Postdoctoral Fellowship (09) at University of Antwerp, Belgium

• You will assist in ongoing research projects in classical representation and reasoning of quantum knowledge
• You will help coordinate project proposals in the field of theoretical computer science, in general, and quantum information and computation, in particular, and contribute to attracting external funding.
• You will assist in the supervision of PhD students and other team members.
• You will fulfil a limited number of teaching activities.
• You will participate in the provision of academic services: you will represent the research group both internally and externally, help to coordinate service projects, and so on.

The advertised position is hosted within BioCLEAR’s team, led by Prof. Siegfried Vlaeminck, and will contribute to BioVal, a Horizon Europe research and innovation action with research activities led by dr. Luis Diaz Allegue and prof. Siegfried Vlaeminck. This international multi-partner project will develop a near-zero-waste biorefinery using microalgae and bacterial gas fermentation to convert residual biomass and captured CO₂ into lipids and other high-value products, including pigments and antioxidants.

The project places particular emphasis on astaxanthin production from Haematococcus lacustris and the evaluation of commercially relevant microalgal strains with industrial potential. At UAntwerp, research focuses on optimizing cultivation processes with a specific emphasis on aerobic photomixotrophic metabolism, combining photoautotrophic and aerobic heterotrophic growth to enhance lipid and pigment productivity. In parallel, customised downstream processing strategies are developed for the extraction and purification of lipids, astaxanthin, and other valuable compounds, to maximise recovery yields, product quality, and overall process efficiency.

• You will contribute to the construction, commissioning, and scientific exploitation of a new UHV testing and cleanroom infrastructure at UAntwerp.
  Third-generation observatories such as ET require residual gas pressures of ~10⁻¹⁰ mbar and exceptional cleanliness with respect to heavy hydrocarbons (partial pressures ~10⁻¹⁴ mbar for amu > 100) to reach their sensitivity targets. The new infrastructure — a class 7 cleanroom, including ultrasonic cleaning baths, dry oven, and a custom-made vacuum bake-out setup with Residual Gas Analysis (RGA) capability — will enable systematic studies of the outgassing behavior of materials, components, and small assemblies under      representative ET conditions. The results will improve the definition of certified UHV component lists and standardized cleaning procedures for ET. In addition, the facility will also support hardware qualification for ETpathfinder and experiments for the Advanced Virgo+ Phase 2 upgrade.
• You will be expected to drive the scientific program of the lab in close collaboration with the PI: commissioning the setup, validating its performance against key performance indicators, and using it to qualify materials and components.
• Mentoring and supervision of PhD students and of Master’s and Bachelor’s thesis projects is also included.
• You will collaborate with partners at ETpathfinder, and Virgo.
• The position is based in Antwerp, with funding available for travel to ETpathfinder, Virgo, and collaboration meetings.

• You will join the group’s research on sensors & actuators, seismic attenuation and controls, by contributing to the construction and commissioning of new compact seismic isolation systems for Advanced Virgo+ Phase 2.
  A major upgrade planned for the O5 observing run is the installation of short stable recycling cavities, which requires significant modifications of the existing vacuum and seismic isolation systems. The optics and benches will be suspended through new compact seismic isolation systems based on the Advanced Virgo Multi-SAS and ETpathfinder designs.
• You will work closely with the international suspension teams within the Virgo collaboration on the construction and on-site commissioning of these prototype systems, co-develop improved suspension control schemes, and build hands-on expertise in suspension commissioning in preparation for an actual observation run.
  The work connects directly to parallel activities at UAntwerp on LVDT sensor development and a MIGA-based local suspension platform, providing an opportunity to feed control- and sensor-level improvements developed in-house into Virgo and to bring operational suspension experience back to ETpathfinder.
• You are expected to co-lead the UAntwerp contributions in collaboration with the PI, including mentoring and supervision of a PhD student and of Master’s and Bachelor’s thesis projects.
• You will contribute to Virgo commissioning and service activities in line with Virgo authorship requirements .
• You will build and maintain international scientific contacts.
• The position is based in Antwerp, with time foreseen on-site at the Virgo observatory (EGO/Cascina, Italy) during installation and commissioning campaigns. Funding is available for travel to Virgo, collaboration meetings, and partner institutes.

