PhD candidate in Climate & Ecohydrology

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 Water and Climate, Research Group Water & Climate is looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant. 

More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains: 

Project: Ecohydrological and climatic shifts in the Congo Basin (Cong’eau) | iBOF

Research teams: bclimate group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium | Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), Ghent University, Belgium

The Congo Basin (CB) hosts the world's second-largest tropical rainforests, serving as a crucial engine for the global water cycle. However, local and downstream responses to climate change and land-use change within the CB are still poorly understood. This project aims to investigate the CB's water cycle autonomy—its capacity to sustain precipitation through self-supply of evaporation amidst deforestation, global warming, and drought. Our approach will integrate global climate model (CESM) simulations under varying vegetation scenarios with state-of-the-art moisture tracking techniques.

We are seeking a PhD student to join us in addressing this critical scientific challenge. Importantly, this PhD position is shared 50/50 between Ghent University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The PhD candidate will be co-supervised by both Prof. Wim Thierry (bclimate) and Prof. Diego Miralles (H-CEL). You will get the opportunity to collaborate with leading international institutes both in Belgium and the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the project consortium.

For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base. 

3 - Profile

What do we expect from you?

• You hold (or will soon hold) an MSc degree in climate science, environmental science/engineering, geography, hydrology, physics, statistics, applied math, computer science, or in a related field

• You have a strong interest in weather and climate research
• You have excellent knowledge in computer programming (e.g. Python) and data analysis
• You are passionate about using quantitative methods
• You are a creative personality and enjoy solving technical and scientific challenges independently as well as in team efforts
• You are eager to perform numerical simulations
• You have a good command of spoken and written English
• You are eager to communicate your scientific results to fellow scientists and the public
• Candidates from outside Belgium are welcome and are expected to relocate to Belgium
• Weekly in-person attendance to both H-CEL (Ghent) and bclimate (Brussels) teams is expected
• Participation in international conferences and workshops is expected

• 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 between March and December 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 30/06/2025, via jobs.vub.be, and upload the following documents in 1 PDF-file:

• your CV;
• your motivation letter (1 page);
• your diploma (not applicable for VUB alumni).

Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Wim Thiery at wim.thiery@vub.be or on +32-2-6293029.

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.