UPV Investigo Program

With the growing demand for healthy products, the UPV wants to promote the implementation of urban gardens on the Vera campus. We are looking for two researchers with an agronomic profile to start implementing urban gardens on the Vera campus. The people hired will previously study the location of the orchards, their design, adequate combination of different crops according to their growing season and characteristics, etc.
Duties to be performed:
– Research on designs and management models for urban gardens.
– Research on social innovation experiences linked to urban gardens.
– Evaluation of the possible adaptations of urban orchards on the UPV campuses according to the existing green infrastructure.
– Evaluation of the potential contributions of urban gardens to the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the institution.
– Selection of locations according to landscape integration and urban context constraints.
– Selection of appropriate management and maintenance processes for the UPV campuses.
– Design of the appropriate management plan for the university community.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to the management of UPV urban gardens.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.

The UPV’s outdoor spaces on its three campuses total nearly 110,000m2, making it the university’s green lung and helping offset its CO2 emissions. Currently, the green infrastructure of the UPV needs improvements to ensure greater diversity in the face of the ecological transition. We are looking for a researcher with a degree in agricultural engineering, landscape architecture, or similar environmental sciences to research, develop, and help implement effective strategies for the ecological transition of the UPV.
Functions to be performed:
– Research on the development and implementation of effective strategies for biodiversity on UPV campuses.
– Evaluation of possible interventions to reinforce the existing green infrastructures in the different campuses of the UPV.
Selection of specific actions aligned with the ecological transition of the UPV.
– Design the action plan to improve biodiversity and green infrastructure of the UPV campuses.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to the above actions.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.

The UPV aspires to be a CO2-neutral institution and needs to analyze and implement mobility-related measures contributing to its energy transition. We are looking for a researcher with a degree in architecture, urbanism, or civil engineering specializing in transportation or similar to research, develop, and help implement strategies for mobility related to UPV campuses (internal mobility, daily commuting to campus, commuting to academic events).
Duties to be performed:
– Research on the development and implementation of sustainable mobility strategies for universities.
– Evaluation of possible actions to be developed per the Sustainable Mobility Plan of the UPV in force.
– Evaluation of the contribution of mobility strategies to the institution’s decarbonization objective.
– Selection of strategic actions related to transportation to UPV campuses.
– Detailed design of the previous actions’ development and integration into the current plan.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to sustainable mobility on UPV campuses.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.

Most UPV’s buildings date back to the 1970s and present technical obsolescence and low energy certifications. The UPV needs to improve the conditions of its buildings in order to contribute efficiently to energy savings that will determine their environmental impact. We are looking for a researcher with a degree in architecture, building engineering, or similar to research, develop, and help implement strategies for the energy efficiency of UPV buildings.
Duties to be performed:
– Research on the energy efficiency of existing buildings, particularly university buildings.
– Evaluation of possible energy efficiency actions to be developed in the buildings of the UPV campuses.
– Evaluation of the contribution of the above actions to the institution’s energy transition objective.
– Selection of strategic actions related to the energy rehabilitation of UPV buildings.
– Detailed design of the development of the previous actions.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to the energy efficiency of UPV buildings.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.

Since the 1970s, the buildings on the three UPV campuses have been adapted and expanded to accommodate new degree programs. In the interest of environmental sustainability, the UPV needs to establish a strategic plan for the adaptive reuse of its spaces. We seek a researcher with a degree in architecture to research, develop, and help implement effective strategies for the architectural recycling of UPV campus buildings.
Duties to be performed:
– Research the reuse and recycling of existing buildings, particularly university buildings.
– Identification of new spatial needs and architectural design strategies for their achievement in the field of university buildings.
– Evaluation of possible adaptive reuse actions to be developed in the buildings of the UPV campuses.
– Evaluation of the contribution of the above actions to the institution’s economic sustainability objective.
– Selection of strategic actions related to the reuse or partial or total adaptation of UPV buildings.
– Detailed design of the development of the previous actions.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to the adaptive reuse of UPV buildings.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.

Currently, the only renewable source of electricity at the UPV comes from photovoltaic panels; fossil fuels are still used for heating in some buildings. For the UPV to become a CO2-neutral institution, it needs to implement its contribution of energy from renewable sources. We are looking for a researcher with a degree in engineering and a specialization in renewable energy to research, develop, and help implement energy strategies to reduce environmental impact.
Duties to be performed:
– Research on producing renewable energies, particularly concerning their implementation in university buildings and campuses.
– Evaluation of possible actions for implementing renewable energy production systems to be developed in the UPV campuses.
– Evaluation of the contribution of the above actions to the institution’s energy transition objective.
– Selection of strategic actions related to the progressive incorporation of renewable energies in the UPV campuses.
– Detailed design of the development of the above actions, including their management and maintenance.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to renewable energy production at the UPV.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.

Torrential weather events frequently damage the UPV campuses. The UPV needs improvements to ensure proper water management in the territory and contribute to an optimal ecological transition and the enrichment of its green infrastructure. We are looking for a researcher with a degree in road engineering specializing in water management or similar to research, develop, and help implement strategies for sustainable urban drainage systems at the UPV.
Duties to be performed:
– Research on sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) and water management in consolidated urban environments, with particular attention to Mediterranean geographic and climatic settings.
– Evaluation of possible actions related to SUDS on UPV campuses.
– Evaluation of the contribution of the above actions to the institution’s ecological transition objective.
– Selection of strategic actions related to SUDS on UPV campuses.
– Detailed design of the development of the previous actions.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to SUDS actions at the UPV.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.

The carbon footprint is the reference indicator of sustainability in the strategic plan for decarbonization. The measurement tasks will be managed as a service provided to UPV research projects to confirm or redirect the actions to be implemented. We are looking for a researcher with a degree in engineering with a specialization in environmental sciences to elaborate the measurements and help certify the environmental impact of the UPV according to the existing methods of calculating the carbon footprint.
Duties to be performed:
– Research on carbon footprint (CF) calculation methodologies, with particular attention to university institutions.
– Research on CF calculation methodologies, particularly on indirect emissions estimation models (Scope 3).
– Evaluation of the scope and management necessary to develop the possible methodologies for calculating Scope 3 of the CF at the UPV.
– Evaluation of improvement actions for reducing scope 1 of the UPV’s CF.
– Evaluation of possible actions for compensating the UPV’s CF.
– Evaluation of the contribution of the above actions to the institution’s decarbonization objective.
– Selection of strategic actions related to carbon neutrality of the UPV.
– Detailed design of the development of the previous actions.
– Development of dissemination, training, and citizen participation activities related to the UPV’s carbon neutrality.
– Write reports and curate data for dissemination and open use.
– Participation in training and follow-up meetings.