PhD Opportunities in Microbiology in Belgium

Two PhD positions are open in biostatistics within the Eclosion Lab , focused on citizen-science biodiversity data . One project is at KU Leuven in Belgium and concerns biodiversity monitoring with citizen-science data (L-BioStat). The other is at Hasselt University in Belgium and focuses on ecological statistics for citizen-science data (CenStat). The research is supervised by Thomas Neyens and Maxime Fajgenblat . The advertised methodological focus is on Bayesian occupancy models and hierarchi...

KU Leuven is offering a PhD position in rhizosphere biogeochemistry within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Soil and Water Management Division, in the SPIRAL lab. The project focuses on how soil formation , root exudation , and free-living nitrogen fixers interact in the rhizosphere. A key research question is how plant-released carbohydrates and carboxylates influence microbial nitrogen fixation and the mobilization of molybdenum (Mo) , an essential cofactor for nitrogenase. ...

Ghent University is advertising a PhD / doctoral fellow position in forest ecology , remote sensing , terrestrial laser scanning , and microclimate buffering . The project is hosted by Q-ForestLab in the Department of Environment and focuses on linking high-temporal-resolution 3D forest structure with microclimate time series in tropical and temperate forest ecosystems. The research will examine how disturbances and forest dynamics shape forest structure over time, and how those structural chang...

Ghent University is advertising a PhD / doctoral fellow position in the Department of Environment within Q-ForestLab for the ERC project SPACETWIN : digital twins for understanding forest disturbances and recovery from space. The project sits at the intersection of Environmental Science , Earth Science , Biology , Computer Science , and Physics . It focuses on forest ecology, remote sensing, satellite data analysis, radiative transfer modelling, 3D forest reconstruction, and terrestrial laser sc...

Ghent University is recruiting a PhD candidate in coastal engineering, river hydrodynamics, estuarine hydrodynamics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) , and nature-based solutions for riverbank protection and habitat restoration. The position is part of the four-year RECRAFT project, which aims to develop innovative wave-attenuating structures, engineered riverbank profiles, reused dredged sediments, and vegetation-based protection to reduce hydrodynamic forces while supporting ecosystem recove...

Ghent University is recruiting for the ERC Starting Grant project LuMoCX , an interdisciplinary programme on the production of metals, oxygen, and construction materials from lunar regolith using solar energy. The project combines materials science , chemical engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , computational fluid dynamics , molecular dynamics , and experimental work on molten oxides and slag systems . There are openings for multiple PhD candidates and one postdoctoral researcher . ...

Hasselt University’s Brain, Exercise and Muscle Research Group is seeking outstanding PhD candidate(s) for an FWO PhD Fellowship application (Fundamental Research) for 2027. The project sits at the intersection of muscle physiology , resistance training , exercise physiology , and healthy ageing , with a particular focus on older adults. The research aims to study dose–response relationships in resistance training and their effects on muscle force–velocity characteristics, combining ex vivo asse...

KU Leuven is advertising a PhD position in insect behavior , precision agriculture , and black soldier fly larvae research. The project focuses on how larvae respond behaviorally to different breeding and environmental conditions, and how these responses relate to growth, survival, physiology, and production performance. The doctoral project is part of EntoBOOST , a multidisciplinary collaboration involving KU Leuven, Ghent University, the University of Antwerp, the Università degli Studi dell'I...

VIB’s Laboratory of Causal Systems Immunology is recruiting a PhD student or postdoctoral researcher for an in vivo CRISPR screening project focused on immune-cell states , single-cell perturbation technologies , and systems immunology . The work sits at the intersection of experimental biology , computational biology , bioinformatics , and causal inference / probabilistic AI , with opportunities to work on either the dry-lab side, wet-lab side, or a hybrid profile. The lab is embedded in the VI...