Within the MIND project, there is a PhD opportunity at SCK•CEN (Mol, Belgium). The aim of this project is to unravel the impact of microbial processes on cement in repository-like conditions and on bitumen (derivatives) at a high, cement-derived, pH. The expected outcome of both parts of the project is a detailed characterisation of microbial community dynamics and of the process kinetics, end-products and boundary conditions of those microbial metabolisms acting specifically on cementitious repository components and on bitumen derivatives.
As the project is part of the MIND project, the PhD candidate will have ample opportunity to exchange experiences and samples with European colleagues, to relate the lab scale experiments to complementary in situ experiments and to follow the first steps towards the validation of the experimental results towards modelling and performance assessment.
More information about the project and application can be found at the website of the SCK•CEN Academy:
The deadline for application is September 30th 2016.