1 - Working at the VUB
For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for freedom, equality and solidarity, and this is very much alive on our campuses among students and staff alike.
At the VUB, you will find a diverse collection of personalities: innovators pur sang, but above all people who are 100% their authentic selves. With some 4,000 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer, in the private sector, in Brussels; an international city with which we are only too happy to connect and where (around) our 4 campuses are located.
Add to this our principle of free research - in which self-reflection, a critical attitude and an open, creative mind around scientific and social issues are central - and you have a university that is fundamentally groundbreaking and pioneering in education and research. In short: the VUB all over again.
Moreover, the VUB is a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of like-minded European universities, all ready to reinvent themselves.
2 - Position description
The Faculty of Engineering, Department Toegepaste natuurkunde en fotonica, Research Group Applied Physics is looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant.
More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains:
Description:
Within the context of the Belgian funded FWO project “Integrated photonic Ising machines” there is currently an open position at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) for a PhD student in the field of Neuromorphic Photonics and Ising machines. We explicitly encourage researchers with a background in Physics, Electronics or Photonics to apply.
You will get the opportunity to:
- be supervised by an expert in the field
- take charge of an exciting research project
- research in close collaboration with partners from the FWO project
- design and work with photonic integrated circuits to implement Ising machines
- participate in innovative training modules, including a series of hands-on workshops that provide technical, transferable and presentation skills, international conferences, and outreach activities.
Description of research field:
Two Belgium teams at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Ghent University (UGENT) have united their expertise to develop a new type of optical computing devices that can solve hard combinatorial problems. Such combinatorial problems are commonplace in our society, for instance in logistics, finance or pharmaceutical research. However, for many real-world applications, finding a solution requires high-performance computer clusters that consume large amounts of energy and run for a long time. Our project aims to create a radically new platform of analogue hardware accelerators, so-called Ising machines, that efficiently speed up these computationally difficult tasks in a way unlike any current digital computer.
These Ising machines are a newly emerging computational concept and have shown great promise. They are based on the idea that the lowest energy state of a well-constructed dynamical system will encode the solution to the combinatorial problem. However, their implementation is highly challenging due to limited bandwidth, scalability and stability issues. A breakthrough is needed to make them practical for real-world applications. Photonics presents an ideal way to achieve this breakthrough due to its inherent parallelism and high speed. We aim to create accelerators for a broad set of problems, that are faster and more energy efficient than digital computer and previous experimental implementations. This work is both experimental, numerical and theoretical in nature.
You will be selected by the Applied Physics research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, but you will work in close collaboration between the two groups. You will carry out the PhD in “cotutelle”, i.e. he/she will be jointly supervised by two of the groups, will have to carry out part of their research at (at least) two institutions, and will receive a diploma from two institutions. This will ensure efficient flow of ideas, and put the researchers in contact with all aspects of the project. Researchers will be encouraged to work on several aspects of the present project (for instance a specific experimental implementation and the underlying theory thereof).
For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.
3 - Profile
What do we expect from you?
- Master in Physics or Engineering Sciences
- Experience with the implementation and modelling of optical systems both integrated and free-space is a plus
- You have not performed any works in the execution of a mandate as an assistant, paid from operating resources, over a total (cumulated) period of more than 12 months.
The VUB wants to be a reflection of the society where everyone's talent is valued, regardless of gender, age, religion, skin color, migration background, disability and neurodiversity.
4 - Offer
Are you going to be our new colleague?
You’ll be offered a full-time PhD-scholarship, for 12 months (extendable up to max. 48 months, on condition of the positive evaluation of the PhD activities), with planned starting date 01/10/2025.
You’ll receive a grant linked to one of the scales set by the government.
IMPORTANT: The effective result of the doctorate scholarship is subject to the condition precedent of your enrolment as a doctorate student at the university.
At the VUB, you’re guaranteed an open, involved and diverse workplace where you are offered opportunities to (further) build on your career.
As well as this, you will also enjoy various other benefits:
- Extensive homeworking options, a telework allowance of 50 euros per month OR an internet fee of 20 euros per month;
- An open and informal working environment where attention is paid to work-life balance, and exceptional holiday arrangements with 35 days of leave (based on a fulltime contract), closure between Christmas and New Year and 3 extra leave days;
- Cost-free hospitalisation insurance;
- Full reimbursement of your home-to-work commute with public transport according to VUB-policy, and/or compensation if you come by bike;
- A wide selection of meals in our campus restaurants at attractive prices;
- Excellent and affordable facilities for sport and exercise, a range of discounts via Benefits@Work (in all kinds of shops, on flights, in petrol stations, amusement parks...) and Ecocheques;
- Nursery near campus, discount on holiday camps;
- The space to form your job content and to continuously learn through our VUB learning platforms and training courses;
- And finally: great colleagues with a healthy drive.
5 - Interested?
Is this the job you’ve been dreaming of?
Then apply, at the latest on 05/08/2025, via jobs.vub.be, and upload the following documents:
- your CV;
- your motivation letter;
- your diploma (not applicable for VUB alumni).
Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Guy Van der Sande at [email protected] or on +32 (0)2 629 36 57.
Would you like to know what it’s like to work at the VUB? Go to jobs.vub.be, and find all there is to know about our campuses, benefits, strategic goals and your future colleagues.
Would you like more information about EUTOPIA? Go to eutopia-university.eu, and read more about the role of the VUB in the development of the EUTOPIA alliance.
