Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands invites online Application for number of Fully Funded PhD Positions at various Departments. We are providing a list of Fully Funded PhD Programs available at Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Eligible candidate may Apply as soon as possible.
(01) PhD Positions – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD: Collaborative Innovation and Implementation in the Energy Transition
The KIN Center for Digital Innovation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam invites applications for a fully funded, four-year PhD position on collaborative innovation and implementation in the energy transition.
The energy transition increasingly depends on effective collaboration among diverse actors—citizens, municipalities, energy cooperatives, grid operators, start-ups, and digital-platform providers. While technological solutions are progressing rapidly, the social, organizational, and data-governance mechanisms that enable these solutions to take root in practice are less well understood. This PhD project will address that gap.
Depending on your background and research interests, your dissertation will be anchored in one of two complementary domains (the specific focus will be finalized during the recruitment process):
Deadline : 23-12-2025
(02) PhD Positions- Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Research on Air Quality due to fires
In the INFLAMES consortium (https://inflames-project.github.io), we are studying the impact of landscape fires on climate and society from a muti-disciplinary viewpoint. Your job will be to assess the contribution from fire smoke to local air pollution in mega-cities in Asia and Africa, and suggest (if possible) solutions to ameliorate bad air quality during the fire season.
You will combine the Dutch air-quality model LOTOS-EUROS with satellite observations, in a process called data assimilation, to arrive at the best possible description of the evolution of smoke plumes. The data assimilation will, in particular, give us better estimates of the strength of the smoke plumes. This leads to a better understanding of the smoke contribution to local air quality. This data assimilation system, which has been used before, will first be tested on local air pollution around Rotterdam (where we have many local measurements) but will later be applied to e.g. New Delhi or Harare where only satellite data can be used.
Deadline : 16-01-2026
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(03) PhD Positions – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position – Laser cooling and trapping Helium molecules
We are looking for a motivated and interested PhD-student, with a degree in physics or chemistry and with experience in laser physics, spectroscopy, and/or optical technology, who wishes to work with us in the international and stimulating environment of the joint Quantum Metrology group at LaserLaB Amsterdam.
This project aims to create the first ultracold gas of a directly laser-cooled homonuclear molecule, the helium dimer He_2. Starting from a supersonic beam, novel laser slowing and cooling techniques will be employed to create a trapped dense gas of ultracold molecules. Choosing the He_2 molecule constitutes a paradigm change in the field of ultracold molecules, as it will constitute the lightest and simplest molecule ever laser-cooled. This provides a controllable, simple 4-electron system at record low temperature, allowing quantum sensing and precision measurements to test QED and to study the quantum nature of collisions with unprecedented accuracy – while being accessible to highly accurate ab initio computational methods.
Deadline : 28-02-2026
(04) PhD Positions – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position Maximizing human muscle power output for sports and rehabilitation
This project investigates how human muscles can generate maximal mechanical power output and how this knowledge can be applied to (re)design the drivetrain of bicycles and handcycles. While most innovations focus on materials —e.g. making equipment lighter or stiffer— it remains largely unknown how to design devices that fully exploit the potential of the human musculoskeletal system. In this project we will use the human musculoskeletal system as starting point in redesigning the drivetrain of bicycles and handcycles.
As a PhD candidate, you will use musculoskeletal modeling and experimental testing to explore how muscles and limbs should move to deliver maximal power output. You will translate insights gained by musculoskeletal simulation and optimization into new equipment, by redesigning chainring shapes and pedal or handle trajectories [ that enhance power output]. You will test prototype designs with elite cyclists and handcycle users to evaluate improvements in performance. During your PhD, your research will be at the intersection of biomechanics, muscle physiology, computational modeling and product design. You will be employed in the Section of Biomechanics and will be collaborating with experts in biomechanics, sports and rehabilitation. You will be using the department’s state-of-the-art laboratories.
Deadline : 10-12-2025
(05) PhD Positions – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD in Reconfigurable & Spatial Accelerators for heterogeneous ICT systems
Our research team invites applications for a fully-funded PhD position at the intersection of reconfigurable computing, accelerators, and simulation tools. This position aims to investigate strategies for programming, modeling, and integrating reconfigurable/spatial architectures, such as FPGAs and ML accelerators, within heterogeneous ICT ecosystems.
Reconfigurable and Spatial hardware, such as FPGAs, CGRAs, and many Machine Learning accelerators, offer significant opportunities for improving performance and energy efficiency compared to traditional CPUs/GPUs. Yet, porting and optimizing code for these architectures remains a key challenge. This project will explore how reconfigurable/spatial computing devices can be integrated into large-scale heterogeneous infrastructures, which include CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, and others. The research will focus on productive tools for easier development of spatial accelerator-friendly applications and on addressing the complexity of the device-software-application-data design space, enabling systematic and efficient exploration using modeling and simulation tools.
