07 Postdoctoral Fellowship at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) protect against freeze damage in polar regions by keeping the nucleation and growth of ice crystals in check. How this works exactly is not yet known. This is because we currently lack designer ice-binders to unravel and utilize the structure-function relations underlying activity. In this project you will combine computational tools for protein engineering with biochemical and structural biology techniques to bridge this knowledge gap. You will engineer thermostable IBPs de novo targeting IBPs that inhibit ice recrystallization and control nucleation for biomedical applications in e.g. heart and kidney cryopreservation.

The ethics of technology has developed a wide range of methods and frameworks, yet there is no systematic understanding of what makes a method adequate for addressing socially disruptive technologies (SDTs), specifically. SDTs present distinctive challenges: they disrupt the concepts we use, they generate deep uncertainty and concern about their impacts, and they transform the social and conceptual contexts within which ethical evaluation takes place. It is an open question whether existing methods can accommodate these challenges or, instead, require fundamental modification. Gaining clarity about this requires developing a theoretical account of what success looks like for ethical methods operating under conditions of disruption.

To address the question of what methodological innovations or modifications the ethics of technology requires in response to socially disruptive technologies, this project pursues three interconnected lines of inquiry:

First, as a basis for the evaluative and innovative stages of the project, the postdoc will develop a conceptual framework for understanding the diverse existing methods used in the ethics of technology. This involves analyzing how different methods relate to one another – e.g., what purposes they are intended to serve, what assumptions they make about the relationship between theory and practice, and how they handle the distinctive consequences of socially disruptive technologies (including conceptual disruption, uncertainty, and moral diversity). The methods examined may include both theoretical and participatory or practice-oriented frameworks. To be clear, the aim in this part of the project is not to supply a comprehensive catalogue of existing methods but to develop a theoretical account of the methodological landscape as it currently stands.

Second, the postdoc will develop criteria for assessing when ethical methods succeed or fail in addressing socially disruptive technologies. This may include consideration of the following questions: What must a method be able to do to handle conceptual disruption? How should it accommodate deep uncertainty about technological trajectories? What role should stakeholder participation play? In this part of the project, the postdoc will take into account past ESDiT research on conceptual disruption, intercultural ethics, and methodological innovation. The result will be an account of desiderata for ethics methods that are applied to socially disruptive technologies.

Third, the postdoc will develop one or more new or revised method(s) that meet the desiderata identified. This may involve modifying existing approaches, integrating elements from different frameworks, or articulating entirely new methods. The aim is to contribute to the development of ethical methods that are adequate to the challenges posed by socially disruptive technologies.

The postdoc will be part of the ESDiT research line on New Methods for Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies, working alongside other researchers, who are also developing new methods for ethical assessment of socially disruptive technologies. Whereas a complementary project within ESDiT (at the University of Twente) will be developing new methods for analyzing specific forms of disruption (social systems, institutional change), this project will provide a meta-level framework for understanding what features ethical methods for SDTs should have. Thus, the project will inform and integrate more focused methodological contributions from others in ESDiT. Within the research line and ESDiT more broadly, the postdoc will play an active role – for instance, by organizing events and contributing to collaborative writing projects that advance the programme’s methodological objectives.

Open Science is an umbrella term encompassing, among other elements, the sharing of research data and code to facilitate verification and further development of research. It is widely endorsed by universities, funders, and policy makers, yet its implementation in daily research practice remains uneven. While many institutions have adopted policies encouraging or requiring researchers to share their data and code, the actual uptake of these practices varies considerably across organizations, disciplines, and research communities. This raises important questions: Which policy features promote meaningful behavioral change? Why do some institutional policies remain largely symbolic, while others lead to measurable improvements in transparency? And how can institutions design policies that are both effective and sensitive to researchers’ needs and constraints?

You will be part of a project that addresses these questions by combining policy analysis, behavioral research, and stakeholder co-creation. You will map existing institutional policies, examine researchers’ attitudes and actual data and code sharing practices, and identify which policy characteristics are associated with greater adoption. Building on these insights, you will collaborate with researchers, data stewards, and policy makers to develop improved, evidence-based policy frameworks that institutions can implement.

You will join an interdisciplinary team of meta-scientists and Open Science researchers and will play a central role in all stages of the project—from conceptual development and data collection to analysis, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination. This position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to research with direct policy relevance and to shape the future of Open Science practices at the institutional level.

How can we unlock hydrogen from ammonia in a way that is both energy-efficient and scalable for a sustainable future? Answering this question requires breakthrough reactor concepts that seamlessly integrate reaction and separation.

In this position, you will contribute to the Sustainable Process Engineering (SPE) program within the Sustainable Process Engineering group at Eindhoven University of Technology (see our website). You will work in a collaborative and internationally oriented team at the intersection of reaction engineering, process intensification, and hydrogen technologies, engaging closely with both academic and industrial partners in the field of sustainable energy.

Your research will focus on the development of a pilot-scale reactor system that couples ammonia decomposition with hydrogen separation in a single intensified setup, targeting a production capacity of 10 kg/day of hydrogen. Moreover, you will optimize reactor performance and perform a comprehensive techno-economic assessment at the process scale to ensure the system is both efficient and economically viable. The aim is to deliver a system that advances the practical implementation of ammonia-based hydrogen supply by demonstrating the membrane reactor technology at pilot scale and assessing its feasibility at larger scale.

This work will contribute to the transition toward a hydrogen-based energy landscape. By improving the efficiency of hydrogen recovery from ammonia, you will support the development of clean, flexible, and carbon-free energy solutions.

You will work in a supportive, diverse, and interdisciplinary environment that fosters scientific independence. During the project, you will further develop your expertise in membrane reactors, process modeling, and pilot-scale system design as well as you will disseminate your results through collaboration within a European-funded project consortium.