PRR Project

Summary

The selected candidate will be working in the field of materials processing using ionizing radiation and support several technologies to sterilize and decontaminate products. Ionizing radiation technologies are unique and widely used to sterilize and decontaminate medical devices, food and spices, etc. In a global economy the control and confinement of diseases, avoiding the burst of pandemics like Covid is mandatory to keep human beings in safe grounds. Nuclear technologies are also used to increase crop production and plague resistant through genetic modification (genetically modified rice saves millions from starvation in Asia). It turns out that research in these areas plays an important role in some of the most relevant dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN agenda such as 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing and 9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructure. Research on ionizing radiation effects on biological and polymer materials are a major topic where ionizing radiation opens new possibilities enabling new production methods and industrial applications. Polymer recycling, waste water treatment, and greenhouse gas emissions control are among the new technologies being developed and implemented in several countries to help to protect the environment. Water will be one of the most valuable assets of the countries in the future and radiation technologies could help to reduce the waste using dedicated infrastructures (electron accelerators) to treat and clean residual waters.The groups already established at the host institutions and working in the field are responsible for the operation of large infrastructures (electrostatic accelerators, Cobalt irradiation unit, electron accelerator, clean laboratory, etc.) which will be available for the candidate’s activities.  A large portfolio of experimental techniques using ionizing radiation could be used and explored to asses and study the impact of pollution in the environment, ionizing radiation effects in biological and in all kind of other materials as well as to explore the potential of ionizing radiation to treat waste water and other products.The candidate will be expected to:1) Develop a strong and independent research career with national and international recognition;2) Develop research activities with great potential to attract competitive funding at the national and international level;3) Supervise MSc and PhD students;4) Contribute to undergraduate and graduate (MSc and PhD) teaching programs;5) Carry out other service activities as a faculty member, by interacting collegially and maintaining the highest standard of integrity and ethics.6) Participate and develop actions on technology transfer to the industry and others.The hired candidate will perform research on the field of nuclear technologies and ionizing radiation studying its effects on biological and inorganic materials to explore the potential of radiation to solve some of the major current problems of humanity related to environmental and health domains. This field is a key research line of DECN of the scientific area of Nuclear Technologies and Radiological Protection which is becoming depleted of human resources. DECN faces an urgent need to increase the number of researchers in the area to keep it active and maintain the knowledge in Portugal as well as for next generations as was realized and mentioned by external evaluators.The researcher will be integrated in “Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN, https://c2tn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt)” and at DECN where he/she will develop his/her academic and research career.The candidate will contribute to the development of new knowledge in the application of radiation technologies to solve societal problems. In particular the candidate is expected to study and develop new processes and technologies based on ionizing radiation to treat waste water from farming, mining and other industries to contribute for the sustainability of our resources. Another important line of research where the candidate is expected to participate is on the contribution of ionizing radiation techniques to control the dissemination of diseases and plagues an ever-growing problem on a world global economy. The candidate must create synergies with industrial partners to develop and explore the potential of these technologies whenever possible.This work in the framework of C2TN and DECN will allow a very close alignment between research and teaching activities leading to an education that is based on real world challenges. The researcher is expected to participate in the teaching and supervision of students in particular at MSc and PhD level.This position is opened to comply with the legal obligations of opening a call for research functions compatible with existing DL57/16 contracts.