General

ESCI-UPF, hosting the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change, a research group accredited as consolidated by the Government of Catalonia, is seeking a full-time Postdoctoral or PhD candidate to develop research for the CATALYSE Project funded by the Horizon Europe Programme.

Main activities and responsibilities may include

• Review of scientific and sector-relevant tools and methods, such as guidelines, standards, recommendations, case studies, and other papers dealing with GHG assessment and mitigation specific to the health sector; 
• Conduct the data-gathering process related to direct and indirect emissions for the development of the Carbon Footprint (Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3) and data related to the water footprint of the Catalan Health Sector; 
• Support the development of up-to-date guidelines, which will be applied to the Catalan (Spanish autonomous region) health system; 
• Organize stakeholder consultation to co-develop mitigation scenarios based on stakeholder priorities and assess the validity and practicality (technically and politically) of proposed guidelines; 
• Scenario modelling to quantify GHG emission reductions and trade-offs with other impact categories through LCA in the Catalan health system; 
• Organize and support the training for the Catalan Health Professionals; 
• Support the UNESCO Chair in similar projects and activities; 
• Other assignments requested by the UNESCO Chair director. 

The researcher will report to the UNESCO Chair Director and the CATALYSE principal investigator. In addition, he/she will have to prepare and conduct periodic meetings with CATALYSE partners.

CATALYSE project

Despite clear signs that the impacts of climate change are escalating, the global response needs to be improved. CATALYSE project seeks to provide new knowledge, data and tools to close the knowledge-to-action gap to accelerate climate change action and protect European public health. CATALYSE will do this by:

• Developing an integrated indicator framework and repository;
• Quantifying the health co-benefits and costs of mitigation measures;
• Developing novel surveillance and forecasting tools;
• Investigating how stakeholders engage with evidence regarding the health impacts of climate change;
• Providing evidence and training on the most effective strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation for European health systems.

As part of the CATALYSE project, UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change aims to produce a guidance document on the carbon footprint of the Catalan Health sector from a life cycle perspective. To create this document, we must first develop a carbon footprint for the sector by calculating the total GHG emissions resulting from direct emissions, such as burning fossil fuels, and indirect emissions, such as purchased electricity, heat, goods, and services.

Desirable Experience and Skills

PhD in the topic for the post-doctoral position or being able to have it during the first year of the contract and having at least three years of research experience in the topic;
Bachelor's or Master's degree in natural sciences (preferably chemical engineering) or environment, alternatively, comparable degrees for the PhD post with enough experience in those topics;
Fluency in Catalan and English languages is a must; 
Experience in writing research papers in scientific journals; 
Experience in data gathering of complex and robust data. 

Additional criteria

Knowledge in life cycle assessment, carbon footprint and software practice

We offer

Salary: Commensurate with experience;
Cooperation on excellent European collaborative R&D&I projects with the participation of leading European R&D&I organisations as well as SMEs and large industries;
Starting date: September 1st 2023;
Length of the contracts: 3 years with the possibility for renewal

Recruitment procedure

• The offer will be published 15 days;
• The UNESCO Chair will perform an initial evaluation;
• Two finalists will be interviewed and given more detailed information by the UNESCO Chair;
• The result will be communicated only to the two finalists within five more days;
• The rest of the candidates will implicitly know they were not chosen;
• To apply for this position, please send your CV and motivation letter in PDF (both in English) before Monday, 31st July 2023

Apply 

Deadline: Monday, 31 July 2023