The Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability (SEC) is an intellectual hub for research, scholarship, entrepreneurship, and postgraduate training, formed by a collaborative commitment to sustainability between the Singapore NRF and the ETH in Switzerland. Located in Singapore, the current focus of the SEC is the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL), which considers the implications of future development of buildings, cities and urban environments across all scales. It is made up of over 60 researchers across 9 research modules. Module 1: Low Exergy works to extend the high performance low exergy systems being developed in Zurich to the tropical climate of Singapore.
PhD Pos. in indoor air quality and performance of low exergy ventilation systems (60%)
The PhD position will be advised by Prof. Tham Kwok Wai, indoor air quality (IAQ) expert and head of the Department of Building in the School of Design and the Environment at the National University of Singapore (NUS). It will be co-advised by Prof. Hansjürg Leibundgut, low exergy (LowEx) building systems expert and head of the Building Systems Chair in the Institute for Technology in Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture in the ETH Zurich. The PhD degree will be awarded from the NUS. The overall project looks at the performance of building systems that utilize higher temperatures for cooling, and avoids using air as a cooling medium. This change in the mode of cooling supply in the tropics has many implications for the design and operation of building systems. While making the overall system more efficient, new risks arise such as condensation and pollutant build-up from lower LowEx system airflow rates. The research will also consider new technologies we are developing that remove pollutants from air using other modes like absorption, and which have the potential to revolutionize building systems if IAQ risks are adequately researched and mitigated. The theses will therefore consider performance issues of ventilation systems combined with optimization of IAQ, and will utilize two available laboratory spaces currently in Singapore, one advanced ventilation lab at NUS and one low exergy systems research facility operated by the FCL. The SEC FCL will supply funding for 4 years including a standard NUS PhD salary and facility support in Singapore.
Suitable candidates should have a solid background in thermodynamics, fluid dynamics and physics from a field such as mechanical or aerospace engineering and have experience with building systems design and operation. Knowledge of CFD, system modeling, and experimental data acquisition is highly recommended.
For further information please contact Dr. Forrest Meggers, Low Exergy Module Coordinator of the FCL, by email: meggers@arch.ethz.ch (no applications) and visit our website http://www.futurecities.ethz.ch/
Applicants should apply online by sending a Curriculum Vitae and statement of research interests using the online jobs portal. Please adress your application to: ETH Zurich, Hans-Peter Widmer, Human Resources, 8092 Zurich.