PhD Student @ the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology

 

VIB is a life sciences research institute, based in Flanders, Belgium. We perform basic research with a strong focus on translating scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications. VIB is an independent research institute of the government, with 1470 scientists from more than 60 countries working at UGent, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Hasselt University.

The VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology (CMB) focuses on the development of new and innovative molecular tools and technologies to challenge human health problems. The Center translates its novel technologies and insights to widely applicable research tools, vaccines, diagnostics, and biopharmaceuticals. Our research pushes the boundaries of protein-focused biomolecular and bioinformatics research and engineering technologies. CMB educates and trains the next generation of medical biotechnology researchers and informs the public on the impact of biotechnology on human health.

Description

Sven Degroeve leads a team of Machine Learning researchers as part of the VIB Computational Omics and Systems Biology Group (CompOmics). With a focus on modelling the behavior of molecules in state-of-the-art biotechnologies (such as Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) using deep neural architectures, the team recently expanded its interests to pre-trained full protein sequence, end-to-end models.

Supported by VIB, the Degroeve team maintains high-end GPU servers that make recent advances in protein AI available for biotechnology researchers within VIB. Such recent advances are AlphaFold2 and AlphaFold-multimer. These single differentiable end-to-end models predict the 3D (folding) structure for a protein sequence or protein complex and a corresponding parameterized multiple sequence alignment with similar proteins.

The Eyckerman lab has an interest in the characterization of human protein complexes in health and disease. The team has developed new experimental methods and has implemented state-of-the-art technologies to study these complexes within several collaborative projects related to a.o. cancer, inflammation, and antiviral research.

We look for a candidate with an analytic background that will be at the interface between the Degroeve and the Eyckerman team. You will follow, apply and further optimize state-of-the-art predictive AI research and build bioinformatics tools to analyze specific datasets and tasks generated by the Eyckerman lab. The main focus will be on the computational identification and validation of experimentally observed protein-protein interactions, how these protein complexes change through the intracellular space and time (protein complex dynamics) as well as how they vary between different cell types.

Profile

• A Master's degree in mathematics, computer sciences, biomedical engineering, computer science engineering, or a Master's degree in bioinformatics, biomedical sciences, bioscience engineering, (bio)chemistry, (molecular) biology, or biotechnology with a keen interest in machine learning, deep learning, or related disciplines.
• Solid programming experience is required (preferably Python)
• Experience with machine-learning/statistical analysis is required
• Experience with machine learning packages such as PyTorch or Tensorflow is a plus
• Bio-informatics experience is a plus
• You are eligible to apply for a grant with our local science foundation (https://www.fwo.be/en/fellowsh... or https://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/phd-fellowships/phd-fellowship-strategic-basic-research/)   
• Enthusiastic, curiosity-driven scientist
• Team player with the ability to take initiative and solve problems
• Highly motivated to understand work on the interface between computer science, biology, and structural biology and willing to learn from wet-lab experiments and from other fields
• Critical, scientific mindset, keen interest in the recent discoveries in biomedical sciences
• Good oral and written communication skills in English

We offer

• A starting contract for one year with a competitive salary to prepare for grant application and defense and to explore alternative funding opportunities.   
• A working environment with enthusiastic fellow Ph.D. students, technicians, and postdocs.
• An environment where your bio-informatics findings can be tested in practice.
• Access to state-of-the-art tools and infrastructure that are needed to fulfill your Ph.D. project.
• A stimulating and supportive international research environment.
• Institutional training opportunities to broaden your expertise and skills.

Interested?

For more information, please contact Sven Degroeve (sven.degroeve@vib-ugent.be) or Sven Eyckerman (sven.eyckerman@vib-ugent.be).

Please apply online and upload your resume and motivation letter:https://jobs.vib.be/apply/4422...

Interested candidates are invited to apply as soon as possible. Applications will be welcome until the position is filled.

