PhD position on Design of AR/VR-supported digital working instructions for reuse, repair, remanufacturing and recycling KU Leuven in Belgium

KU Leuven is advertising a funded PhD position in the Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) research group of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Leuven, Belgium. The project sits at the intersection of sustainable product and process design, ecodesign, artificial intelligence, and AR/VR-enabled digital working instructions. It is embedded in an international Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network focused on ecodesign and circular economy innovation.

The research addresses a timely challenge in circular manufacturing: how to structure Digital Product Passport (DPP) data so that it can support reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and recycling workflows. Current product information systems often contain fragmented and inconsistent instructions, making it difficult to adapt guidance to different users and contexts. This PhD will investigate data structures, guidelines, and frameworks that enable automatic or semi-automatic generation of digital working instructions, including real-time guidance via augmented and virtual reality interfaces.

A central aim is to identify which product, process, and lifecycle data should be embedded in DPPs to enable machine-interpretable, dynamic instructions. The project also explores how multimodal large language models and other AI techniques can help generate and adapt working instructions from DPP data. In doing so, it will assess what information still needs to be standardized and stored in DPPs even when AI-assisted instruction generation is available. The expected result is a scalable framework for DPP-driven, AI-enabled, AR/VR-supported circular workflows, together with practical recommendations for industrial deployment.

The work will be validated through industrial case studies with European manufacturing and remanufacturing partners. The PhD includes two mandatory international secondments of two to three months each, providing direct exposure to industrial practice and advanced manufacturing environments. Validation will also make use of projection-based AR digital work instruction systems and human-robot cooperative laboratory setups at Flanders Make @ KU Leuven in Heverlee, Belgium.

Applicants should have a Master’s degree in software engineering, ICT, computer science, game development, or a closely related field, with strong academic performance. Useful skills include programming, information modeling, AR/VR application development, AI-assisted content generation, and human-computer interaction in industrial settings. English proficiency is required; Dutch is helpful but not mandatory. Candidates should be motivated by ecodesign, circular economy strategies, and multidisciplinary research, and must comply with the MSCA mobility rule limiting prior residence or main activity in Belgium.

The position is fully funded and includes a competitive salary, doctoral training, international secondments, and access to advanced human-robot collaboration laboratories with AR/VR systems. The deadline for applications is 2026-09-01.