Are you holding Master’s degree and ready to elevate your academic journey to the highest level? Leiden University, Netherlands, has announced a multiple fully funded PhD positions awaiting talented individuals like you. Don’t miss your chance to be part of our vibrant academic community. Explore the exciting PhD positions available and submit your application today!”
Candidates interested in fully funded PhD positions can check the details and may apply as soon as possible.
(01) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD position: ultrafast broadband-THz spectroscopy of perovskite materials
The Faculty of Science Leiden and Leiden Institute of Chemistry are looking for a PhD candidate in experimental ultrafast spectroscopy.
Metal-halide perovskites (MHP) are optically active materials, which hold great promise as light-absorber (e.g. in photovoltaic devices and photodetectors) and as light-emitter (e.g. in LEDs). The material is both ionic and soft, meaning that electrons strongly ‘talk’ to the vibrations in the lattice. These lattice vibrations have frequencies in the 0-5 THz range and are thus thermally active at room temperature, meaning that the material is in a constant state of vibrational motion, which acts a source of dynamic disorder. This disorder is poorly understood, and can localize electrons on short length- and time scales.
Within this project, we aim to understand the motion of photoexcited electrons in MHPs within the framework of dynamic disorder. To this end, you will construct and use an optical-pump/broadband-THz probe spectrometer, with which we can probe the frequency-resolved photoconductivity on timescales spanning picoseconds to nanoseconds. You will work in a recently founded group which focuses on both advanced (nano)materials development and ultrafast spectroscopy.
Deadline : 13 October 2024
(02) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD student in Biochemistry, Structure and Function of Archaeal Chromatin
The project is aimed at understanding structure, function and evolution of archaeal histone proteins. It is embedded in a dynamic multidisciplinary research group (biochemistry, biophysics, molecular microbiology, genetics, microscopy) with long-standing expertise in the structure and function of chromatin in bacteria and archaea. See www.archaealchromatin.com. The group is part of the section Macromolecular Biochemistry at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, in which a diverse of range macromolecular systems is investigated to understand their structure-function relationships. Moreover, the group is associated with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Genome Research (CIGR) and the Centre for Microbial Cell Biology (CMCB). The candidate is expected to be able to work independently and as a team player in this multidisciplinary environment. The candidate is also expected to have good experimental and, ideally, writing skills. The internationally oriented research group provides a friendly, inclusive and stimulating working environment, with excellent training in hard and soft skills in preparation for careers in academia and industry.
The chromosomes of bacteria and archaea are organized and compacted into a nucleoid. This is achieved by the action of nucleoid-associated proteins that fold the genome by bending, wrapping or bridging it. In our group we investigate, using a quantitative approach, the mechanisms employed by the various proteins that are involved in DNA organization and compaction both from a molecular and a cellular perspective (Peeters et al., Nature Rev Microbiol, 2015; Dame et al., Nature Rev Gen, 2020).
The goal of this sub-project is to define by using biochemical, biophysical techniques, and structural biology, the role and DNA structuring properties of known and newly identified conventional (Henneman et al., PLOS Gen, 2018; Henneman et al., Nucl Acids Res, 2021) and non-conventional archaeal histone proteins (Ofer et al., Comm Biol, 2023; Hu et al., Nucl Acids Res, 2024; Schwab et al., biorXiv, 2024).
Deadline : 15 September 2024
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(03) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD Fellow Intelligence and Security
The PhD fellow will develop a research project on the digital transformation of intelligence and contribute to our teaching portfolio in our bachelor and master programmes. The rise of digital technologies has transformed numerous sectors, reshaping how organizations operate and interact with their environment. Advancements in bulk data collection, data analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud computing to name a few, have significantly expanded the capability to process and analyze vast amounts of information. Digital innovation is particularly critical for intelligence organizations as they strive to provide timely and actionable insights to support decision-makers. Possible research questions will ask what is digital transformation and what are its implications for intelligence? Who are the main actors behind digital transformation and how do they interact with intelligence agencies and practices? What are the main challenges that stem from emerging digital technologies and how have intelligence organizations sought to overcome them? What are the principal requirements for successful digital transformation? Projects could for example focus on specific aspects of digital transformation such as the use of large language models and their implications for core intelligence functions such as warning. They should engage with broader conceptual debates, for example about innovation and control, technological sovereignty and democracy.
