PhD in Bioreactor-based preservation of human heart valves

Introduction

• Are you fascinated by the potential of maintaining heart valves outside of the human body?
• Are you eager to contribute to better and sustainable healthcare at the interface of engineering and biology?
• Are you passionate about inspiring and mentoring students and working in a high-end collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment?
• Are you our next PhD candidate in bioreactor-based preservation of human heart valves?

Job Description
The Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is seeking a highly talented, ambitious and passionate PhD candidate to investigate and further develop our model of heart valve preservation. We aim to develop a way to keep heart valves alive outside of the human body using dynamic bioreactors where the valves open and close as they do in the human body. As the successful candidate, your research with us will contribute to broader efforts to culture living cardiac tissues and to study their function and their response to immune cells and immune protective technology, closely aligned with our BIOSHIELD consortium funded by the Dutch Heart Foundation. Our group’s research concentrates on developing and improving heart valve replacements in young children born with congenital heart disease. The current valve replacement options available in clinical practice cannot adapt to the growing heart of a child and can elicit immune responses that destroy and calcify implanted valves. Therefore, these young patients require multiple invasive operations throughout their lives. We investigate how to develop a living valve that can grow with the heart and is safe from immune rejection. Alongside our advances in in-situ tissue engineering of heart valves, we investigate strategies for immune shielding and culture of living human donor heart valves as an alternative approach. An essential step in moving this approach forward is to maintain and preserve heart valves outside the human body. In this project, we will focus on extended culture and preservation of donor valves, unravelling valve homeostatic maintenance, and translating this knowledge into smart culture conditions and bioreactor designs with feedback options. This presents an exciting engineering challenge: designing systems that can reproduce the complex flow conditions, pressures, and mechanical stimuli experienced by heart valves in the human body. By combining mechanical design, fluid dynamics, and biomedical engineering, we aim to develop innovative bioreactor technologies.

You will generate unprecedented experimental data as a pioneer in the field to unravel the conditions for optimal ex vivo cardiovascular tissue preservation. Your investigations will build upon our track record on bioreactor design for tissue-engineered heart valves and in-house expertise with heart perfusion models to build a system that can maintain heart valves viable outside of the human body.

To that end, your research will include a selection of techniques including: i) flow-based bioreactor development, ii) sterile vessel and tissue culture, and iii) sophisticated tissue analysis including advanced microscopy. You are expected to write a doctoral thesis and publish your research results in scientific journals. A small part of your doctoral position will involve teaching in courses as well as the supervision of students at the bachelor’s and master’s levels offered by the group. Also, an educational and professional development program will be offered to you.

You will be embedded in a highly inspiring research environment, both socially and professionally, which facilitates access to high-end research facilities, as well as fosters interdisciplinary collaborations. You will be an integral member of the Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology (STEM) group of the Department Biomedical Engineering, and specifically operate at the interface of the teams led by Assistant Professor dr Marijn Peters (Translational Engineering for Pediatric Cardiovascular Regeneration) and Professor Carlijn Bouten (Cell-Matrix Interactions for Cardiovascular Regeneration) at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at TU/e. You will also work together with the team of Julie Legrand (Mechanical Engineering) and Assistant Professor Marcel Rutten (Cardiovascular Biomechanics) to build upon their work on Soft Robotics Systems, Biomechanical models, and Vascular Bioreactors.

Your project is aligned with our BIOSHIELD consortium of the Hartstichting: BIOengineering immune Shielded Heart valve Implants: Engineering Living Donor tissue by translating prenatal protection mechanisms from the womb to the heart. In this consortium, we work together with cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation immunology at the University Medical Center Utrecht and the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital and the ETB-Bislife Multi Tissue Center. We stimulate and foster cross-institutional collaborations as part of the project.

Job Requirements

• A master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) in Mechanical Engineering with affinity for biomedical applications, Biomedical Engineering, or comparable discipline.
• Experience with cell and tissue culture is a must. Competencies with mechanobiology, bioreactors, and preclinical research will be considered as a relevant added value.
• A research-oriented attitude.
• Ability to effectively communicate scientific ideas, foster collaborations and have a capability for independent thinking.
• Ability to work independently within a multidisciplinary team with researchers at various academic levels.
• Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).

