PhD Position on Automated Compliance Engineering KU Leuven in Belgium

KU Leuven is offering a 4-year PhD position on Automated Compliance Engineering within LIRIS, the KU Leuven Research Center on Information Systems Engineering, based in the Department of Decision Sciences and Information Management at the Faculty of Economics and Business. The project is embedded in a strong research environment with international collaboration, close ties to industry, and a long-standing reputation in management informatics and business information systems.

The PhD project addresses an increasingly important challenge: how compliance with complex and rapidly evolving regulatory frameworks can be engineered more efficiently in modern information systems. As regulations such as the AI Act and Data Act become more demanding, compliance remains largely manual, slow, and costly. This position focuses on the development and evaluation of new software engineering methods and techniques for automated compliance, including compliance checking, assessment of existing or candidate systems, and automated or autonomous self-adaptation to regulatory requirements and goals.

Research in the project will explore a range of approaches, from model-based compliance engineering and software engineering methods to AI- and LLM-driven engineering and the design of autonomous, agentic self-adaptive systems. A central part of the work is ensuring that important properties such as transparency, explainability, verifiability, demonstrability, fairness, and intervenience are supported. The solutions will be evaluated in the context of relevant regulatory frameworks and practical use cases.

The successful candidate should have a master’s degree in Business and Information Systems Engineering, Business Engineering, Business Economics, information technology, computer science, informatics, or a related field. KU Leuven is looking for a motivated, enthusiastic, independent, and creative researcher with a critical scientific mindset, strong problem-solving abilities, and a clear interest in software design and architecture for software- and information-intensive systems. Excellent English communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively in an interdisciplinary environment are essential.

The PhD candidate will be based in Leuven, Belgium, and will collaborate closely with legal researchers, governance-focused researchers, and computer science researchers within an interdisciplinary network project. The position is part of the doctoral program in Business Economics (domain: Management Informatics). Applicants should apply online and provide a transcript of grades, prior qualifications, a detailed CV including master’s degree and thesis information, and a concise personal motivation letter. The application deadline is 2026-09-05.