Employment percentage: Full-time
Location: Leuven
Science, Engineering and Technology Group, Group T Leuven Campus
Apply up to and including: Tuesday, October 12, 2021
In the Science, Engineering and Technology Group of KU Leuven, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Department of Computer Science there is a full-time academic vacancy in the area of computer science, on Group T Leuven Campus. We are looking for internationally oriented candidates with an excellent research record and with educational competence within the field of software engineering. As you will be part of the e-Media research group at Group T Leuven Campus, your research is strongly focused on design, development, deployment and maintenance of human-centric systems, including for example smart objects or mobile applications. The Faculty of Engineering Technology has an extensive national and international network, both in the academic and business world. The new faculty member will become a member of the DistriNet research unit at the Department of Computer Science, an internationally leading research group with recognized expertise in the areas of security, distributed systems and software engineering. At Group T Leuven Campus, the local research group e-Media offers a solid research infrastructure, an extensive international network, connections with companies and non-profit organisations, a stable offer of talented PhD students, and a supportive work environment. The e-Media Research Lab investigates, develops and implements novel techniques to enhance the human condition with embodied media. Their systems contain sensors that capture input from a human user or information from the environment, algorithms that analyse these data, and intelligent systems with actuators that generate meaningful output. Central to their research questions is how humans will perceive this output, and how they respond to it. Their human-centred systems are applied in the domains of health care, learning, arts and entertainment.
Website unit
Duties
Research
- You develop a research programme at an international level in software engineering for digital and innovative applications. These applications typically include front-end user interfaces on mobile devices and web clients, as well as processing capabilities in the back-end (typically a cloud environment) or on the edge where resources are typically much more constrained. Application domains of relevance include –but are not limited to: media and entertainment, medical diagnostics and care, traffic and logistics, factories and warehousing, smart cities. Engineering software applications for these challenging environments includes supporting major concerns such as performance, data consistency, availability and privacy. In addition, all stages of the software lifecycle are of importance, from development to production time, including dynamic updates, modification, maintenance and evolution. A non-exhaustive list of relevant subthemes in this area of software engineering for digital and innovative applications includes: continuous integration/continuous delivery pipelines, gradual deployment of software and version management, software testing and crowd testing, software engineering for data intensive applications (focusing on data collection, processing and storage), and agile development. You strengthen existing research lines and provide additional expertise.
- You engage in high-quality scientific research, resulting in PhDs completions and publications that meet international standards, and lead to broad international recognition.
- You support the existing network of companies through the commercialisation of research results, and by delivering industrial services, aimed at strengthening industrial innovation.
- As part of your research programme, you develop international partnerships, within the academic world as well as with industrial partners.
- You are able to acquire competitive funding, both project-based government funding as well as industrial funding.
- You strive for excellence and thus contribute to the further development to the international reputation of the research group and the faculty. You strive to contribute to technology transfer and application of the results of your research in industry/government/society.
Education
- You provide high-quality education for both bachelor and master students in the field of software engineering, with a clear commitment to the quality of the programme as a whole. All professors are expected to contribute to basic undergraduate courses.
- You contribute to the faculty’s and the university’s pedagogical mission through the supervision of student projects (e.g., thesis projects) and by acting as a supervisor of PhD students.
- You have an outspoken interest in next-generation engineering education and are willing to evolve throughout your career towards substantial educational engagements. You develop your teaching in accordance with KU Leuven’s views on activating and researched-based education, and make use of the possibilities for educational professionalization offered by the faculty and the university.
- Your teaching duties are determined in agreement and are based on your specific profile. For this specific vacancy the campus is looking for expertise in both bachelor level as well as master level courses, including topics such as Software Development, Web Development and Distributed Applications, Networking, and Internet of Things. There is scope to develop research courses at master level in your domain of expertise. The teaching assignment is limited in the first years of your appointment. In your further career, the faculty will also pay attention to the balance between research and teaching time.
Service
- You are prepared to provide service to the scientific community, to society and to the university in function of the needs and your personal interests.
- You will carry out applied research projects in collaboration with industry and government, and create a network of industrial partners.
- You will actively involve yourself in promoting the Faculty of Engineering Technology to future students and participate in the information and promotional activities of the faculty.
Profile
- You hold a PhD in Computer Science or an equivalent degree, and you have research experience in a field related to software engineering.
- You have a strong research track record in the discipline, evidenced by your publications or by your research experience in industry. You have the ambition to contribute to the valorisation of research in industry and in society. International experience is an important advantage.
- You have verifiable qualities related to academic education. Teaching experience is an advantage.
- You possess organisational skills and have a cooperative attitude. You also possess leadership competencies in a university or industry context.
- Proficiency in English is required. The official 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 offer a full-time employment in an intellectually stimulating environment. KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied scientific research. Our university is highly focused on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research and strives for international excellence. In this regard, the university actively works together with research partners in Belgium and abroad and provides its students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
You will work at KU Leuven Group T Leuven Campus, in a historic, dynamic and lively city, located in the heart of Belgium, within 30 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. At the end of this period and a positive evaluation, they are permanently appointed (or tenured) as 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 100.000 euro is offered to new professors without substantial other funding, appointed for at least 50%."
Interested?
For more information please contact Prof. dr. ir. Stefan Vandewalle, chair of the Department of Computer Science
(stefan.vandewalle@kuleuven.be, +32 16 32 76 54) or Prof. dr. ir. Wim Dewulf, campus chair of Group T Leuven Campus
(wim.dewulf@kuleuven.be, +32 16 37 28 81). If you have problems submitting your application online, please send an email to
solliciteren@kuleuven.be.
Add to your application following documents in English (more information is available on the KU Leuven job site):
- your biosketch in which you indicate your added value as an academic for research, education and service to society of your past career and of your future activities (maximum 2 pages);
- a file on your five most important publications or realizations;
- an extensive cv including a full publication list and if applicable a portfolio of your projects;
- your research plan with focus on the development of your research line and research team in relation with the colleague-researchers of the entity of employment (maximum 4 pages);
- your vision on academic education and its organization (maximum 2 pages);
- your contribution to society by outreach and public communication on science and technology, internal representation in boards and councils and service activities directly in relation to your developed expertise (maximum 1 page);
- your vision on leadership (maximum 1 page).
KU Leuven places great importance on research integrity and ethical conduct and will therefore ask you to sign an integrity statement upon appointment.
You can apply for this job no later than October 12, 2021 via the
online application tool
KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at
diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be.