Conditions of Employment
A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station.

In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate assessment after nine months. You will spend a minimum of 10% of your four-year employment on teaching tasks, with a maximum of 15% per year of your employment.
• To support and mentor you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students (PROOF program).
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 3,204 - max. € 4,051 gross base salary per month (full-time)).
• In addition to your base salary, you will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus, both calculated based on your annual gross base salary.
• Generous leave options: a standard 29 days (based on a 38 hour working week) per year that you can increase to 41 days by working two hours more per week (flexible working hours). This is prorated if you work part-time.
• As a TU/e employee, you participate in the ABP pension scheme, providing retirement pension and pension benefits for surviving dependents and occupational disability. TU/e pays 70% of the pension premium, while employees contribute the remaining 30%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, and on-campus children's day care.
• Unlimited access to the modern on‑campus TU/e Student Sports Center at an exceptionally affordable rate.
• We support your wellbeing with free 24/7 access to OpenUp, providing you and your family with mental health support, expert guidance, and online training.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the Expat Scheme) for international candidates.

On our website you can discover even more information about our conditions of employment. Build on your career at TU/e!

About us
We are a leading international university where scientific curiosity meets a hands-on mindset. We work in an open and collaborative way with high-tech industries to tackle complex societal challenges. Our responsible and respectful approach ensures impact — today and in the future. TU/e is home to over 13,000 students and more than 7,000 staff, forming a diverse and vibrant academic community. Discover what Light Up means to TU/e in our short company video.

Our university is located in Brainport Eindhoven — a world‑leading tech region with more than 7,000 high‑tech companies and strong R&D activity. Known for breakthroughs in AI, photonics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, Brainport is a place where technology serves people and society. Learn more about the Brainport region here.

The Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) offers a research-driven BME Bachelor program and Masters in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Engineering in its Graduate Program. Its research areas range from Molecular Bioengineering and Imaging, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering to Biomedical Imaging and Modelling. The department has more than 800 students and up to 200 tenured and nontenured employees.

Information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact dr. Marijn Peters (m.c.peters@tue.nl) or prof. Carlijn Bouten (c.v.c.bouten@tue.nl). For information about terms of employment, please contact Marjon Temmink, HR advisor, (HRAdviceBmE@tue.nl).

Please visit www.tue.nl/jobs and our career page to find out more about working at TU/e!

Curious to hear more about what it’s like as a PhD candidate at TU/e? Please view these promotional videos about our university as well as what is it like to be a PhD with us and what to expect (these hyperlinks will forward you to YouTube).

Application
We invite you to submit a complete application by using the apply button. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references. Kindly note that we may reach out to references at any stage of the recruitment process. We recommend notifying your references upon submitting your application.

Ensure that you submit all the requested application documents. We give priority to complete applications.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.

Please note

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• A pre-employment screening (e.g. knowledge security check) can be part of the selection procedure. For more information on the knowledge security check, please consult the National Knowledge Security Guidelines.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.

PhD in Bioreactor-based preservation of human heart valves

The Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is seeking a highly talented, ambitious and passionate PhD candidate to investigate and further develop our model of heart valve preservation. We aim to develop a way to keep heart valves alive outside of the human body using dynamic bioreactors where the valves open and close as they do in the human body. As the successful candidate, your research with us will contribute to broader efforts to culture living cardiac tissues and to study their function and their response to immune cells and immune protective technology, closely aligned with our BIOSHIELD consortium funded by the Dutch Heart Foundation. Our group’s research concentrates on developing and improving heart valve replacements in young children born with congenital heart disease. The current valve replacement options available in clinical practice cannot adapt to the growing heart of a child and can elicit immune responses that destroy and calcify implanted valves. Therefore, these young patients require multiple invasive operations throughout their lives. We investigate how to develop a living valve that can grow with the heart and is safe from immune rejection. Alongside our advances in in-situ tissue engineering of heart valves, we investigate strategies for immune shielding and culture of living human donor heart valves as an alternative approach. An essential step in moving this approach forward is to maintain and preserve heart valves outside the human body. In this project, we will focus on extended culture and preservation of donor valves, unravelling valve homeostatic maintenance, and translating this knowledge into smart culture conditions and bioreactor designs with feedback options. This presents an exciting engineering challenge: designing systems that can reproduce the complex flow conditions, pressures, and mechanical stimuli experienced by heart valves in the human body. By combining mechanical design, fluid dynamics, and biomedical engineering, we aim to develop innovative bioreactor technologies.