PhD fellows are junior academics who are responsible for teaching workgroups across the bachelor programmes and for teaching assistance in the master programmes, while also completing their PhD dissertation. They spend fifty percent of their time doing dissertation research and fifty per cent teaching, which includes the PhD training and tutor training they receive themselves. Because they teach half of the time, the fellows receive a tutor salary, and because they do PhD research half of the time the fellows have a 6-year contract to enable completion of their dissertation in that period.
PhD fellows primarily teach bachelor workgroups in which students work on their academic and professional skills using content from the lectures, and learn to apply relevant theories and practices. Collaborating with the course lecturers, tutors design workgroups, teach in small groups, provide input on assessment methods and rubrics, and grade assignments. In addition, they assist in master programme teaching under supervision of the course examiner.
Deadline : 6 September 2024
(04) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD Fellow Terrorism and Political Violence
The PhD fellow to develop a research project on the interplay between reality and fantasy in terrorism and political violence to contribute to our teaching portfolio in our bachelor and master programmes.
The intermingling of fact and fiction is a recurring feature of radicalized individuals and movements. Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik fantasized being the leader of a ‘Knights Templar’ resistance movement. The racist and violent fantasy of white resistance in the face of multiculturalist oppression described in the novel The Turner Diaries has inspired some of the deadliest acts of right-wing terrorism in recent history. Fantasy and myth are also being used to create new shared realities outside of right-wing extremist movements, including radical animal-rights groups, conspiracy movements (e.g. ‘red pilling’) and jihadist terrorists.
In both the academic and professional field of radicalism, extremism and terrorism, it has been noted that it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between what is real and what is fantasy in kaleidoscopic, violence-prone (digital) cultic milieus. Do these people really believe what they are saying? Is this an extremist form of ‘live action roleplaying’ (LARP) or an actual threat? Both over- and underestimating the intermingling of fact and fiction in radicalized settings can have serious implications for effectively dealing with radicalization and the violence that may result from it.
Deadline : 6 September 2024
(05) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD candidate in the field of biochemistry
Protein aggregation is a key driver of human disease including neurodegeneration. In response, cells have evolved elaborate networks of molecular chaperones that combat protein aggregation by stabilising and refolding misfolded proteins, and preventing aggregation. More surprisingly, the Hsp70 chaperone can also actively disassemble existing protein aggregates. The question remains how Hsp70 toggles between these different cellular functions and which of these activities is most important to combat disease.
The student will carry out research leading to a PhD degree using biophysical and biochemistry techniques to characterise the molecular mechanisms of Hsp70 chaperone activity. We will study how Hsp70 co-chaperones enable Hsp70 to perform different functions that impact the misfolding and aggregation of a-synuclein and explore how we may selectively tune these functions to combat protein aggregation in disease.
Deadline : 31 August 2024
(06) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD fellow Diplomacy and Global Affairs
The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs is looking for a PhD fellow in its research group Diplomacy and Global Affairs
The PhD fellow will develop a research project on EU diplomatic representation and network diplomacy to contribute to our teaching portfolio in our bachelor and master programmes. The project aims to focus on the EU Delegations, their organizational structure and capacity to promote EU governance objectives in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood against the backdrop of EC-EEAS institutional role contestation and geopolitical challenges. The project aims to achieve better understanding of the constraints and opportunities for the Delegations to interact with governments, civil society, epistemic communities, local governments, and the public to advance reforms considered by the EU as fundamental, above all, rule of law.
The project aims to advance the theorization of multilateral diplomatic representation, as well as understanding of the Delegations capabilities to act locally to promote EU governance objectives and values. Mixed-method research including ethnography supported by field interviews as well as quantitative analysis will help deepen academic understanding of the complexities of Europe’s unique diplomatic subsystem and the opportunities and limitations of EU external relations. The candidate will conduct research in the context of two related international collaborative projects on the role of networks affecting rule of law and socio-economic outcomes and on trends in global diplomatic representation.
PhD fellows are junior academics who are responsible for teaching workgroups across the bachelor programmes and for teaching assistance in the master programmes, while also completing their PhD dissertation. They spend fifty percent of their time doing dissertation research and fifty per cent teaching, which includes the PhD training and tutor training they receive themselves. Because they teach half of the time, the fellows receive a tutor salary, and because they do PhD research half of the time the fellows have a 6-year contract to enable completion of their dissertation in that period.
PhD fellows primarily teach bachelor workgroups in which students work on their academic and professional skills using content from the lectures, and learn to apply relevant theories and practices. Collaborating with the course lecturers, tutors design workgroups, teach in small groups, provide input on assessment methods and rubrics, and grade assignments. In addition, they assist in master programme teaching under supervision of the course examiner. Teaching expertise, experience, and trainings allow the PhD fellow to obtain a University Teaching Qualification (UTQ or BKO in Dutch).