Apply

2 PhD student positions @ ​Unit of Molecular Signal Transduction in Inflammation (UMSTI)​

 

The UMSTI headed by Prof. Rudi Beyaert has a job opening for 2 Ph.D. student positions to interrogate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-relevant functions of GWAS-identified candidate genes.

Research context + job description

The UMSTI (https://www.irc.ugent.be/rbe) studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms that control inflammation and immunity. In the frame of the EOS (Excellence of Science) funding programme we have recently initiated the BRIDGE project (Taking IBD Genes from GWAS to Function to Drug Target). BRIDGE brings together scientists from 4 different Belgian universities and 1 US lab with complementary expertise in genomics, immunology, cell biology, and clinical gastroenterology to jointly develop a pipeline to systematically interrogate IBD-relevant functions of GWAS-identified candidate genes relevant to disease activation and recurrence.

The successful candidate will focus on the functional characterization of selected IBD candidate genes in enteroendocrine cells, Paneth cells, and/or T cells, using human primary cells and cell lines, gut organoids, and mouse models. You will work together with a postdoctoral researcher who is also recruited for this project.

What do we offer?

• fully funded 4 years Ph.D. fellowship; flexible starting date
• a very supporting international research team sharing a passion for science
• access to cutting-edge infrastructure and core facilities
• become part of a multidisciplinary network of top-notch laboratories focusing on IBD
• personal career assistance and a seat waiting in high-level training courses
• a vibrant UGent (https://www.ugent.be/en/ghentuniv) and VIB (https://vib.be/ten-good-reasons-work-vib) international research environment located in Ghent, Europe’s best-kept secret

Requirements

• master degree in immunology, biotechnology, biochemistry, or equivalent
• a strong passion for science and curiosity-driven research
• ability to work independently and in a team
• good writing and communication skills in English
• hands-on experience (i.e. practical courses, internships) with cell culture, flow cytometry, cloning, CRISPR, mouse handling, … are advantageous but not mandatory

Application procedure

Complete the online application procedure and include (1) a detailed CV, (2) a letter describing your past research activities and fascination for the topic and Beyaert lab, (3) contact details of 2 referees. 

The vacancy will stay open until a suitable candidate has been found. 

Applications by email will not be considered.

Apply

Postdoc position in the molecular studies of bacterial functional amyloids

 

A fully funded Postdoc position is available in the lab Structural & Molecular Microbiology at VIB – Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, to work on an FWO project studying the nucleation, cross-reactivity, and structure of bacterial functional amyloids (FA).

Amyloids are aggregative protein or peptide fibrils best known for their implication in a range of neurodegenerative illnesses. The self-assembly into cross-ß-structured fibrils is however not restricted to the off-pathway protein misfolding events, but also found as the native conformation of a wide range of  pro- and eukaryotic proteins referred to as FA. FAs produced by prokaryotes are often related to the persistence and virulence of bacterial biofilms. Despite their importance, little is known regarding the FA ultrastructure and their mechanism of formation. 

In this project we seek to determine the fiber structures and nucleation mechanisms of 3 selected FAs that contribute to the virulence of well-known human pathogens. Because there is an increasing awareness that bacterial FAs can trigger the co-aggregation of pathologic amyloids, we will also study the cross-reactivity between our FA targets and two human disease amyloid model systems. 

We aim to deepen the understanding of how bacteria handle these potentially cytotoxic proteins, inspire novel antibacterial strategies by targeting FA virulence factors and expose additional health risk factors associated with FA triggered amyloidosis of host proteins. 

The tasks will be production and purification of the amyloid proteins, biophysical characterization of their amyloidogenicity, determining cross-reactivity with pathological amyloids, and determining the fibril structures using cryo electron microscopy.

Profile

Candidates should hold a PhD in Sciences (eg. Biochemistry, Chemistry, Physics or Biophysics) or Bio-engineering sciences. Candidates should have a strong background in recombinant expression and purification of proteins, and have a keen interest in molecular assembly and structural biology.

We’re located at the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology – VIB (http://www.vib.be) and Free University Brussels (VUB), on a green and lively campus in the center of Brussels, Belgium.