You will generate unprecedented experimental data as a pioneer in the field to unravel the conditions for optimal ex vivo cardiovascular tissue preservation. Your investigations will build upon our track record on bioreactor design for tissue-engineered heart valves and in-house expertise with heart perfusion models to build a system that can maintain heart valves viable outside of the human body.

To that end, your research will include a selection of techniques including: i) flow-based bioreactor development, ii) sterile vessel and tissue culture, and iii) sophisticated tissue analysis including advanced microscopy. You are expected to write a doctoral thesis and publish your research results in scientific journals. A small part of your doctoral position will involve teaching in courses as well as the supervision of students at the bachelor’s and master’s levels offered by the group. Also, an educational and professional development program will be offered to you.

You will be embedded in a highly inspiring research environment, both socially and professionally, which facilitates access to high-end research facilities, as well as fosters interdisciplinary collaborations. You will be an integral member of the Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology (STEM) group of the Department Biomedical Engineering, and specifically operate at the interface of the teams led by Assistant Professor dr Marijn Peters (Translational Engineering for Pediatric Cardiovascular Regeneration) and Professor Carlijn Bouten (Cell-Matrix Interactions for Cardiovascular Regeneration) at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at TU/e. You will also work together with the team of Julie Legrand (Mechanical Engineering) and Assistant Professor Marcel Rutten (Cardiovascular Biomechanics) to build upon their work on Soft Robotics Systems, Biomechanical models, and Vascular Bioreactors.

Your project is aligned with our BIOSHIELD consortium of the Hartstichting: BIOengineering immune Shielded Heart valve Implants: Engineering Living Donor tissue by translating prenatal protection mechanisms from the womb to the heart. In this consortium, we work together with cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation immunology at the University Medical Center Utrecht and the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital and the ETB-Bislife Multi Tissue Center. We stimulate and foster cross-institutional collaborations as part of the project.

Postdoc In Optimization-Driven Verification and Validation of Precision Machines

Introduction
Are you eager to find out how high-precision machines can fail before they are ever built? Help us develop optimization-driven methods that automatically uncover the critical, “unknown-unsafe” scenarios in semiconductor and other high-tech equipment.

Job Description
High-precision machines, such as semiconductor equipment, metrology systems and advanced manufacturing tools, must deliver extreme accuracy and reliability under a wide range of operating conditions, disturbances and model uncertainties. Today, their verification and validation (V&V) relies largely on expert-defined test cases and conservative worst-case requirements. This raises cost and development time, still does not guarantee that rare but critical combinations of operating conditions, disturbances and parameters are found.

In this project, you will extend an optimization-driven V&V framework, originally developed and proven for automated driving, to precision machines. At its core is a multi-modal evolutionary search algorithm (FC-SCGA) that finds a compact, diverse set of critical scenarios instead of a single worst case. Your work will include:

• Translating V&V questions for precision machines into multi-modal optimization problems that account for operating conditions, disturbances, parametric uncertainty and interacting error sources.
• Developing dissimilarity measures and coverage metrics that show how diverse the found scenarios are and how much of the machine’s operating space they cover.
• Validating the methods along a tiered pipeline: software-in-the-loop on parametric digital twins and hardware-in-the-loop with fault injection.
• Working closely with industrial partners to turn real use cases into models and demonstrate impact.

You will be part of the Dynamics and Control group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and play a key role in building VISTA Lab (Verification, Inspection, Simulation & Testing Automation), a new initiative on V&V automation for complex engineered systems. You will also help supervise PhD and Master’s students and contribute to joint grant proposals with industry.

