nutrient budgets to establish maximum allowable nutrient input levels through an active, participatory process involving key regional actors in the Ebro River basin. This collective effort aims to establish a clear nutrient budget for each region and identify key emission hotspots. The methodology for optimizing regional nutrient budgets involves the implementation of advanced nutrient models (MODFLOW, SWAT, etc.). These models are designed to comprehensively address both anthropogenic and natural emissions into the regional environmental compartments. The primary goal is to enhance the quality of data, expand the coverage of compartments, and encompass diverse sectors and emitting sources.
GREENHOOD will also test a strategy for the bioremediation of nitrate-contaminated groundwater: EURECAT will implement an in-situ groundwater treatment to validate the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of reducing the concentration of nitrogen compounds in aquifers and produce drinking water for livestock.
Functions and Responsibilities:
Studies and Knowledge:
Master’s degree or equivalent in civil, geotechnical, environmental or chemical engineering, geology, hydrogeology or similar
Basin knowledge of scientific programming language such as Python is desirable.
Soft Skills:
Languages:
Submission of Applications:
To formalize their application, applicants must:
Before March 18th, 2025
Selection Process
The selection process will be led by a committee that includes Scientific Management department, a specialist from People and Organization department, and the person who will be responsible for supervising the thesis connected to the vacancy.
Once the applicants' compliance with the requirements has been verified, the Commission will evaluate the merits of each application based on the curriculum, academic transcript, previous research activity, previous experience in the field of the thesis in the industrial/company sector and their fluency in English.
The evaluation process will include selection interviews.
The committee will then create a prioritized list of applications that received positive evaluations. If no application reaches the minimum score of 60 points based on the criteria outlined in the previous section, the committee may void the call. In this scenario, Eurecat may restart the selection process, establishing new deadlines for application submissions and the selection procedure.
Every applicant will be informed about the status of their application in the program. By applying, the applicant agrees to these terms. Non-compliance with these terms, incomplete documentation, or any other formal defects will result in the exclusion of the application from the selection process.
Decisions will be communicated to applicants via the email address provided during registration.
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