How to apply?

Motivated candidates are asked to apply online. Enquiries should be addressed to mike.sleutel@vub.be. 

Starting date: August/September

apply

PhD position available in membrane protein structural biology

 

Ph.D. position is available in the newly established Brunner lab at VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology in Brussels, Belgium to work on the structure and function of membrane proteins.

We offer

VIB is an excellence-based entrepreneurial institute that focuses on translating basic scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications. VIB Center for Structural Biology Brussels is associated to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and houses research groups with strong expertise in protein biochemistry, biophysics, nanobody technology, X-ray crystallography, NMR and electron microscopy.

Our group is interested in the structure and function of mammalian lipid transporters and in the membrane biology of the cell. In another line of research, we study the biophysics of ion channels of the endomembrane system and their role in neurodegenerative or neurological diseases such as Parkinson Disease. To advance our understanding in these fields we combine functional characterization (liposomal and cellular assays, fluorescence microscopy, electrophysiology) with a structural description of the involved proteins using cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography. Further details on available topics will be discussed during the interviews.

You will have access to state-of-the-art research facilities such as the VIB-VUB facility for Bio Electron Cryogenic Microscopy equipped with a 300 kV JEOL cryoARM300 electron microscope and K3 detector as well as the VIB Nanobody Core.

Ph.D. students will have access to extensive scientific and transferable skills training programs available through our affiliated institutes.

Start of the Ph.D. student position can be negotiated, but an immediate start would be preferred.

Ph.D. students are further encouraged to apply for an FWO-fellowship to acquire their own funding (call deadline March 2022). Candidates will be fully assisted with the funding application.

Profile

You are an enthusiastic, highly motivated and curiosity-driven personality with a strong background in biochemistry/biology/biotechnology and interest in membrane proteins and organelle biology. Independent and critical thinking and good organizational skills are a prerequisite. You hold a university degree in biochemistry/biology or in a related discipline. Hands-on experience with either protein purification, cryo-EM or mammalian cell culture is required.

How to apply?

Motivated candidates are asked to apply online. Enquiries should be addressed to janine.brunner@vub.be.

Apply

Postdoc – Protein aggregation in neurodegeneration

 

Postdoc – Protein aggregation in neurodegeneration
At VIB Switch Laboratory, KU Leuven & VIB Rademakers Laboratory, UAntwerp

About the laboratories

This unique postdoctoral opportunity aims to bridge two leading VIB laboratories with unique expertise:

• The SWITCH Laboratory is one of the leading laboratories in human disease-related protein aggregation. It is an interdisciplinary workplace, bringing together about twenty researchers from different backgrounds, such as bioinformatics, biophysics and cell biology. SWITCH has a unique platform of technologies for studying protein aggregation, including biophysical, ultrastructural and cell biological instrumentations. 

• The Rademakers Laboratory is a leader in the genetic and molecular studies of the specific proteinopathy, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), with a rich network of collaborations in clinical and basic neuroscience and access to unique patient samples and data.

For a primer on who we are, what we do and our latest work, see http://www.switchlab.org/ & https://rademakerslab.sites.vib.be/en

Your Job

This unique postdoctoral opportunity aims to leverage the expertise of both laboratories to study the physical properties of the major FTLD risk factors and their role in protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases.

In the first year, at the SWTICH laboratory, you will investigate the protein structure and aggregation of the proteins. You will use computational modelling techniques as well as experimental approaches, using purified proteins, cell-free translation assays and omics methods in cells. In the second year, at the Rademakers Laboratory, you will transfer and apply newly generated knowledge acquired in the SWITCH laboratory to the study of protein aggregation in human brain tissue and biofluids and investigate its potential as a disease biomarker.