Deadline : 6 September 2024
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(07) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD: sustainability & circularity-based decision support systems (industrial digital twins)
Future sustainable factories for manufacturing-as-a-service require the connection of information systems to enable the exchange of data from operations to sustainability-based decision support. As a PhD candidate in this project, you will have the opportunity to develop Decision Support Systems (DSS) and harmonize data collection protocols for sustainability and circularity assessment. These will be integrated into a manufacturing digital twin of laser technologies as a service, streamlining decision support for industrial operations.
Deadline : 15 September 2024
(08) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD Fellow Governance of Crisis and Cybersecurity
The PhD fellow will develop a research project that examines the impact of cybercrises on public safety to contribute to our teaching portfolio in our bachelor and master programmes. Ensuring cybersecurity in our society is a pressing governance challenge that is performed by various public and private actors. Private actors deal with cybersecurity incidents or breaches in their organisations, while a combination of public and private actors are responsible for protecting our critical infrastructure against breakdowns. Once a cyberattack escalates into the public domain, there is a significant risk of cascading effects that may impact other vital sectors causing a widespread transboundary crisis. To better understand how to safeguard our societies from cyberattacks, we need to combine insights from safety science and cybersecurity to develop adequate (networked) protection, and complement this with knowledge from crisis management to understand adequate preparedness, response, and recovery.
This project aims to advance our understanding of what public safety challenges may occur and how different actors need to collaborate across different sectors to safeguard our society against the effects of cyberattacks. Possible research questions will ask: in what ways do cyberincidents and/or cyberattacks impact public safety? How does a cybercrisis cascade into different types of crises? How do actors make sense of various cyber risks, and ensure public safety by protecting against different crisis escalation pathways? What are the main challenges for governing cybersecurity crises in a network of public and private actors? Projects could for example focus on specific aspects of cybersecurity and public safety such as sensemaking, coordination, and network governance. The PhD fellow is asked to combine relevant conceptual debates and methodologies across the domains of cybersecurity, safety science, and crisis management.
PhD fellows are junior academics who are responsible for teaching workgroups across the bachelor programmes and for teaching assistance in the master programmes, while also completing their PhD dissertation. They spend fifty percent of their time doing dissertation research and fifty per cent teaching, which includes the PhD training and tutor training they receive themselves. Because they teach half of the time, the fellows receive a tutor salary, and because they do PhD research half of the time the fellows have a 6-year contract to enable completion of their dissertation in that period.
Deadline :6 September 2024
(09) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD Candidate, Brain-inspired LLM for Edge Devices: A Hardware-Algorithm Co-design Framework
We are looking for a PhD student to work on a brain-inspired large language model (LLM) system, including hardware and algorithm design on the edge with applications like speech assistance and rehabilitation for post-stroke patients. Brain-inspired computing (neuromorphic computing), inspired by the neural structure of the human brain, offers a promising avenue for the real-time and low-power processing of complex signals. This approach is particularly advantageous in applications where rapid and efficient processing of signals is crucial for timely decisions. Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) have showcased their impressive capabilities across various natural language processing (NLP) tasks, such as understanding and generating text that aligns with an individual style. Fine-tuning is a common method used to modify LLMs for particular downstream tasks. In this project, we aim to explore a compact, real-time, and ultra-low-power brain-inspired LLM system for applications like post-stroke speech assistance and rehabilitation. Under the guidance of Qinyu Chen and Zhaochun Ren, this position offers a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of technological advancements that promise to reshape the future.
Deadline : 1 September 2024
(10) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD: Targeting electron transport chain in Listeria monocytogenes for novel antibiotic development
Listeria monocytogenes is a food-born pathogen, able to grow at both low and high temperatures, and causes a serious food poisoning called listeriosis even from properly refrigerated foods. The European Food Safety authority (ESFA) has identified L. monocytogenes as one of three most serious food hazards to public health. Under anaerobic conditions, L. monocytogenes can transfer electrons out of the cell to redox balance its fermentative metabolism. It has been shown that this extracellular electron transport (EET) is important for survival and virulence of L. monocytogenes and hence the proteins involved in EET provide a promising target space for new antibiotics.
