Position Applications

The network will provide unique cross- and multi-disciplinary training opportunities Researchers applying for a position are requested to email their CV accompanied by a letter of motivation and two letters of recommendation at the contact person of the host institution.

All applicants shall also be requested to provide proof that, at the time of recruitment, are eligible for initial training and that they fulfill the conditions of nationality and mobility as specified in page 13 of the 'Guide for Applicants' for Marie Curie ITNs. Researchers will be allowed to apply for no more than two different positions, either at the same or different organizations of the network.
The deadline for applications is the 15th of June 2010.

Selected fellows will be notified at least one month before the job starting date. It is expected that appointed reserachers will be hired from February 2010. Appointments in the MULTIMOD network will last for 36 months. In order to receive complementary training on their respective topics, appointed researchers may be required to spend a secondment period of 3-6 months to one or more institutions as described in the following schedule.

Select partner :

  • Position 1: Molecular Modeling of Macromolecular Systems

    Host Institution : Apply for position Politecnico di Milano
    Secondment Institution : UNILEVER
    Description and Research Plan
    Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation tools with application to polymerization systems. Application of first-principles modeling for the prediction of physical, thermodynamic and transport properties in industrial-scale processes.

  • Position 2: Solvent Screening through Model-Based Experimental Analysis

    Host Institution : Apply for position RWTH Aachen University
    Secondment Institution : BAYER Technology Services , Technical University of Denmark
    Description and Research Plan
    General aspects of reaction kinetics and solvent selection methods. Reaction model identification for solvent-based chemical reactions. MEXA methodology. Practical experience with lab-scale reaction kinetic experiments. Solvent selection methodologies.

  • Position 3: Chemical Synthesis with New Solvents

    Host Institution : Apply for position BAYER Technology Services
    Secondment Institution : RWTH Aachen University
    Description and Research Plan
    Optimization of solvent-based chemical production processes through model-based experimental analysis (MEXA). Process scale-up. Training to the in-house MEXA tool.

  • Position 4: Data-Driven Estimation of Reaction Kinetics

    Host Institution : Apply for position RWTH Aachen University
    Secondment Institution : Ghent University , University of Strathclyde Glasgow
    Description and Research Plan
    Data-driven and hybrid reaction kinetic modeling. Model-based experimental analysis (MEXA) techniques with application to polymerization and gas-phase reactions. Link to theoretical studies with laboratory experimentation. Statistical modeling methodologies. Process analytics and high-throughput experimentation.

  • Position 5: Data-Driven Estimation of Reaction Kinetics

    Host Institution : Apply for position Ghent University
    Secondment Institution : RWTH Aachen University , University of Strathclyde Glasgow
    Description and Research Plan
    Development and enhancement of an environment for automated microkinetic model construction. This environment should decrease the step to be taken by newcomers in the field of kinetic modelling to successfully construct (micro)kinetic models. Description and Research Plan Fundamental (micro)kinetic model construction is the core business of the Laboratory for Chemical Technology at Ghent University. In this respect, one research axis assumes that reaction mechanisms are fairly well understood and, hence, detailed reaction network generation programs can be employed. A second axis is now being explored for situations in which less information is available on the reaction of interest resulting in more simple reaction networks. This project focuses on the further development of the second axis in order to get closer to a point of convergence between the two axes. The general applicability of the microkinetic engine is to be enhanced, e.g., by incorporating tools for automatic reaction network generation as well as for experimental design. Automatic reaction network generation is in the first instance to be performed for some well-studied reactions such as light alkane hydroisomerisation or xylene isomerisation and will be extended later on to other reactions of interest in MULTIMOD such as deoxygenation reactions. Design of experiments will be implemented both for model discrimination as for more precise parameter estimation. Microkinetic modelling of chemical reactions based on elementary steps frequently leads to so-called ill-posed problems. The use of predictive kinetics allow addressing these issues. The applicability of a predictive kinetics technique towards catalytic reactions rather than gas phase reactions will be assessed. The use of thermochemical methods, statistical thermodynamics and/or ab initio calculations is to be evaluated.

  • Position 6: Meso-Scale Modeling of Catalytic Processes

    Host Institution : Apply for position BOREALIS
    Secondment Institution : Centre for Research & Technology Hellas
    Description and Research Plan
    Use of computer-aided design (CAD) tools for the prediction of macroscopic properties of polypropylene (PP) copolymers and compounds. Fundamentals on numerical techniques and specifically, on the theory of the finite elements method.

