PhD in social identity, biomechanics, and urban infrastructure performance in the RUN2GETHER project KU Leuven in United Kingdom

KU Leuven is offering a PhD position within the interdisciplinary RUN2GETHER project, a collaborative research initiative exploring how running groups and events can act as living laboratories for studying human movement, social identity, technology, and urban infrastructure. The project brings together biomechanics, social and sport psychology, structural engineering, machine learning, computer vision, wearable sensors, and citizen science to examine how collective running influences movement synchrony, physical load, and the interaction between runners and the built environment.

This specific PhD will focus on identifying social identity processes that influence synchrony and individual biomechanical load during group running. It will also investigate how citizen science approaches can support running surface health monitoring while strengthening runners’ identification with the running community. The project is designed to generate large-scale, real-world data from running events and group runs, with the broader goal of improving health, social cohesion, and sustainable city design.

The position is based at KU Leuven in Belgium and is part of a team of three closely collaborating PhD researchers. The successful candidate will work across disciplines and engage with researchers in engineering and computer science, while also contributing to research on running behaviour and social identity in sport. The role includes scientific research, supervision of master’s thesis projects, teaching assistance depending on profile, and administrative and technical support within the Department of Movement Sciences and the faculty.

Applicants should hold a Master’s degree in Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences, Psychology, or a related field. Strong interest in social and sport psychology is expected, and knowledge of biomechanics and human movement analysis is a plus. The ideal candidate will be creative, independent, collaborative, and willing to develop a personal funding application with supervisor support. KU Leuven encourages candidates who have not yet graduated but have a strong curriculum vitae by the application deadline to apply.

The deadline for applications is 2026-08-14 23:59 (Europe/Brussels). Interested candidates should apply via the official KU Leuven job portal using the provided application link.