Deadline : 12-12-2025
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(06) PhD Positions- Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD in Conservation genomics of Asian elephants
The section Ecology & Evolution, part of the Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment (A-LIFE) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam invites applications for an exciting PhD position that will combine innovative bioinformatics and genomic tools to study genomic compatibility of endangered Asian elephant populations. Are you interested? Keep reading and apply at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam!
We are in the UN’s decade of ecosystem restoration, which requires a better understanding about the recovery potential of threatened species. As part of the NWO-VIDI ExPANsion project you will employ a pangenomics approach for the conservation and restoration of an endangered species, the iconic Asian elephant. You will work on developing novel genomic parameters focused on assessing the risks and benefits of population hybridization for the genetic rescue, conservation, and recovery of threatened species.
The successful PhD candidate will be embedded in an experienced team of collaborators, including Dr. Mirte Bosse, an expert in the emerging field of conservation genomics, Jeroen Kappelhof, who is the EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria) studbook keeper of the zoo population of Asian elephants, Dr. Reeta Sharma, who has extensive field experience and species knowledge, and Dr. Martijn Derks and Dr. Sandra Smit, supporting the bioinformatics. The PhD candidate will be embedded in the Ecology & Evolution section at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in close collaboration with Rotterdam Zoo and Wageningen University. The candidate will have the opportunity to frequently work from Rotterdam Zoo.
Deadline : 15-12-2025
(07) PhD Positions – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD in Connectomics analysis of human brain evolution
The Brain Connectivity and Connectomics team at the Department of Complex Trait Genetics at the Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (www.cncr.nl), invites applications for 2 PhD positions in the study of human brain evolution and the origins of human cognitive brain functions. This project focuses on understanding human brain evolution and how evolutionary procesess have shaped the organization of human cognitive brain networks and their cognitive functions and vulnerability to mental conditions. By applying neuroimaging, genetics and network neuroscience analyses to MRI data from multiple species, the project aims to study the evolutionary basis of human cognition—including language, working memory, theory-of-mind, and the specialized brain networks supporting these processes. One candidate will focus on the genetics side of the research question, the other candidate will focus on the neuroimaging and network neuroscience part.
Deadline : 21-12-2025
(08) PhD Positions – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position in AMO Physics – QuEST for APV
We are searching for a motivated and interested PhD-student, with a degree in physics or related topics or with experience in quantum technology, spectroscopy, and/or laser physics, who wishes to work with us in the international and stimulating environment of the joint Quantum Metrology group at LaserLaB Amsterdam.
This project aims to develop a new experimental apparatus that enables quantum enhanced sensing in trapped barium ions for tests of electroweak theory. At the basis of the project lies a unique high-precision radio frequency ion trap in which single Ba+ ions will be confined and cooled to their motional ground state. With optical standing waves the individually ions will be addressed to drive an extremely weak parity forbidden transition. In order to detect the signals from driving such a weak transition, quantum entangled states will be used that reject external perturbations. Based on measurements of atomic parity violation in Ba+, its electroweak charge will be extracted to test the electroweak theory at low energies with unprecedented precision and search for possible signal that may hint towards new physics.
Deadline : 31-12-2025
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About The Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands –Official Website
The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880, and consistently ranks among the top 150 universities in the world by major ranking tables. The VU is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The literal translation of the Dutch name Vrije Universiteit is “Free University”. “Free” refers to independence of the university from both the State and the Dutch Reformed Church. Both within and outside the university, the institution is commonly referred to as “the VU”. Although founded as a private institution, the VU has received government funding on a parity basis with public universities since 1970. The university is located on a compact urban campus in the southern Buitenveldert neighbourhood of Amsterdam and adjacent to the modern Zuidas business district.
In 2014, the VU had 23,656 registered students, most of whom were full-time students. That year, the university had 2,263 faculty members and researchers, and 1,410 administrative, clerical and technical employees, based on FTE units. The university’s annual endowment for 2014 was circa €480 million. About three quarters of this endowment is government funding; the remainder is made up of tuition fees, research grants, and private funding.
The official university seal is entitled The Virgin in the Garden. Personally chosen by Abraham Kuyper, the Reformed-Protestant leader and founder of the university, it depicts a virgin living in freedom in a garden while pointing towards God, referring to the Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th century. In 1990, the university adopted the mythical griffin as its common emblem.
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