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 Electronics and Informatics (ETRO), research group Electronics and Informatics: Research – Development - Innovation, is looking for a postdoctoral researcher.
ETRO, the Department of Electronics and Informatics (http://www.etrovub.be/) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), conducts fundamental and applied research in micro- and optoelectronics, multidimensional signal processing, and audiovisual computing.
ETRO collaborates closely with UZ Brussel, a top-rated university hospital recognized nationally and internationally. We are a core member of imec, the world-leading research and innovation hub in nano-electronics and digital technologies. Our team is currently a fruitful mixture of people from different nationalities. The primary working language is English.
More concretely your work package contains:
We are seeking a full-time postdoctoral researcher to join an interdisciplinary research team working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, biomedical data science, digital health, epidemiology, and environmental health. The position focuses on the development, validation, and interpretation of AI models for health risk prediction using heterogeneous and longitudinal data sources.
The successful candidate will contribute to research on :
- Longitudinal patient-level prediction of disease progression, deterioration, and hospitalization;
- Population-level modelling of environmental exposures and health risks;
- Interpretable and uncertainty-aware machine learning for heterogeneous health data.
This position offers the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary environment involving engineers, data scientists, clinicians, epidemiologists, public health experts, and project partners from academia, healthcare, industry, and research organizations.
Profile
We welcome candidates with a strong research background in machine learning, biomedical data science, biostatistics, epidemiology, medical informatics, environmental health, or a related discipline. Candidates should be motivated to develop AI methods and apply them to clinically or epidemiologically meaningful research questions.
We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in longitudinal data analysis, time-series modelling, clinical prediction, risk modelling, survival analysis, causal inference, spatio-temporal modelling, or multimodal data integration. The candidate should be motivated by applied research questions in health and be able to bridge methodological development and real-world biomedical and public health applications.
Responsibilities
You will be expected to:
- Develop, implement, and validate machine learning and statistical models for health risk prediction;
- Analyse heterogeneous health-related datasets, including clinical, longitudinal, environmental, demographic, socioeconomic, and geospatial data;
- Contribute to patient-level and population-level modelling approaches, including temporal, spatial, and multimodal prediction frameworks;
- Apply and evaluate methods for disease progression modelling, acute event prediction, hospitalization risk estimation, and health vulnerability assessment;
- Contribute to model interpretability, uncertainty estimation, fairness assessment, and validation procedures;
- Work with clinical, public health, environmental, and technical partners to translate research questions into well-defined computational studies;
- Prepare scientific publications, technical reports, project deliverables, and presentations;
- Contribute to scientific coordination, including the planning and monitoring of research tasks and collaborative deliverables;
- Support the supervision of PhD students, master students, or research engineers, where when relevant;
- Contribute to research proposals and future collaborative projects.
For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base while limited remote work can be considered per week, depending on the group activities.
3 - Profile
What do we expect from you?
- You hold a PhD in computer science, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, data science, biostatistics, epidemiology, medical informatics, environmental health, public health, or a related discipline;
You should have:
- a strong knowledge of machine learning, statistical modelling, or data-driven predictive modelling;
- experience with longitudinal data, time-series data, clinical data, epidemiological data, or other real-world health datasets;
- strong programming skills, preferably in Python, and practical experience with relevant data-analysis and machine-learning libraries;
- a good understanding of model development, training, validation, benchmarking, and performance evaluation;
- the Ability to work independently while contributing actively to a multidisciplinary team;
- a demonstrated ability to communicate research effectively, supported by a record of peer-reviewed publications appropriate to the candidate’s career stage;
- good communication skills in English;
You are not expected to have experience in all the areas listed below. Expertise in one or more will be considered an asset:
- electronic health records, hospital data, registry data, wearable data, patient-reported outcomes, or environmental exposure data;
- clinical prediction modelling, disease progression modelling, exacerbation prediction, hospitalization risk, or non-communicable disease modelling;
- deep learning architectures for temporal or multimodal data, such as recurrent neural networks, transformers, temporal fusion transformers, graph neural networks, or spatio-temporal models;
- survival analysis, causal inference, Bayesian modelling, uncertainty quantification, or explainable AI;
- geospatial data analysis, environmental exposure assessment, exposome research, or population-level risk modelling;
- privacy-aware and GDPR-compliant processing of health data;
- interdisciplinary or international projects, student supervision, project deliverables, or collaborative research proposals;
- As a (non-)EEA national, meet the conditions for obtaining a valid permit for VUB and comply with the VUB residence requirements. More info here.
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 contract, for an assignment of 1 FTE, for 12 months (extendable, on condition of the positive evaluation of the research activities), with planned starting date 01/11/2026.
You’ll receive a salary linked to one of the scales set by the government.
At the VUB, you’re guaranteed an open, involved and diverse workplace where you are offered opportunities to (further) build on your career.
You will join a stimulating research environment and the opportunity to work on high-impact topics in AI, digital health, biomedical data science, and environmental health risk prediction.
The position provides opportunities to develop advanced methodological expertise, collaborate with clinical and public health partners, publish in high-quality scientific journals, participate in international research networks, and contribute to European and national research initiatives. The candidate will benefit from scientific mentoring, access to multidisciplinary expertise, and opportunities to supervise students, contribute to research strategy, and develop an independent research profile.
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 01/09/2026, via jobs.vub.be, and upload the following documents:
- your CV;
- your motivation letter;
- your diploma (not applicable for VUB alumni).
Our application process is as follows (subject to change):
- step 1: an initial selection based on your application file;
- step 2: a job interview.
Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Nikos Deligiannis at [email protected] or on +32 (0)2 629 1683.
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.