Your work matters beyond the lab: faster and more trustworthy qualification of high-tech equipment shortens development cycles, avoids costly over-design and strengthens the European semiconductor and high-tech industry.

Job Requirements

• Motivated researcher with a PhD in mechanical engineering, systems and control, mechatronics, applied mathematics, or a comparable domain.
• Solid background in the dynamics and control of mechatronic systems
• Experience with optimization methods, preferably evolutionary or multi-modal optimization, and with simulation-based testing.
• Good programming skills (e.g. Python, MATLAB/Simulink); experience with digital twins or hardware-in-the-loop setups is a plus.
• Enthusiasm for working with industrial partners and turning research into practical tools.
• Ability to conduct high quality academic research, reflected in demonstratable outputs.
• A team player who enjoys coaching PhD and Master's students and working in a dynamic, interdisciplinary team.
• A proven ability to manage complex projects to completion on schedule.

Excellent (written and verbal) proficiency in English, good communication and leadership skills.

Conditions of Employment
A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station.

In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for 2 years.
• Salary in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale 10, ranging from € 4,422 (step 4) to € 5,760 gross base salary per month (full-time).
• In addition to your base salary, you will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus, both calculated based on your annual gross base salary.
• Generous leave options: a standard 29 days (based on a 38 hour working week) per year that you can increase to 41 days by working two hours more per week (flexible working hours). This is prorated if you work part-time.
• As a TU/e employee, you participate in the ABP pension scheme, providing retirement pension and pension benefits for surviving dependents and occupational disability. TU/e pays 70% of the pension premium, while employees contribute the remaining 30%.
• High-quality training programs on general skills, didactics and topics related to research and valorization.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, and on-campus children's day care.
• Unlimited access to the modern on‑campus TU/e Student Sports Center at an exceptionally affordable rate.
• We support your wellbeing with free 24/7 access to OpenUp, providing you and your family with mental health support, expert guidance, and online training.
• Partially paid parental leave and an allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A TU/e Postdoc Association that helps you to build a stronger and broader academic and personal network, and offers tailored support, training and workshops.
• A Staff Immigration Team is available for international candidates, as are a tax compensation scheme (the Expat Scheme) and a compensation for moving expenses.

On our website you can discover even more information about our conditions of employment. Build on your career at TU/e!

About us
We are a leading international university where scientific curiosity meets a hands-on mindset. We work in an open and collaborative way with high-tech industries to tackle complex societal challenges. Our responsible and respectful approach ensures impact — today and in the future. TU/e is home to over 13,000 students and more than 7,000 staff, forming a diverse and vibrant academic community. Discover what Light Up means to TU/e in our short company video.

Our university is located in Brainport Eindhoven — a world‑leading tech region with more than 7,000 high‑tech companies and strong R&D activity. Known for breakthroughs in AI, photonics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, Brainport is a place where technology serves people and society. Learn more about the Brainport region here.

Information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please contact the hiring manager Mohsen Alirezaei, Associate Professor, m.alirezaei@tue.nl.

Visit our website for more information about the application process. You can also contact HR Services, hrservices.me@tue.nl.

Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page.

Application
We invite you to submit a complete application using the apply-button. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references. Kindly note that we may reach out to references at any stage of the recruitment process. We recommend notifying your references upon submitting your application.
• List of up to five self-selected ‘best publications’.

Ensure that you submit all the requested application documents. Please note that incomplete applications may not be considered and could be rejected.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.

Please note

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• A pre-employment screening (e.g. knowledge security check) can be part of the selection procedure. For more information on the knowledge security check, please consult the National Knowledge Security Guidelines.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.

Postdoc in Multi-user Multi-access Optical Satellite Communications: Theory and Architectures (MOSC)

Introduction
Are you passionate about the theory, architecture and system-level design of future optical communication networks? This postdoc position focuses on multi-user free-space optical (FSO) satellite communication: moving from today’s point-to-point laser links towards scalable point-to-multipoint systems that can serve many users from a single satellite. You analyze communication architectures and trade-offs needed to enable secure, robust and cost-efficient laser communication systems for future space applications. Over the past decades MIMO has played a pivotal role in RF communications and with this position we pave the way to MIMO for FSO applications.