Profile

• Ph.D. in a topic related to protein aggregation
• Strong interest in protein aggregation and its role in disease.
• A solid publication record with first-author research publication(s) in peer-reviewed international journals
• Expertise in biophysical or biochemical methods to study protein aggregation 
  and/or
• Expertise in working with cellular aggregation assays
  and/or
• Expertise in performing aggregation assays with patient-derived materials
• Highly motivated, enthusiastic, critical and creative
• The ability to work in a multidisciplinary team is a must

We offer

• A versatile and challenging job across two top research laboratories
• A vibrant, world-class research environment operating at an international level
• Access to the resources of VIB and the host institutions KU Leuven and UAntwerp:
  • VIB, an excellence-based research institute
  • KU Leuven, one of Europe’s leading research universities
  • The University of Antwerp, a research university in the biggest city of Flanders where pioneering, innovative research is conducted at an international level.
• State of the art research facilities in both Leuven and Antwerp
• A dedicated training program to broaden your expertise and enhance your skillset
• A competitive compensation package based on expertise and experience
• Financial support for at least 1 year, with the potential to be extended upon positive review. The successful candidate is encouraged to obtain a personal fellowship (Marie-Curie, HFSP, EMBO, or national funding organizations)

Starting Date: as soon as possible

How to apply?

For more information contact hannah.wilkinson@kuleuven.vib.be or sofie.meulenbergs@uantwerpen.vib.be. Please complete the online application procedure and include a detailed CV including a list of publications, a motivation letter, and the contact information of three referees.

Apply

Personal Assistant at the VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology

 

Prof. Rosa Rademakers, scientific director at the VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology, Belgium is seeking a highly motivated personal assistant.

The VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology has 6 PIs and hosts internationally recognized leaders in the field of Neurogenetics and Neuroinflammation.  Current research groups address a broad set of questions related to neurodegenerative diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system, with an emphasis on understanding the genetic etiology and developing diagnostics and treatment methods for these diseases. Approaches range from human genetics and genomics to protein biochemistry and neuronal and glial cell biology, while models include yeast, fly, mouse, and pluripotent human cell systems. Research groups have access to state-of-the-art research and top-notch support core facilities and attract talented international scientists from across the world. 

The VIB-UAntwerp Center is part of VIB, a Life Sciences institute with colleague-researchers in cancer, biotechnology, structural biology, immunology amongst others and an extensive set of core facilities and opportunities for technology transfer. We are also embedded within the University of Antwerp.

Job Description

You will be the administrative right hand of the scientific director.  Therefore, you will be responsible for:

• Maintain, manage and coordinate the diary, arrange appointments and meetings
• Maintain and manage the email account and ensure follow up of requests
• Prepare and send correspondence
• Manage and coordinate projects and tasks delegated by the director
• Coordination and organization of travels
• Provide secretarial and administrative support to the Leadership Team
• Assist in the organization and coordination of events
• You are part of the administrative team and backup for the reception desk

Your profile

We seek a dynamic individual with excellent organizational and communication skills.

• We are looking for an enthusiastic Bachelor with a clear administrative focus
• You have 2-4 years of experience in a similar position                      
• You have a positive and energetic personality
• You are flexible and have a strong sense of responsibility
• You can handle stressful situations with deadlines
• Broad knowledge of the complete Office package
• Since we work in an international environment you need to be fluent in reading, writing and speaking English and Dutch                                                                     
• You are well-organized, structured and discrete
• Team player and eager to learn
• A science background is not required but is considered a plus

We offer

Full-time (100%) or part-time (80%) position with an open-ended contract

• Competitive salary and benefits
• A central position in a fast-growing, dynamic research center
• A stimulating and international environment
• Starting date: as soon as possible

Join us → how to apply?

Submit your application through the VIB online application tool and be sure to include:

• a detailed CV
• a letter of motivation explaining why you are interested in our work and aspire the position of personal assistant

For more information please contact rosa.rademakers@uantwerpen.vib.be

For more information about our research center https://uantwerpen.vib.be/

Apply

PhD vacancy in deterministic low-latency wireless communication

 

imec is the world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The combination of our widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise is what makes us unique. By leveraging our world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of partners across a multitude of industries, we create groundbreaking innovation in application domains such as healthcare, smart cities and mobility, logistics and manufacturing, and energy.
As a trusted partner for companies, start-ups and universities we bring together close to 3,500 brilliant minds from over 70 nationalities. Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium and also has distributed R&D groups at a number of Flemish universities, in the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China, and offices in India and Japan. All of these particular traits make imec to be a top-class employer.

