Call for Expressions of Interest for the position of Tenure Track Assistant Professor/Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM), University of Trento

Expectations, benefits and duties associated with the position.

The Department of Civil Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM) at the University of Trento invites expressions of interest for the position of Tenure Track Assistant Professor/Associate Professor in the academic discipline Technical Physics (i.e. Engineering Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer) – Italian SSD ING-IND/10 (industrial applications) or ING-IND/11 (building physics applications).
The Department seeks enthusiastic candidates with a strong background in Engineering Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, mainly focusing on Renewable Energy Sources (RES), the optimisation of the energy performance of HVAC systems (esp. heat pumps and storage) and buildings (both existing ones and Near Zero Energy Buildings), and their interaction with Smart Grids and Renewable Energy Communities (REC).
The candidate is expected to exhibit a strong publication record, an active fundraising track, and the ability to pursue research activities both independently and as a member of a team.
A documented record of participation, and possibly leadership, in research projects will be appreciated.
The position will offer the opportunity to become part of a collaborative research environment, including Units covering a wide range of scientific interests and expertise, especially in environmental and energy sciences and engineering and to join the Sustainable Energy Lab (SEL), a unit composed of two permanent faculty and some coworkers - assistant professors, postdocs and doctoral students - actively covering a variety of topics including numerical modelling of the dynamic behaviour of the envelope and the of building HVAC system, sensitivity analysis of the building with respect to the behaviour of the users and the uncertainties in the characterisation of the thermophysical properties of the components, study of the control/automation systems, analysis of the interaction with diffuse generation systems serving the building and, finally, about the setup and management of data collection systems to validate the models with data collected in real operating conditions.
The position will require to teach courses at BSc, MSc or PhD level, depending on the Department's needs, upon agreement with the Department Schools; in particular fundamental courses on Technical Physics (i.e. Engineering Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer) and courses on building HVAC systems both at the University of Trento and for the MSc in Energy Engineering jointly offered by the University of Trento and the Free University of Bolzano.
The standard teaching load for a tenure-track assistant professor is 90 lecture-hours and for an associate professor is 120 lecture-hours per academic year. Supervision of MSc and PhD students working on their theses is also recommended.
Proficiency in Italian is appreciated, but not strictly required.
The level of the position offered will depend on the candidate’s qualifications. Candidates who have already been working in equivalent-level positions for at least three years in universities or research bodies abroad will be eligible for the direct hiring procedure.

The University of Trento and DICAM

The University of Trento has been systematically ranked in the top tier positions in the Italian national Research Assessment Evaluations of the past 10 years. The Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM), established in 2012, covers the main research topics of interest for civil engineering and architecture, environmental engineering, energy engineering, environmental meteorology and climate change. It actively promotes education and research across interdisciplinary areas.
The Department is a vibrant environment with 100+ faculties. Several of its members have held previous positions in international universities or organisations.
DICAM was awarded the “Department of excellence” grant by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) on both calls 2018-2022 and 2023-2027. With these two awards, the Department has received extraordinary funding aimed at recruiting researchers, purchasing top-level research equipment and funding PhD scholarships.
The Department offers its own BSc and MSc programmes in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Building Engineering and Architecture, and is a partner of two joint MSc programmes: a MSc in Energy Engineering (with the Free University of Bolzano) and a MSc in Environmental Meteorology (with the University of Innsbruck, Austria). This MSc programme is also jointly operated with the Department of Physics and the recently established interdepartmental Centre Agriculture Food Environment (C3A).
The Department also operates its own Doctoral School, and is a partner of recently established National Doctoral Schools. The position will entitle for being eligible as a member of the Boards of Lecturers governing these Schools, supervise PhD students, and apply for the assignment of PhD scholarships from the University of Trento or from Consortia ruling the national Schools, as well as to bring financial support for doctoral student positions to be included in the calls for applications annually opened by these Schools.

Salary and benefits

Remuneration will be based on the standard Italian salary levels for university employees. Faculties are allowed to supplement their base salary by working on consultancy appointments and as part of grants their hire, according to internal regulations of the University of Trento.
Italian candidates who have not been resident in Italy in the past two years may be entitled to benefit from special tax-exemptions, offered by the Italian tax legislation, for a period after being hired. The position holder will receive every year from the Department a basic personal grant for research/travel expenses.
The position of Tenure Track Assistant Professor is for three years. At the end of this term, the candidate who has achieved the National Scientific Habilitation and has successfully passed the Department evaluation will be promoted to a permanent position of Associate Professor.

Applications

Candidates should submit their application including:

• A curriculum vitae, including a publication list with links to the publishers’ websites.
• A letter of motivation, summarising the Candidate’s interest and qualification for the position, as well as scientific interests and intended research activities
• Degree transcripts and PhD thesis abstract
• Contact information for up to three referees.

The application package should be submitted via e-mail to positions.dicam [at] unitn.it
Applications received before January 16th 2024 will be given full consideration.
Candidates may be invited to Trento to give a seminar and for an interview.
Inquiries for further information concerning this position can be addressed to: positions.dicam [at] unitn.it
Candidates who wish to receive further details about the position are welcome to contact Professor Paolo Baggio (//paolo.baggio [at] unitn.it)">paolo.baggio [at] unitn.it).

Oreste Salvatore Bursi
Professor of Structural Dynamics and Control
Head of the Department of Civil Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM), at the University of Trento. Trento, Italy.