Job Description
Critical communication links are increasingly vulnerable to interference and jamming. Free-space optical communication is a promising complementary technology to radio-frequency communication because narrow laser beams are difficult to intercept and disturb. However, current laser communication terminals typically support only one counter-terminal at a time, while future scenarios require a single satellite to serve tens of users or platforms simultaneously, at a fraction of the cost.

This postdoctoral position focuses on the physical-layer theory and architecture of multi-user MIMO free-space optical FSO communication systems. Starting from a generalized satellite-to-multiple-user use case, you will define system requirements, channel models and key performance indicators (KPIs) such as the number of simultaneous users, data rate, coverage area, latency, availability, power efficiency and complexity.

You will investigate how optical power, bandwidth and spatial resources can be allocated across multiple users using time-, frequency-, space- and code-domain multiple access techniques, including TDMA, FDMA, SDMA and hybrid schemes. A central objective is to identify the fundamental communication- and information-theoretic trade-offs between user capacity, throughput, quality of service, coverage, security, hardware complexity and cost, and to determine the fundamental physical limits of multi-user FSO systems.

The research includes a state-of-the-art study of MIMO techniques for FSO communications, the translation of relevant concepts from RF massive MIMO to optical satellite links, and the development of analytical frameworks for comparing candidate architectures. The outcomes are expected to guide the design of scalable point-to-multipoint laser communication terminals capable of serving tens of simultaneous users.

You will work closely with a PhD candidate who focuses on simulation, coding, DSP algorithms and demonstrator implementation, while your work provides the theoretical foundations, performance analysis and architectural trade-offs that underpin these designs. It is foreseen that the postdoc may spend part of the time at TNO to contribute to a multi-user FSO lab and in-space multi-user demonstrator. Expected outputs include high-impact journal publications on FSO MIMO architectures, information-theoretic fundamental limits trade-offs and optimal multi-user communication architectures.

Throughout this postdoc, you will be embedded in the ICT Lab of the Signal Processing Systems group of the Department of Electrical Engineering at TU/e. Within the ICT Lab, you will work in a dynamic team of researchers under the leadership of Prof. Alex Alvarado. The lab studies information processing in a broad sense, including fundamental limits, coding, data processing techniques and architectures that approach these limits. Main areas of interest include free-space optical communications, fiber communications, source and channel coding, quantum computing, multi-user information theory, security and machine learning. We are proud that our fellow colleagues have won various prestigious grants and prices in the field of communication and information theory, including the Hamming Medal and the Shannon Award (https://www.itsoc.org/news/shannon-award-2026). You will also closely collaborate with an applied research team at TNO, where work is taking place towards in-orbit multi-user demonstration mission whereby practical results from the research can be directly applied. More information on TNO can be found here: (https://www.tno.nl/en/digital/space/satellite-communication/).

Job Requirements

• A PhD degree, or near completion of a PhD, in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Applied Physics, Computer Science, or a closely related field.
• A strong research profile in one or more of the following areas: communication theory, information theory, free-space optical communication, optical wireless communication, MIMO systems, coding, signal processing, satellite communications or related fields.
• Ability to define system-level research questions, derive requirements and perform architectural trade-off analyses for complex communication systems.
• Experience with analytical modeling, simulation and/or performance evaluation of communication systems, for example using MATLAB, Python or similar tools.
• Experience with free-space optical satellite communications, laser communication terminals, optical beam steering, RF multi-user MIMO, or defence/space communication systems is advantageous.
• A proven ability to publish in high-quality scientific venues and to communicate research results clearly to academic and applied-research partners.
• Ability to work independently while contributing to an interdisciplinary team with academic, applied-research, defence and industrial stakeholders.
• Interest in co-supervising PhD and MSc students and contributing to proposal work and knowledge-transfer activities such as workshops, technical reports and project meetings.
• Fluent in spoken and written English at least at C1 level.

Conditions of Employment
A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station.