Ghent University – imec IDLab Research group
The Internet & Data Lab (IDLab - https://idlab.technology) is an imec research group at Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. IDLab focuses its research on internet technologies and data science. IDLab is a joint research initiative between Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. Bringing together more than 300 internet experts, we develop technologies outperforming current solutions for communication subsystems, high speed and low power networking, distributed computing and multimedia processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence and web semantics. IDLab has a unique research infrastructure used in numerous national and international collaborations.
IDLab collaborates with many universities and research centers worldwide and jointly develops advanced technologies with industry (R&D centers from international companies, Flanders’ top innovating large companies and SME’s, as well as numerous ambitious startups).
The IDLab wireless team consists of 30 researchers and has gained profound scientific expertise and knowledge on wireless networking with a prime focus on end-to-end solutions covering all layers in the end-to-end protocol stack and across heterogeneous wired/wireless networks. For further development of the IDLab wireless research team in Ghent, we are looking for a PhD candidate in the domain of deterministic low-latency wireless communication.

Context
Time-Sensitive Networking can meet the demanding requirements of applications in industry automation, audio/video communication, mission-critical communication and other professional environments. But so far, its usage is restricted to wired networks only. 5G Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication strives to fill in this gap, but also Wi-Fi is an interesting candidate. In IDLab, we work on extending Wi-Fi with time-sensitve networking features, where we have already demonstrated microseconds time-synchronisation accuracy and milliseconds end-to-end latency. We design new strategies to perform real-time and fine-grained verification of the end-to-end network performance and create tighter interactions between the applications and the network. For this, we build on top of openwifi, the world’s first open-source Wi-Fi implementation that has been developed within the team.
As a PhD researcher, you will join the deterministic low-latency wireless communication team and participate in a variety of research projects on this topic. This ranges from the design of reliable and latency-bounded communication for real-time audio streaming applications in private professional environments to high-speed low-latency communication in mmWave Wi-Fi mesh networks.

The job

• Under the supervision of prof. Jeroen Hoebeke and prof. Ingrid Moerman, you will conduct high-quality research on deterministic low-latency wireless communication.
• You will validate your research by setting up prototyping environments in lab/field and considering concrete industrial use cases.
• You will write technical reports on the developed solutions, implementation, and experiments and publish findings both at international conferences and in scientific journals.
• You tightly collaborate with IDLab colleagues working on Software Defined Radio solutions for time-sensitive communication (IDLab’s openwifi platform - https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi).
• You will participate in the framework of national and European research projects, and collaborate on a technical level with research partners from industry and academia
• You will assist in limited educational tasks of the research group (at most 5% of your responsibilities).

Job profile

Offer

• Become part of a dynamic, multicultural team working on exciting new technologies
• Contract with duration of 1 year, automatically extended with 3 years upon positive evaluation
• Minimum net salary of 2100 EUR per month (no prior working experience)

Job requirements

• You have (or will receive within a few months) a Masters of Science degree, preferably from a European university, in Electronics Engineering, Communications Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent.
• You are interested to do research in an academic environment for a 4 years period in view of a PhD degree
• You have a solid knowledge of communication protocol stacks and networks in general, and wireless communication networks in particular.
• You have experience in writing software and prototyping. Knowledge of C, C++ and Linux is a must. In-depth knowledge on building (wireless) communication stacks is an extra asset.
• You are well-organized and able to autonomously plan and execute tasks.
• You have strong analytical skills to interpret the obtained research results.
• You are a team player and have strong communication skills.
• Your English is fluent, both speaking and writing.
  