In this PhD project, the candidate will join a friendly, creative and interdisciplinary research team that studies the molecular mechanisms of bacterial respiration and develops novel antibiotics. The PhD student will learn and apply a range of biochemical and biophysical approaches to discover the molecular pathway of electron transfer in L. monocytogenes and select inhibitors against selected proteins of this pathway to validate EET as a potential antibiotic target. Besides the cloning, expression and purification of key proteins in the EET pathway, the candidate will develop activity assays to confirm hypothesized functions in oxidoreduction and membrane transport, and use single-particle cryoEM to elucidate the molecular structure, mode of action and inhibition. These results will provide the necessary foundation for future antibiotic development.
The Faculty of Science Leiden and Leiden Institute of Chemistry are looking for a PhD in Targeting the electron transport chain in Listeria monocytogenes for novel antibiotic development
Deadline : 15 January 2025
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(11) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD: Modeling the mechanical regulation of plant development and regeneration (1.0 FTE)
The opening is for a research position within the field of mathematical or theoretical biology, computational physics, applied mathematics or computational science. This PhD project is part of the Gravitation programme GreenTE (Green Tissue Engineering), a multidisciplinary consortium of 7 Dutch universities. Together, GreenTE will unravel how plants sense and respond to mechanical stimuli. These fundamental insights will be the basis to develop engineering interventions to improve plant regeneration, seed longevity and defenses against disease. The successful applicant will be an integral member of the GreenTE community, which offers an open, diverse and inspiring environment to engage in multidisciplinary mechanobiology research at the intersection of biology, chemistry and physics, and is expected to participate in GreenTE events, training and collaborations.
Deadline : 8 September 2024
(12) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD position in Social Anthropology
The project, “Entangled Universals of transnational Islamic Charity”, a European Research Council-funded Consolidator Grant (ERC-CoG), led by Dr. Radhika Gupta, and hosted by Leiden University’s Institute of Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology, is looking for two PhD candidates, one for research in India, and one for research in Tanzania. The project investigates how transnational Islamic charities are positioning themselves as universalist projects by claiming humanity as their constituency. Islamic charitable networks have increasingly invested in public works to meet the social needs of both Muslims and others. As the lines between charity, philanthropy, humanitarianism and development have become blurred, transnational Islamic charity has become entangled with Western humanitarianism and neoliberal welfare regimes. This raises questions such as: How do Islamic charitable networks rearticulate the category of humanity in efforts to address diverse constituencies and new challenges? How do Islamic charities define and contribute to the public good within globalized neoliberal welfare regimes? How do recipients of aid demonstrate their humanity to meet shifting criteria of worthiness?
To address these questions, the project steps outside the ‘traditional heartland’ of the Islamic world and centers two non-Muslim majority countries in the global south: India and Tanzania. Ethnographic research in these countries will foreground the perspectives of seekers and recipients of aid to understand how sectarian, racial, and caste hierarchies figure in the articulations of humanity by Islamic charities.
Deadline : 10 September 2024
(13) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD candidate combinatorial drug discovery with macrocycles
- Generate a general synthesis and screening workflow for combinatorial macrocycle libraries (incl. tandem MS-based decoding strategy
- Establish strategies for the discovery of macrocycles with favorable druglike properties
- Prepare combinatorial high diversity libraries and discover binders to relevant therapeutic targets
Deadline : 31 August 2024
(14) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD candidate in Network Science
Leiden University’s computer science department (LIACS), part of the Faculty of Science, is seeking an enthusiastic and well-qualified PhD candidate in network science, a field also referred to as complex networks or social network analysis. The position is for 4 years and is fully funded.
The position is part of SSHOC-NL, a five-year national consortium project on advancing methods and infrastructure in, among others, the social sciences. Within SSHOC-NL Leiden University and University of Amsterdam jointly lead the work on large-scale social network analysis, which is the focus of this PhD position. While the position offers a certain degree of freedom in terms of the precise research direction, as part of the broader consortium project, the candidate will be asked to work on community detection in large-scale dynamic networks, and how this is affected by aggregation of the network. This ties into a broader objective of the consortium in which the aim is to understand how privacy-sensitive population-scale (network) data, possibly at an aggregated level, can be made accessible and interoperable.
The candidate will be part of the Platform for Large-scale Analysis of Networks Netherlands (PLANET-NL) interdisciplinary group of researchers in both computer science and social science, which will meet regularly as part of the broader consortium project. One particular object of study of this group, and thus possibly also for the candidate, is the multi-layer population-scale social network data of the Netherlands, featuring twelve years of longitudinal network data on all seventeen million inhabitants of the Netherlands and their family, work, school, neighbor and household ties (see, e.g., https://www.popnet.io).
