Call for applicants: 15 PhD positions in SULTAN

The EU Horizon 2020 MSCA-ETN SULTAN consortium is looking for a dynamic team of 15 bright and enthusiastic PhD students. SULTAN focuses on the Remediation and Reprocessing of Sulfidic Mining Waste Sites. The call for applicants is now officially open. PhD candidates need to apply on-line through the SULTAN application tool. The deadline for on-line applications is August 15, 2018. Required profiles include Geologists, Chemists, Chemical Engineers, Metallurgists, Environmental Scientists & Engineers as well as Materials Scientists & Engineers. (Leuven, 14/6/2018)

On-line Recruitment Procedure (APPLY HERE)

All applications proceed through the on-line recruitment tool on the www.etn-sultan.eu website. Candidates apply electronically for one to maximum three positions and indicate their preference. Candidates provide all requested information including a detailed CV (Europass format obligatory) and motivation letter. During the registration, applicants will need to prove that they are eligible (cf. ESR definition, mobility criteria, and English language proficiency). The deadline for the on-line registration is 15 August 2018. The SULTAN Recruitment Committee selects between 20 and maximum 30 candidates for the Recruitment Event which will take place in Leuven, Belgium (18 October 2018). The selected candidates provide a 20 minute presentation and are interviewed by the Recruitment Committee.

Key dates

• 15-6-2018: Launch 15 ESR positions
• 15-8-2018: Deadline for on-line application
• 03-9-2018: Circulation list “preselected candidates”
• 18-10-2018: SULTAN Recruitment Event
• 19-10-2018: Circulation list “recruited SULTAN ESRs”.
• 01-1-2019: Targeted starting date for ESR contracts

Details about 15 positions and recruitment procedure

SULTAN is a consortium of high profile universities, research institutions and companies located in Belgium, Germany, Finland, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands. SULTAN is looking for 15 PhD students with the following backgrounds: Geology – Chemistry – Chemical Engineering – Metallurgy – Environmental Engineering – Materials Engineering. The 15 PhD projects are described in more detail in the on-line Recruitment Document. In this document you can also find more details about the benefits, the recruitment procedure and the SULTAN project and consortium.

Abstract SULTAN

For more than 100 years the EU mining industries have been discarding their extractive-waste residues. Estimates suggest this represents 29% of the EU-28’s current waste output. When poorly managed these residues are a significant environmental hazard. Sulfidic Cu-Zn, Zn-Pb and Cu-Zn-Pb tailings pose the largest challenge, as they are prone to acid mine drainage. However, these tailings also contain valuable metals. Recently, the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials launched a “call to arms” to transform the “extractive-waste problem” into a “resource-recovery opportunity”. Additionally, the EIP has warned about the acute shortage of talent in this sector. In order to develop a highly skilled work force, to mitigate environmental risks and to economically recover valuable raw materials, the ETN for the remediation and reprocessing of sulfidic mining waste sites (SULTAN) provides the first-ever training programme dedicated to the reprocessing of tailings. SULTAN has pooled the interdisciplinary and intersectoral expertise of leading EIT RawMaterials members, world-leading mining and chemical companies, covering all the links in the tailings-reprocessing value chain. SULTAN develops cutting-edge methodologies to assess the resource potential of Europe’s main tailings families (WP1) and explores eco-friendly mining chemicals to be used in advanced metal-extraction/recovery set-ups (WP2). SULTAN not only recovers the metals but also valorises the clean(ed) tailing residues in circular-economy applications, incl. inorganic polymers, green cements and ceramics (WP3). In WP4 a novel environmental assessment methodology is developed. The 15 SULTAN ESRs also benefit from a unique soft-skills training programme (WP5) and maximise the impact of their research through dissemination and exploitation (WP6). This will kick-start their careers as highly employable professionals in the EU’s tailings reprocessing/remediation sector, as well as for geological surveys, teaching and scientific organisations, and public bodies

Full details about 15 positions and procedure

Download here

General coordinator for ETN SULTAN:

• Prof. Philippe Muchez (KU Leuven)
• Philippe.muchez@kuleuven.be

General contact person for ETN SULTAN:

• Dr. Peter Tom JONES (SIM² KU Leuven & Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven)
• Peter.Jones@kuleuven.be
• +32 (0) 16 32 12 13 & +32 (0) 486 83 64 94