  

How to apply

How to apply

• Please apply via: https://jobs.idlab.uantwerpen.be/o/phd-vacancy-in-deterministic-lowlatency-wireless-communication/c/new . Applications sent to us via email will not be considered.
• More information about the PhD topic: jeroen.hoebeke@ugent.be

PhD vacancy in design of next-generation WiFi chip

 

imec is the world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The combination of our widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise is what makes us unique. By leveraging our world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of partners across a multitude of industries, we create groundbreaking innovation in application domains such as healthcare, smart cities and mobility, logistics and manufacturing, and energy.
As a trusted partner for companies, start-ups and universities we bring together close to 3,500 brilliant minds from over 70 nationalities. Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium and also has distributed R&D groups at a number of Flemish universities, in the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China, and offices in India and Japan. All of these particular traits make imec to be a top-class employer.

Ghent University – imec IDLab Research group
The Internet & Data Lab (IDLab) is an imec research group at Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. IDLab focuses its research on internet technologies and data science. IDLab is a joint research initiative between Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. Bringing together more than 300 internet experts, we develop technologies outperforming current solutions for communication subsystems, high speed and low power networking, distributed computing and multimedia processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence and web semantics. IDLab has a unique research infrastructure used in numerous national and international collaborations.
IDLab collaborates with many universities and research centers worldwide and jointly develops advanced technologies with industry (R&D centers from international companies, Flanders’ top innovating large companies and SMEs, as well as numerous ambitious startups).
The IDLab wireless team at Ghent University consists of more than 30 researchers and has gained profound scientific expertise and knowledge on wireless networking with a prime focus on end-to-end connectivity solutions covering all layers in the end-to-end protocol stack. For further development of the IDLab wireless research team in Ghent, we are looking for a PhD candidate in the domain of advanced WiFi-based wireless systems

Context
Digital communication plays a pivotal role in professional environments, supporting both persons, machines and things to interact with each other over a communication network. In professional environments, such as industry automation (industry 4.0), communication becomes increasingly diverse, more reliable, time-critical and subject to change over time. For purposes such as mobility, flexibility or cost, wireless connectivity – in various forms, from sensor networks to high capacity networks - has become an integral part of professional networking environments.
Extrapolating these trends of how professional applications will evolve over the next 10 years, we want to advance wireless communications to the next level on these aspects: end-to-end latency, time synchronization accuracy among distributed applications across diverse network segments, reliability/QoS for high-priority and safety-critical traffic.
Today, we are far from achieving that vision, as most research is limited to theoretical or simulation studies, ignoring real-world impairments which is hindering uptake of wireless innovations in real-world application scenarios. Some examples of impairments are: non-ideal RF hardware, complex and dynamic wireless channels, limited digital processing capabilities in terms of clock-speed and footprint), quantisation errors due to conversion from floating to fixed point, etc.
Going from theory and simulation to experimentation is a huge step. Two options, software defined radio or commercial radio chips, both have their limitations. Software defined radio with PHY functionality implemented in software and controlled by a host PC, do not allow real-time operation needed to support real-world low-latency uses cases that require fast response times. Commercial radio chips are blackboxes with closed firmware and drivers and restrict innovation and experimentation to the higher-layer networking functionality above firmware and driver. Therefore, significant research efforts are required to open up and advance chip design by tackling many challenges:
• High-efficient design of advanced features in upcoming WiFi standards (OFDMA, MIMO, TWT...) optimising power performance and footprint
• Accurate sub us-level time and RF carrier synchronisation
• Software-hardware co-design achieving true real-time operation for time-critical applications serving a massive number of users/machines with diverse/guaranteed QoS, targeting end-to-end KPIs (between end-to-end applications);
• Small scale end-to-end proof-of-concept validation in the field
• Cost and energy efficient solutions allowing large-scale deployment.
This PhD vacancy targets to address these challenges, delivering solutions of the advanced WiFi chip for professional end-to-end communication networks that stand out in fulfilling, guaranteeing the challenging requirements of ultra-reliable and time-and-safety-critical applications running on top.

