Research professor in Computational Immunology (BOFZAP)

The Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Transplantation of KU Leuven, invites scholars to apply for a full‐time research professorship. 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 Computational Immunology. The appointment is expected to start on September 1, 2026. 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 successful candidate will have demonstrated expertise in the integration of immunological research and bioinformatics, contributing to cutting-edge research, teaching, and mentorship within her/his current research organization. We seek an outstanding candidate who will expand our research programs in immunology, enhance and engage in collaborative efforts, and contribute to training future scientists and professionals in these fields.

The Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation is recognized worldwide for its innovative research that contributes to the understanding of the immune system and host microbe interactions for the prevention and treatment of infectious, immune- and transplantation-related diseases. We are committed to perform ambitious and cutting-edge fundamental, translational and clinical research, with the aim to understand underlying disease mechanisms and develop innovative diagnostics, therapeutics and other intervention strategies that benefit patients everywhere. The various research groups within the department can rely on solid research infrastructure, an extensive international network, applications by talented doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, and a supportive and collaborative work environment.
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Duties

Research

It is part of the assignment of the appointed candidate to develop, within the domain of Computation Immunology 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 of the department and KU Leuven institutes like Leuven.AI and LISCO.

The candidate:

• Is an excellent, internationally oriented researcher and develops a research programme at the forefront in the field of Computational Immunology, where you are expected to lead a research program that integrates immunology and bioinformatics to address complex biological and immunological questions.
• Strengthens existing research lines and brings complementary and/or additionally new expertise by working closely with the members of the research unit.
• Is committed to provide relevant bioinformatic guidance, coaching and/or training of researchers, e.g. PhD students and postdocs, from the different immunology research groups of the department in an open and transparent collaborative setting.
• Publishes at the highest scientific level [specify e.g. articles in various leading international journals in the domain and/or broader international top journals, monographs in leading series, conference proceedings, ...].
• 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 Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Transplantation and KU Leuven.
• Has a pronounced interest in fundamental and translational 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 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.

The assignment of the candidate to be appointed also includes a teaching assignment.

Service

Scientific, societal  and internal services (administrative and/or institutional) are also part of the assignment. The candidate is expected to engage in professional service activities with own initiatives and/or in collaboration with existing institutional service providers including bioinformatic support.

Requirements

• You have PhD in Immunology, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related field.  If you have recently obtained your PhD, it is important that you support your research and growth potential with academic references e.g. demonstrate potential through top publications reflecting your previous research, certificates/prizes, reference letters, promising research projects and articles in preparation.
• You have an strong research profile in the field and an indisputable research integrity.
• The quality of your research is proven by publications in peer-reviewed journals and successful grant applications.
• International research experience is considered as an important advantage.
• Expertise in both experimental immunology (e.g., immunogenomics, immune cell profiling, or immune system modeling) and applied bioinformatics (e.g., computational tools, big data analysis, or machine learning applied to immunology).
• Experience with next-generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis, (single cell) multi-omics approaches, and AI/ML applications in biomedical research particularly in immunology.
• Strong interdisciplinary research interests that align with systems immunology, immunogenomics, immune-related diseases, (therapeutic) immunemodulation or other emerging fields and will result in intradepartmental collaborations across immunological areas.
• 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 subject to eligibility criteria set by KU Leuven. 

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. Katrien Lagrou, mail:[email protected].

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