• You will join the 2 μm Light Sources and Photon Detection Sensors research within the group, in close collaboration with the optics laboratory at Ghent University (UGent). 
  Whereas all current gravitational wave detectors operate at 1064 nm, ET and ETpathfinder will use new wavelengths — 1550 nm and 2090 nm — required to operate cryogenic monocrystalline silicon test masses at their minimum optical Commercial photodetectors and front-end electronics are widely   available for 1064 nm and 1550 nm, but 2090 nm is unconventional and demands new sensors with quantified photon detection efficiency, dark current, vacuum compatibility, and front-end heat dissipation.
• You will lead the development of the front-end readout electronics for these new 2 μm photodetectors at UAntwerp: building on existing 1550 nm sensor designs, investigating low-noise and low-heat amplifier and digitizer architectures, performing state-of-the-art front-end simulations, and producing optimized readout PCBs for testing in the 2 μm optics setup at UGent. 
  The integrated readout system must be compatible with the existing ETpathfinder back-end DAQ infrastructure, which is already operational in the UAntwerp lab. The work will contribute directly to the ETpathfinder programme and is expected to inform the initial photodetector readout design for ET.
• You will conduct research and publish your results to disseminate scientific insights.
• You will work in close coordination with a photonics engineer postdoc at UGent on the joint characterization of the optical and electronic components.
• You will contribute to ETpathfinder service and integration activities.
• You will build and maintain international scientific contacts.
• You will contribute to the supervision of Master’s and Bachelor’s thesis projects, and PhD students.
• In addition to project-based research, you will contribute to ETpathfinder service and integration activities.
• The position is based in Antwerp, with funding available for travel to UGent, ETpathfinder (Maastricht, NL), and collaboration meetings.

• You will further develop, install, and commission a new and independent calibration method that uses back-scattered light from the end benches to inject periodic phase differences in the interferometer without actively moving the mirrors. 
  Precise calibration of the interferometer strain h(t) is essential to exploit the full sensitivity of Virgo and ET. The technique provides an independent cross-check of the existing photon-calibrator-based reconstruction with different systematic uncertainties, gives access to higher-frequency calibration (1.5–2.0 kHz), and is expected to contribute to an improved absolute detector calibration. Its implementation is an Advanced Virgo+ Phase 2 upgrade deliverable, coordinated by the PI, and the first upgrade project coordinated by Belgian institutes (BelGrav group: UAntwerpen, UGent, VUB).
• You will contribute to the hardware development of the scattering system, to the thermal and ultra-high-vacuum compatibility characterization of the scattering components, and to subsequent installation, commissioning, and performance measurements at the Virgo observatory.
• You are expected to co-lead the project with the PI and work closely with a PhD student at UGent.
• You will contribute to Virgo commissioning and service activities in line with Virgo authorship requirements .
• You will build and maintain international scientific contacts.
• You will contribute to the supervision of Master’s and Bachelor’s thesis projects,.
• The position is based in Antwerp, with time foreseen on-site at the Virgo observatory (EGO/Cascina, Italy) during installation and commissioning campaigns. Funding is available for travel to Virgo, collaboration meetings, and partner institutes.

• You will contribute to mapping of PFAS use across healthcare to support substitution and risk assessment. Together with other project partners, you will categorize PFAS by properties and functions, compile toxicity, fate, exposure, and supply-chain data, and document potential PFAS-free alternatives.
• You will contribute to the chemical analysis of PFAS and PFAS-free alternatives in selected articles and products using state-of-the-art chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques, including (non-targeted) screening and cheminformatics approaches.
• You will contribute to the exposure assessment including extractables/leachables with the compilation of existing data, exposure modelling and analysis of selected scenarios using fit-for-purpose standardised methods (e.g. ISO, CEN etc.) or LC-HRMS and/or GC-HRMS. This includes human health exposure through leachables during use.
• For the tasks mentioned above, you will refine and implement existing analytical methods at the TC and validate new methods for PFAS in matrices of emerging interest.
• You will conduct research and publish your results to disseminate scientific insights.
• You will contribute to attracting external funding for the TC and will coordinate project proposals in the field of PFAS research.
• You will participate in the provision of academic services: you will represent the research group both internally and externally.
• You will build and maintain international scientific contacts.
• You will supervise and evaluate Master and PhD students with a view to successfully completing and defending their thesis.

• You will carry out high-quality scientific research in the field of redox flow batteries. More specifically, you will be responsible for developing and testing 3D electrodes. You will study the effect of hydrodynamics and dynamic flow regimes in redox flow batteries and design. You will develop a stack and scale-up redox flow batteries. Your task is to conduct research on these topics, assist in supervising ongoing research projects and guide the team of PhD students working within this field.
• You will report on the results of your research and produce academic publications.
• You will assist in overviewing and maintaining the redox flow battery lab.
• You will assist in the supervision of PhD students and other team members.
• You will assist in ongoing research projects and the activities of the research group.
• You will develop new research projects and you will compete for externally funded research grants in which you will contribute to attracting national and international research funding.
• You will participate in the provision of academic services: you will represent the research group both internally and externally.