Job profile

Job requirements

• You have (or will receive within a few months) a Masters degree from a university, preferably in Electronics Engineering, Communications Engineering, Computer Science, Microelectronics, or equivalent.
• You are interested to do research and hands on development in the field of WiFi chip design for a 4 years period in view of a PhD degree.
• You have a keen interest in developing novel signal processing algorithms, wireless communication protocols in general, and wireless communication physical layer, MAC layer in FPGA/chip in particular.
• You have experience with FPGA design and prototyping. Hands-on experience with Verilog/VHDL or other HDL implementation of signal processing and/or low level MAC is a must. In-depth knowledge on RF (Radio Frequency), antenna, and communication standards (WiFi/LTE/5G/etc.) is an extra asset.
• Having published in high-ranking conferences and journals in the field is an advantage.
• You are well-organized and able to autonomously plan and execute tasks.
• You have strong analytical skills to interpret the obtained research results.
• You are a team player and have strong communication skills.
• Your English is fluent, both in speaking and writing.

The job

• Under the supervision of prof. Ingrid Moerman, you prepare a PhD dissertation on implementation of advanced WiFi chips for professional applications: end-to-end oriented efficient software-hardware co-design towards reliable and low-latency solutions in professional environments.
• You publish and present results both at international conferences and in scientific journals.
• You will combine theoretical design with experimental proof-of-concept validation by setting up prototyping environments in our test lab considering concrete professional use cases (industry 4.0, mission-critical applications, etc.)
• You become a member of the Software Defined Radio team doing research based on IDLab’s openwifi platform (https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi)
• You will participate in the framework of national and European research projects, and collaborate on a technical level with research partners from industry
• You will assist in limited educational tasks of the research group
  
  

Our offer

• We offer a full-time position as a Ph.D. scholarship recipient, consisting of an initial period of 12 months, which –upon positive evaluation– will be extended to a maximum of 4 years
• We offer a dynamic and international work environment with a competitive salary and ample training and self-development opportunities.
• The PhD position is available starting 2022
  
  

How to apply

Interested?
For further information, please contact Ingrid Moerman - ingrid.moerman@ugent.be

How to Apply?

Please apply via: https://jobs.idlab.uantwerpen.be/o/phd-vacancy-in-design-of-nextgeneration-wifi-chip/c/new
. Your application should include the following documents:

• Motivation letter
• CV, including diploma and transcript of records (bachelor and master) and contact information of 3 reference persons.

Phd in linked data and personal data vaults as enablers for a new digital platform ecosystems - analysis from a techno-economic perspective

 

