The Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences of KU Leuven, invites scholars to apply for a full-time research professorship. We are looking for motivated and internationally oriented candidates with an excellent research record and with educational competence in the field of Computational Drug Discovery. The appointment is expected to start on Januari 1, 2027.
The successful candidate will have demonstrated expertise in the integration of medicinal chemistry and bioinformatics, contributing to cutting-edge research, teaching, and mentorship within her/his current research organization. We are looking for an outstanding candidate who will expand our research programs in drug design, enhance and engage in collaborative efforts, and contribute to training future scientists and professionals in these fields.
The position will be embedded in the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry (Rega Institute, Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, KU Leuven). The research group of Medicinal Chemistry is a multidisciplinary scientific environment housing chemical synthesis, molecular modeling, mass spectrometry, NMR and synthetic biology. The lab has a dual focus on the classical medicinal chemistry as well as synthetic biology.
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Duties
Research
It is part of the assignment of the appointed candidate to develop, within the domain of computational drug discovery an international, competitive research program, 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 as well as and VIB.AI.
The Candidate:
- Is an excellent, internationally-oriented researcher and develops a research program at the forefront in the field of computational drug discovery, where you are expected to lead a research program in bioinformatics strongly linked to accelerating and improving the drug discovery process.
- Strengthens existing research lines and brings complementary and/or additionally new expertise including AI/Machine Learning-based methodologies that can be developed for virtual ligand screening, reverse virtual screening (target fishing) and de novo compound design.
- Is committed to providing relevant bioinformatic guidance, coaching and/or training of researchers, e.g. PhD students and postdocs, from the different research groups of the department in an open and transparent collaborative setting.
- Publishes in high impact peer reviewed international journals
- Supervises master students, PhD students and postdocs to 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 program.
- Strives for excellence in research and provides a contribution to the international research reputation of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences and KU Leuven.
- Can identify and pursue potential valorization of your research results, in collaboration with the technology transfer unit Leuven Research and Development according to the applicable procedures of the KU Leuven.
Teaching
- Your teaching assignment will be determined in consultation based on your specific profile and will include lectures as well as other teaching approaches (tutorials, interactive workshops, internship supervision, etc.), particularly within the Bachelor and Master programs of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Teaching duties for other degree programs of the Biomedical Sciences Group or the Science and Technology Group are also possible.
- You will contribute to the educational project of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, other faculties and the KU Leuven by supervising master theses and as a promoter of PhD students.
- You will develop your teaching duties in accordance with KU Leuven's vision through activating and research-based education and you make use of the opportunities for educational professionalization offered by the faculties and the university.
- The teaching assignment load will gradually increase, depending on your qualifications. In your further academic career, due attention will be given to maintain an optimal equilibrium between research and teaching.
Service
You will take responsibility in management tasks of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and in scientific and/or social communities. The very high density of pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies in Flanders provides unique opportunities for industry collaboration.
Profile
- You have a PhD in either Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, (Bio)chemistry, Biology, (Bio)science engineering, or equivalent.
- You combine an in-depth pharmaceutical expertise with a technical expertise in the field of computational drug discovery
- Upon appointment, you have at least 3 years of postdoctoral experience and expertise with computational drug discovery in an academic and/or industry context.
- You have a strong research record and excellent teaching and training skills, allowing you to contribute to the research output of the department and to the quality of the educational program.
- The high quality of your research track is evidenced by high-impact first and/or last author publications in international peer reviewed journals and by successful grant applications. International research experience is required.
- You have good organizational skills and you have a team-player attitude. You have leadership capacity within the university context.
- Proficiency in English is required.
- 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 meetings. Before teaching courses in Dutch or English, you will be given the opportunity to learn Dutch, respectively English, to the required standard.
Offer
We are offering full-time (100%) employment in an intellectually challenging environment. KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied scientific research. It is highly inter- and multidisciplinarily focused and strives for international excellence. In this regard, it actively works together with research partners in Belgium and abroad. It provides its students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
You will work in Leuven, a historic, dynamic and lively city located in the heart of Belgium, within 20 minutes from Brussels, the capital of the European Union, and less than two hours from Paris, London and Amsterdam.
Depending on your record and qualifications, 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 researchers 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 (or tenured) as an associate professor.
KU Leuven is well set to welcome foreign professors and their family and provides practical support with regard to immigration & administration, housing, childcare, learning Dutch, partner career coaching, …
To facilitate scientific onboarding and accelerate research in the first phase a starting grant of 110.000 euro is offered to new professors appointed for at least 50%.
Interested?
You are being encouraged to get in contact with the chair of the search committee Prof. dr. Vitor Bernardes Pinheiro, tel.: +32 (0)16 33 02 57, mail:
[email protected] or with the chair of the department Prof. dr. Pieter Annaert, tel.: +32 (0)16 33 03 03, mail:
[email protected]. For problems with online applying, please contact [email protected].
KU Leuven places great importance on research integrity and ethical conduct and will therefore ask you to sign an integrity statement upon appointment.
KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.
