Research professor in Atherosclerosis & Therapeutic approaches (BOFZAP)

The Department Cardiovascular Sciences within the Biomedical Sciences Group of KU Leuven, invites scholars to apply for a full‐time research professorship in the division Atherosclerosis. This position is funded by the Special Research Fund (BOFZAP), established by the Flemish Government.

We are looking for motivated and internationally oriented candidates with an excellent research record and with educational competence in the field of atherosclerosis. The appointment is scheduled to start on September 1, 2025 . Applications will be evaluated in parallel and independently by 1) the KU Leuven Research Council in a competitive process across academic domains and 2) the faculty advisory committee. During the first 10 years, the teaching obligations as a research professor will be limited. Afterwards, the position will be transformed into a regular professorship.

The Department of Cardiovascular Sciences is a leading Cardiovascular Research Center recognised for its research spanning from bench to bedside. The Department has 300 members in the different research and clinical cardiovascular disciplines with more than 70 senior academic staff members, 200 researchers and clinicians (of whom 100 are PhD researchers) and 40 support staff members.

We are recruiting a fulltime faculty member in the field of Atherosclerosis and Therapeutic approaches. We are particularly interested in candidates who can bridge studies in man and cell and animal models to provide mechanistic insights into atherosclerosis and deliver potential novel therapeutic approaches. The successful candidate will take advantage of the strong emphasis on fundamental and translational research in our Department; this is facilitated by close interactions between the clinical divisions and the basic science labs. This includes fundamental research, clinical and population studies, and diagnostic and technological innovation in the broad field of cardiovascular diseases. The overall mission is to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases

Website unit

Duties

Research

It is part of the assignment of the appointed candidate with an established fundamental research program and an intensive clinical collaboration within the domain of atherosclerosis  - with a focus on lipids, vascular biology, or inflammation using cell and animal models to explore pathogenic mechanism in humans - an international, competitive research programme, to pursue excellent scientific results at an international level and to support and promote national and international research partnerships. The candidate must meet a strong research profile or have the potential to do so. In addition, the candidate is expected to have a multidisciplinary attitude and a willingness to cooperate intensively with other researchers and research units at KU Leuven.

This position specifically aims to understand disease mechanisms and the discovery of molecular regulators that could be targeted to improve therapy. Your research should connect and complement to ongoing research programs within Thrombosis, Vascular Biology, Hypertension, Cardiovascular Epidemiology, and the Clinical Divisions related to the Department. It is encouraged to team up with researchers of other disciplines and connect to KU Leuven Institutes (LISCO, Leuven.AI, VIB.AI). Your research can be supported by Core facilities (Genomics, Animal, Imaging, …) available within the Group of Biomedical Sciences.

The candidate:

• Is an excellent, internationally oriented researcher and develops a research programme at the forefront in the field of atherosclerosis.
• Strengthens existing research lines and brings complementary and/or additionally new expertise by working closely with the members of the research unit.
• Publishes at the highest scientific level in high impact journals in the field of atherosclerosis and therapeutic approaches.
• Develops an own research group.
• Supervises master students, PhD students and postdocs at a high international level.
• Aims to acquire competitive research funding from national and/or international agencies and submits effective research project proposals for this purpose.
• Establishes both within KU Leuven, national and international partnerships in the context of the research programme.
• Strives for excellence in research and provides a contribution to the international research reputation of the research unit Atherosclerosis, the Department Cardiovascular Sciences and KU Leuven.
• Has a pronounced interest in fundamental research, but also pays attention to the valorization and applications of the research.

Teaching

Although the position regards a research professorship at the start of employment, the candidate is expected to gradually contribute to state of the art teaching. 

The assignment of the candidate to be appointed also includes a teaching assignment in basic sciences in the academic programs in Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, making use of the opportunities offered by KU Leuven to further professionalize the teaching.

The candidate also contributes to the pedagogic project of the faculty/university. He/she develops teaching in accordance with KU Leuven’s vision on activating and research‐based education and makes use of the possibilities for the educational professionalization offered by the faculty and the university.

Service

Scientific, societal  and internal services (administrative and/or institutional) are also part of the assignment.

The candidate:

• Provides advice and support on clinical and pre-clinical research projects in collaboration with the researchers and PhD researchers of the various Research Groups within the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and associated Clinical Divisions.
• Contributes as a member of the Department to decision-making and the development of the future vision for the teaching, organization, and research programs of the Department.

Requirements

• You have a PhD degree with a strong and relevant track record in atherosclerosis research.  If you have recently obtained your PhD, it is important that you support your research and growth potential with academic references.
• Expertise in cell and animal models is an asset.
• You have an strong research profile in the field and an indisputable research integrity.
• The quality of your research is proven by publications in high impact journals in the field of atherosclerosis and therapeutic approaches.
• International research experience is considered as an important advantage.
• You have demonstrable qualities related to academic education. Teaching experience is a plus.
• You possess organizational skills and have a cooperative attitude. You also have leadership skills within a university context.
• Your spoken and written English is excellent. The official administrative language used at KU Leuven is Dutch. If you do not speak Dutch (or do not speak it well) at the start of employment, KU Leuven will provide language training to enable you to take part in administrative meetings. Before teaching courses in Dutch or English, you will be given the opportunity to learn Dutch resp. English to the required standard.

Offer

• We offer full-time employment in an intellectually challenging environment. KU Leuven is an research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied scientific research. Our university is highly inter- and multidisciplinary focused and strives for international excellence. In this regard, we actively collaborate with research partners in Belgium and abroad. We provide our students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
• Depending on your qualifications and academic experience, you will be appointed to or tenured in one of the grades of the senior academic staff: assistant professor, associate professor, professor or full professor. In principle, junior researches are appointed as assistant professor on the tenure track for a period of 5 years; after this period and a positive evaluation, they are permanently appointed as an associate professor.
• You will work in Leuven, a historic and dynamic and vibrant city located in the heart of Belgium, within twenty minutes from Brussels, the capital of the European Union, and less than two hours from Paris, London and Amsterdam.
• KU Leuven is well set to welcome foreign professors and their family and provides practical support with regard to immigration and administration, housing, childcare, learning Dutch, partner career coaching, …
• In order to facilitate scientific onboarding and accelerate research in the first phase a starting grant of 110.000 euro is offered to new professors without substantial other funding and appointed for at least 50%.
• The successful candidate will receive support through participation in ongoing studies and mentoring/support in application for internal and external funds. The candidate will have access to the full range of advantages of working at a leading University in the centre of Europe, including potential to collaborate across multiple disciplines and to have access to a large cohort of talented students.

More information

full application and selection procedure Research Professorships (BOFZAP)

Interested?

More information on the content of the job can be obtained from the academic contact person prof. dr. Werner Budts, tel.: +32 16 32 16 64, mail: werner.budts@kuleuven.be. 

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