In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for 2 years.
• Salary in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale 10, ranging from € 4,422 (step 4) to € 5,760 gross base salary per month (full-time).
• In addition to your base salary, you will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus, both calculated based on your annual gross base salary.
• Generous leave options: a standard 29 days (based on a 38 hour working week) per year that you can increase to 41 days by working two hours more per week (flexible working hours). This is prorated if you work part-time.
• As a TU/e employee, you participate in the ABP pension scheme, providing retirement pension and pension benefits for surviving dependents and occupational disability. TU/e pays 70% of the pension premium, while employees contribute the remaining 30%.
• High-quality training programs on general skills, didactics and topics related to research and valorization.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, and on-campus children's day care.
• Unlimited access to the modern on‑campus TU/e Student Sports Center at an exceptionally affordable rate.
• We support your wellbeing with free 24/7 access to OpenUp, providing you and your family with mental health support, expert guidance, and online training.
• Partially paid parental leave and an allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A TU/e Postdoc Association that helps you to build a stronger and broader academic and personal network, and offers tailored support, training and workshops.
• A Staff Immigration Team is available for international candidates, as are a tax compensation scheme (the Expat Scheme) and a compensation for moving expenses.

On our website you can discover even more information about our conditions of employment. Build on your career at TU/e!

About us
We are a leading international university where scientific curiosity meets a hands-on mindset. We work in an open and collaborative way with high-tech industries to tackle complex societal challenges. Our responsible and respectful approach ensures impact — today and in the future. TU/e is home to over 13,000 students and more than 7,000 staff, forming a diverse and vibrant academic community. Discover what Light Up means to TU/e in our short company video.

Our university is located in Brainport Eindhoven — a world‑leading tech region with more than 7,000 high‑tech companies and strong R&D activity. Known for breakthroughs in AI, photonics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, Brainport is a place where technology serves people and society. Learn more about the Brainport region here.

Information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more? Please apply on the TU/e website.

In case of questions, contact the hiring managers Dr. Yunus Gultekin (Y.C.G.Gultekin@tue.nl), Dr. Wim Korevaar (c.w.korevaar@tue.nl) or Prof. Alex Alvarado (a.alvarado@tue.nl).

Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page.

Application
We invite you to submit a complete application using the apply-button. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references. Kindly note that we may reach out to references at any stage of the recruitment process. We recommend notifying your references upon submitting your application.
• List of up to five self-selected ‘best publications’.

Ensure that you submit all the requested application documents. Please note that incomplete applications may not be considered and could be rejected.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.

Please note

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• A pre-employment screening (e.g. knowledge security check) can be part of the selection procedure. For more information on the knowledge security check, please consult the National Knowledge Security Guidelines.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.

Postdoc In Optimization-Driven Verification and Validation of Precision Machines

High-precision machines, such as semiconductor equipment, metrology systems and advanced manufacturing tools, must deliver extreme accuracy and reliability under a wide range of operating conditions, disturbances and model uncertainties. Today, their verification and validation (V&V) relies largely on expert-defined test cases and conservative worst-case requirements. This raises cost and development time, still does not guarantee that rare but critical combinations of operating conditions, disturbances and parameters are found.

In this project, you will extend an optimization-driven V&V framework, originally developed and proven for automated driving, to precision machines. At its core is a multi-modal evolutionary search algorithm (FC-SCGA) that finds a compact, diverse set of critical scenarios instead of a single worst case. Your work will include:

• Translating V&V questions for precision machines into multi-modal optimization problems that account for operating conditions, disturbances, parametric uncertainty and interacting error sources.
• Developing dissimilarity measures and coverage metrics that show how diverse the found scenarios are and how much of the machine’s operating space they cover.
• Validating the methods along a tiered pipeline: software-in-the-loop on parametric digital twins and hardware-in-the-loop with fault injection.
• Working closely with industrial partners to turn real use cases into models and demonstrate impact.

You will be part of the Dynamics and Control group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and play a key role in building VISTA Lab (Verification, Inspection, Simulation & Testing Automation), a new initiative on V&V automation for complex engineered systems. You will also help supervise PhD and Master’s students and contribute to joint grant proposals with industry.

Your work matters beyond the lab: faster and more trustworthy qualification of high-tech equipment shortens development cycles, avoids costly over-design and strengthens the European semiconductor and high-tech industry.