Two PhD positions within absolute environmental sustainability in the built environment

The Villum Foundation has launched a record-breaking research grant of 1 billion DKK over the next ten years with the goal to advance efforts towards a more sustainable built environment. The announced position is part of this venture and the successful candidate will participate in the joint effort to achieve this goal.

The built environment plays an important role in climate change resource depletion and other environmental pressures. While life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used to support decision-making in the sector most current approaches rely on relative comparisons and do not adequately reflect absolute environmental limits such as planetary boundaries climate neutrality targets or regenerative ambitions.

Therefore the Department of the Built Environment (BUILD) at Aalborg University (AAU) invites applications for two fully funded PhD positions within a joint research project on absolute environmental sustainability in the built environment. The positions form part of a coherent research effort aimed at developing and operationalising methods that allow buildings and infrastructure to be assessed designed renovated and transformed within absolute environmental limits while remaining applicable to real-world practice.

The PhD candidates will be affiliated with the Division of Sustainability of Buildings Department of the Built Environment Faculty of Engineering and Science Aalborg University (Copenhagen) within the general study programme Civil Engineering. Employment is expected to commence on September 1st 2026 or shortly thereafter.

Your work tasks

Environmental sustainability assessment is essential for enabling a transition towards a built environment that operates within planetary boundaries and other science-based limits. This PhD project addresses the current gap between absolute environmental sustainability concepts and their practical application in buildings renovation transformation and infrastructure.

The two PhD positions contribute jointly to advancing absolute environmental sustainability assessment (AESA) with complementary main focuses.

One PhD position primarily focuses on the methodological foundations for AESA in the built environment. This includes translating planetary boundaries and other absolute targets to relevant scales developing scaling principles for buildings renovation infrastructure (including roads and bridges) and the built environment as a whole and defining limit values suitable for use in LCA-based frameworks. The work also addresses methodological challenges related to boundary-setting aggregation uncertainty and consistency across scales.

The other PhD position primarily focuses on the application and operationalisation of absolute sustainability targets in the context of the built environment. This includes defining and applying targets such as climate neutrality net-zero and regenerative performance in building renovation transformation of the built environment and infrastructure. The work involves conceptual development and scope of regenerative buildings and infrastructure and the identification and assessment of concrete solutions strategies and design choices that enable decision-relevant guidance for practice.

The two PhD candidates are expected to collaborate closely sharing case studies data and analytical frameworks and jointly contributing to the development and testing of AESA approaches for the built environment.

Your competencies

The successful candidates hold strong academic backgrounds within environmental engineering civil engineering building science sustainability assessment or related fields. They demonstrate independence analytical skills and motivation to develop original PhD research in an interdisciplinary research environment.

The candidates are expected to be collaborative team players who contribute constructively to joint research objectives while being able to work independently on their respective PhD projects. They have a clear interest in environmental sustainability assessment life cycle assessment (LCA) and absolute sustainability concepts such as planetary boundaries net-zero and regenerative performance.

Experience with quantitative environmental modelling LCA or related methods is an advantage. The candidates should demonstrate strong written and oral communication skills in English.

Qualification requirements
PhD stipends are allocated to individuals who hold a Masters degree. PhD stipends are normally for a period of 3 years. It is a prerequisite for allocation of the stipend that the candidate will be enrolled as a PhD student at the Doctoral School of Engineering and Science in accordance with the regulations of Ministerial Order No. 1124 of September 19 2025 on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic Educational Institutions. According to the Ministerial Order the progress of the PhD student shall be assessed at regular points in time. As part of the PhD study you are among other things required to complete PhD courses corresponding to 30 ECTS gain experience with teaching or other forms of knowledge dissemination and complete an external research stay outside of Aalborg University preferably 3-6 months at a foreign research institution.

Please visit the website of the doctoral schoolfor further information on admission requirements.

Who we are

The Department of the Built Environment (BUILD) is Denmarks largest department within construction civil engineering and the built environment. Research at BUILD is rooted in engineering science and integrates important elements from environmental science social sciences and the humanities.

AAU BUILD is a leading national and international research environment within sustainable construction and the built environment. The department works closely with public authorities industry and international partners on developing methods tools and standards for a climate-neutral resource-efficient and regenerative built environment.

The Division of Sustainability of Buildings conducts research on sustainability assessment life cycle assessment (LCA) circular economy materials buildings infrastructure and design strategies and offers a strong interdisciplinary and internationally oriented research environment for PhD studies.

How to apply
Your application must include the following:

• Application stating reasons for applying and qualifications in relation to the position
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Diplomas (bachelors and masters degree diploma including grades)
• Project description a one-page statement indicating their vision for research to be conducted in relation to the project topics outlined above.
• Other relevant documents

The application must be submitted via Aalborg Universitys recruitment system which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aalborg Universitys website.

Aalborg University wants to reflect the surrounding society and has diversity as a core value. Therefore everyone regardless of personal background and orientation is encouraged to apply for the position.

Do you have any questions
If you have any questions about the position you are more than welcome to contact us. You will find contact persons at the bottom of the jobpost.

Further information
Read more about our recruitment process here.

The assessment of candidates for the position will be carried out by qualified experts.
Shortlisting will be applied. This means that after the application deadline the head of the department with the assistance of the hiring committee will select the applicants to be assessed. All applicants will be informed whether they have been shortlisted for assessment or not.

The hiring process at Aalborg University may include a risk assessment as a tool to identify potential risks associated with new hires ensuring the safety compliance and integrity of the workplace.

Read more about The Doctoral School of Engineering and Science

Salary and terms of employment
The employment is in accordance with the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities (the Appointment Order) and the Ministerial Order on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities (in Danish).

Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with the collective agreement between the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and the state (AC collective agreement) (in Danish)

There is a mutual probationary period of 3 months for the position.

Aalborg University - Knowledge for the world
Aalborg University is an international workplace with more than 3700 employees. We offer real-world-oriented education and create world-class research results through collaboration between researchers students and public and private companies. This is how we achieve insights new solutions to societal problems and knowledge that changes the world. Our main campus is in Aalborg but we also have campuses in Esbjerg and Copenhagen.