  • Position 7: Investigation of Particle Growth and Morphology

    Host Institution : Apply for position University of Strathclyde Glasgow
    Secondment Institution : Centre for Research & Technology Hellas
    Description and Research Plan
    Single-particle growth modeling in catalytic olefin polymerization reactors. Prediction of reaction species transport properties. Multivariate statistical modeling. Numerical analysis methods. Fundamentals of polymerization systems. Mechanistic models for the description of inter-particle interactions and their effect on particle growth rate.

  • Position 8: Molecular Dynamics and Dissipative Particle Dynamics Modeling of Surfactant/Polymer Self Assembly

    Host Institution : Apply for position UNILEVER
    Secondment Institution : Imperial College London , Politecnico di Milano
    Description and Research Plan
    Validation of coarse-grained models for self-assembly and polymer adsorption at interfaces. Fundamental insight on nano-scale and biological self-assembly systems. Introductory training on MD simulation tools and demonstration on the latest developments on the field

  • Position 9: Investigation of Micro-structure Phenomena in Colloidal Systems

    Host Institution : Apply for position University of Strathclyde , Centre for Research & Technology Hellas
    Secondment Institution :
    Description and Research Plan
    Extraction of microstructure information by inversion of spectroscopic measurements. Investigation of interfacial phenomena in colloidal dispersions. Investigation of the effect of surfactant type on self-assembly and adsorption characteristics.

  • Position 10: Numerical Solution of Multivariate Population Balance Models

    Host Institution : Apply for position Centre for Research & Technology Hellas
    Secondment Institution : University Claude-Bernard Lyon 1
    Description and Research Plan
    Host Institution: Secondment Institution: Description and Research Plan Numerical analysis methods. Stochastic and deterministic multivariate population balance modeling and parallel programming methodologies. Experimental measurement of dynamic droplet size distribution. Integrated population balance/CFD modeling of emulsion polymerization systems.

  • Position 11: CFD Modeling of 2-Phase, Incompressible Flow Systems

    Host Institution : Apply for position UNILEVER
    Secondment Institution : Imperial College London
    Description and Research Plan
    Complex fluid dynamics. Emulsion and microemulsion theory. Physical chemistry of colloids and interfaces. Interfacial heat/mass transfer phenomena. Numerical simulation methods for 2-phase flows. Monitoring of complex fluid flows. Experimental measurement of particle/droplet size distributions.

  • Position 12: CFD Modeling of 2-Phase, Incompressible Flow Systems

    Host Institution : Apply for position University Claude-Bernard Lyon 1
    Secondment Institution : UNILEVER
    Description and Research Plan
    Prediction of thermodynamic stability of droplets in emulsions. Investigations of mixing effects. Description of droplet formation dynamics in complex processes. Complex fluid dynamics. Emulsion and microemulsion theory. Physical chemistry of colloids and interfaces. Interfacial heat/mass transfer phenomena.

  • Position 13: Model-Based Integrated Process-Product Design

    Host Institution : Apply for position Technical University of Denmark
    Secondment Institution : Alfa Laval
    Description and Research Plan
    Process-product design fundamentals with focus on theoretical developments. Formulation and solution of generic process-product design problems. Application in edible oil processing and biofuel production systems. The research will focus on the development of a systematic framework for model-based product and process design. This methodology will be evaluated on reaction and separation unit operations typically involved edible oil industry or biofuels industry in collaboration with ALAVAL, which is the secondment institution. An important part of the work will focus on development of the necessary models for the integrated study of different time/length scales involved in the product-process chain. To this end, already existing models will be surveyed and complemented if necessary with model identification techniques from process data. To facilitate the development of models (first-principles), which requires identification of reaction kinetics and mechanism in each unit operation, a systematic model identification methodology will also be developed and used. Another part of the work involves development of a solvent selection guide for the organic sysnthesis, which is important step in separation and extraction of product in edible oil industry. The resulting library of models form the will be identified and validated against data. These validated individual unit process models will form the basis for carrying out model-based design (as in computer aided flowsheet design) for new plants as well as model-based optimsiation of existing plants.