The candidate will be encouraged to collaborate on projects with other members of the Computational Network Science (CNS, https://cns.liacs.nl) group. Moreover, there are ample opportunities to collaborate with other research groups at LIACS in for example data science, machine learning, text mining and algorithm design. It is furthermore possible to get engaged in (limited) BSc and MSc student (co-)supervision, as well as minor scientific organizational activities. Additionally, there are plenty of opportunities for interaction and collaboration, for example at the Faculty of Science through the Leiden Complex Networks Network (LCN2, https://lcn2.leidenuniv.nl) and nationally through the Dutch Network Science Society (https://www.netsci.nl).
Deadline : 1 September 2024
(15) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD candidate on soil fungal ecology
We are hiring a PhD candidate (4 years) in a project on soil fungal traits and their relation to soil functions. The PhD will be situated at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) within the VIDI project awarded to the PI.
The major overarching goals of the project are to 1) unravel the assembly and functional diversity of soil fungal communities, (2) reveal how fungal traits determine biodiversity and soil functioning, and (3) steer traits of the fungal community to recover the loss of soil multifunctionality. This will be achieved by combination of field characterization of fungi and their functions across land use gradients and by experimental manipulations of fungal communities and their functions. Communities and traits will be measure together with a postdoc using both culture-based and molecular methods and soil functions will be explored using for example stable isotope measurements and other cutting-edge measures. Further (mesocosm and field) experiments on steering soil fungal communities to improve their functionality will be performed. Hence, for this project knowledge on and interest in soil fungi and soil functions are required.
Deadline : 25 August 2024
(16) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD position in ‘Effects of Pollution at the Ecosystem Level’
The freshwater system and its adjacent ecosystems host countless species because of their need of water. These are the earths’ natural capital and drivers of many ecosystem services we humans depend on. At the same time, the presence and effects of anthropogenic stress in the aquatic environment are multitude and ubiquitous. These include the omnipresence of chemical pollution such as the use of agricultural chemicals.
To relatively quickly assess the impacts of chemicals a standard risk assessment framework is in place. While valuable, the frameworks often lacks ecological realism. Researchers from Leiden University therefore experiment in outdoor freshwater experimental systems with natural food webs such as the “Levend Lab” (EN: “Living Lab”, https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/livinglab) to identify how biodiversity responds to the impacts of pesticides, fertilizers, invasive species and nanomaterials.
Using ecological theory, a large array of different experimental and statistical analytical methods are currently in practice to perform and analyze such experiments. The key challenge for the PhD candidate is to test these different forms of experimental and statistical analytical methods to identify stressor – ecosystem function relationships. The research will likely entail measuring different forms of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functionality followed by statistical modelling to infer causality of stressor impacts and their propagation through the ecosystem.
We invite prospective candidates to unravel the intricate network of species interactions between each other and their environment. The candidate will use new analytical methods and develops models and interpretation scenarios to identify how pollution impacts species and their role in ecosystem functionality.
Deadline : 18 August 2024
(17) Fully Funded PhD Position
PhD position summary/title:– PhD Statistics
The Mathematical Institute of Leiden University invites applicants for 2 PhD positions working with prof.dr. Marta Fiocco and dr. Marta Spreafico within the Data Analysis and Survival for Personalised Oncology (DASPO) group.
The candidates will conduct research within the field of survival analysis, causality, and prediction modelling. This covers developing new statistical methods, investigating its properties by simulations and theoretical considerations, and applying them to medical cancer data. The positions come with light teaching duties.
Deadline : 15 August 2024
About Leiden University, Netherlands : Official Website
Leiden University (abbreviated as LEI;Dutch: Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. It was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, making it the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands.
Known for its historic foundations and emphasis on the social sciences, the university came into particular prominence during the Dutch Golden Age, when scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic due to its climate of intellectual tolerance. During this time, Leiden became the home to individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza, and Baron d’Holbach.
The university has seven academic faculties and over fifty subject departments, housing more than forty national and international research institutes. Its historical primary campus consists of buildings in multiple places in the college town of Leiden, while a second campus located in The Hague houses a liberal arts college (Leiden University College The Hague) and several of its faculties. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, the Europaeum, and a founding member of the League of European Research Universities.
The university has produced twenty-six Spinoza Prize Laureates and sixteen Nobel Laureates. Members of the Dutch royal family such as Queen Juliana, Queen Beatrix, and King Willem-Alexander are alumni, and ten prime ministers of the Netherlands including incumbent Mark Rutte. US President John Quincy Adams also studied at the university.
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