imec is a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The combination of our widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise is what makes us unique. By leveraging our world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of partners across a multitude of industries, we create groundbreaking innovation in application domains such as healthcare, smart cities and mobility, logistics and manufacturing, and energy.
As a trusted partner for companies, start-ups and universities we bring together close to 4000 brilliant minds from over 97 nationalities. Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium and also has distributed R&D groups at a number of Flemish universities, in the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China, and offices in India and Japan. All of these particular traits make imec to be a top-class employer.
Ghent University – imec IDLab Research group
The Internet Technology & Data Science Lab (IDLab) is an imec research group at Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. IDLab focuses its research on internet technologies and data science. Bringing together more than 300 internet experts, we develop technologies outperforming current solutions for communication subsystems, high speed and low power networking, distributed computing and multimedia processing, machine learning, artificial intelligence and web semantics. IDLab has a unique research infrastructure used in numerous national and international collaborations.
IDLab collaborates with many universities and research centers worldwide and jointly develops advanced technologies with industry (R&D centers from international companies, Flanders’ top innovating large companies and SMEs, as well as numerous ambitious start-ups).
The IDLab techno-economics team where this vacancy is offered http://technoeconomics.idlab.ugent.be/ consists of engineers and economists who are supporting decision makers by translating technological innovation into business opportunities and challenges in different application domains like smart cities, smart mobility and smart energy. The group is supporting companies and policy makers in their decisions by combining insights in technical possibilities with the expected economic costs and benefits.
The evolving ICT domain
Digital platforms are constantly gaining importance. Collecting multi-modal mobility data on a cloud-based platform, for example, can enable a multitude of traffic management solutions. Public as well as private actors can offer solutions that improve the city mobility, create an added value for the citizens and stimulate the local economy. Or consider a platform that allows optimal use of energy in a specific residential area by matching the demand curve of residents, retailers and electric cars to each other and to the (renewable) energy generation. Several governmental services get automated via digital platforms as well. In nearly all of these digital platform services, access to personal user data is important.
Thanks to the use of technological innovations that enable the implementation of a personal data vault for every citizen or entity (a so-called data pod), novel data ecosystems can be defined. Think of a data pod as a virtual drive to which you as an individual or organization hold the keys. Your data pod can then store and safeguard every single piece of data that you produce as well as every single piece of data that other companies and organizations produce about you.
Personal data is only one aspect of digital platform ecosystems, for example, the Flemish government is allocating resources to the construction of a Flemish Dataspace. The dataspace includes data from various business and public domains. The main objective is interoperability within and over different domains through the use of open standards for linking organizations. Examples are standards for cultural heritage or real estate.
In order to evaluate the feasibility of digital platform ecosystems in general and the market potential of personal data vault based ecosystems in particular, some interdisciplinary research questions remain to be answered. A first research objective is to understand the relationship between technical requirements and the value creating potential in a digital ecosystem based on linked open data or personal data vaults, in order to ensure that further technical developments go in the direction that indeed leads to market potential for this technology. Next, we want to understand how to engage all relevant stakeholders like application and service providers in this ecosystem. A second research objective is therefore to understand how openness and interoperability of data within this Flemish Dataspace can support innovation and value creation for specific domains and use cases.
In order to face the different research challenges in this interdiscplinary domain, we are looking for a researcher who is able to combine technical and economic insights.

Job description
The job

• Under the supervision of a professor and a postdoc researcher in the team, you will prepare a PhD dissertation over a duration of about 4 years.
• You perform cutting-edge research in the domain of techno-economic evaluation of digital platforms.
• You publish and present results both at international conferences and in scientific journals.
• You validate your research by considering concrete use cases and discussing with public and private actors in the field.
• You tightly collaborate with IDLab colleagues within the techno-economics teams, as well as in other teams where appropriate.
• You will be involved in different research projects related to your PhD topic, in the framework of national and European funded research cooperations, and collaborate with research partners from industry.
• You will assist the research group with limited educational tasks.

Job profile

Job requirements

• Holder of a Master degree in Computer Science Engineering, Electrical Engineering, IEOR or Commercial Engineering.
• Strong interest in economic evaluation of technological projects.
• Strong analytical skills for designing and implementing abstract models.
• Experience with object-oriented programming and web-based development is a plus.
• You work independently, have a strong feeling of responsibility and are able to commit to timing and milestones set forward by different research projects.
• You are a team player and have strong communication skills.
• A good knowledge of English (oral and written) is a must. Any knowledge of Dutch (oral) is a plus.
  
  

Our offer
We offer a challenging, stimulating, young and pleasant research environment where you can contribute to solving real-life problems for technological innovations with a clear societal as well as economic value. The work is done in close collaboration with ICT and telecom industry players in Flanders and Europe. The UGent doctoral school program offers possibilities for following a range of courses or trainings of your interest. We foresee a competitive remuneration and the possibility to obtain a PhD degree in Engineering.

How to apply

How to apply?
This PhD position is available immediately and is open until the vacancy is filled. The position is not open for post-docs.
Apply asap by sending an email to prof. Sofie Verbrugge. Your application should include

• your resume (curriculum vitae)
• motivation letter (indicating both your technical and economic background/interest as well as any specific research skills)
• a copy of your diploma and diploma supplement (with overview of all courses followed)

More information
Sofie Verbrugge – sofie.verbrugge@ugent.be