  • Position 14: Model-Based Integrated Process-Product Design

    Host Institution : Apply for position Alfa Laval
    Secondment Institution : Technical University of Denmark
    Description and Research Plan
    The aim is to evaluate model-based tools and methodologies for improving the operation of existing installations for defined products in the edible oil and biofuel industries. It is expected that this will be applicable both for optimizing/upgrading and retrofitting of existing process plants as well as for the design of new processing plant Description of researh/training elements The research will have a main focus on the industrial applicability of fundamental advances in modelling thermodynamic and transport properties of lipid systems. One part of the program will focus on modelling existing installations for the purpose of retrofitting and optimisation. In this regard, this work involves plant survey, data collection and reconciliation and validation of the model-based methodology against actual field data from both edible and biodiesel plants. Criteria for process optimisation shall include process performance optimisation with respect to operational cost minimisation, product yield improvement, CO2 and energy footprint and sustainability index. It is expected that outcome of this work will lead back to the fundamental work for further improvements. Included in this first part would also be development of unit operation models where these are not available in existing process simulation tools. Another part of the work will focus on improvement of existing design philosophies or entirely new process schemes, with the aim to accelerate process development.

  • Position 15: Incremental Refinement of Process Design

    Host Institution : Apply for position Technical University of Danmark , Alfa Laval
    Secondment Institution : RWTH Aachen University
    Description and Research Plan
    Host Institutions: Secondment Institution: Aim Computer-aided product-centric process flowsheet design. Formulation and solution of industrial process-product design problems. Incremental process synthesis (in-house) software tool. Description and Research Plan The research will focus on the use of validated models in the early stages of product-process synthesis in order to eliminate redundant alternative process routes. The objective will be to identify the most promising process design routes so that the more time consuming and costly steps (computational as well as experimental) can be reduced. To achieve this objective, a systematic framework for Computer-Aided Flowsheet Design (CAFD) will be developed and evalauted in collaboration with ALFA LAVAL. A particular emphasize will be given to deal with uncertainties in data and models that make part of the methodology (e.g. poor quality or limited amount of data, process model uncertainty). The task and training elements will include: * Computer-aided design of candidate process flowsheets (CAFD) * Integrated study of different time/length scales of the product-process chain * Development of models for the assessment of product performance * Feasibility assessment of the candidate flowsheets / Comparison of the alternative flowsheets at their optimal operating points * Optimization of the most promising flowsheets via mixed-integer algorithms Case studies from edible oil, biofuels and pharmaceutical industries would be selected to highlight the model-based methods and tools developed here.

  • Position 16: Bioprocess Design for Production of Biopharmaceuticals

    Host Institution : Apply for position BAYER Technology Services
    Secondment Institution : Imperial College London
    Description and Research Plan
    Fundamental principles of biotechnology. Hybrid mechanistic/data-driven modeling of bioprocesses. Bioprocess optimization and control.

  • Position 17: Bioprocess Design for Production of Biopharmaceuticals

    Host Institution : Apply for position Imperial College London
    Secondment Institution : BAYER Technology Services
    Description and Research Plan
    Host Institution: Secondment Institution: Description and Research Plan Multi-scale modeling, optimization and control of biopharmaceutical processes. Bioprocess scale-up.

  • Position 18: Bioprocess Design for Production of Biopolymers

    Host Institution : Apply for position Centre for Research & Technology Hellas , Imperial College London
    Secondment Institution :
    Description and Research Plan
    Multi-scale modeling, optimization and control of biopolymer fermentation processes.

  • Position 19: Model-based catalyst design

    Host Institution : Apply for position Ghent University , BP
    Secondment Institution :
    Description and Research Plan
    Extension of the Single-Event MicroKinetic (SEMK) methodology from pure hydrocarbon applications towards hetero-atom containing components. The removal of oxygen as hetero-atom will be investigated in the first place. Experimental measurements will be performed with a well selected set of model components containing the functional groups typically encountered in renewable feedstocks or correspondingly derived oils. Automatic reaction network generation and microkinetic model construction will be investigated and adapted to be applicable for deoxygenation reactions. The unknown parameters in the model will be obtained by regression to the measured data. At the side of BP, the focus of the project will be on the up-scaling of laboratory derived (micro)kinetics to an industry-size reactor. Whereas the efforts at the laboratory scale are devoted to eliminating transport phenomena to observe intrinsic kinetics, these transport phenomena should be adequately accounted for in the simulation of an industrial reactor.