The research teams collaborating under VIGILANCE “Noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging for individuals at risk for apparently idiopathic ventricular fibrillation” are now hiring PhD candidates for the period 2017-2022. If you have a MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering, Technical Medicine, Knowledge Engineering, or Medicine, and you have a demonstrable interest in cardiac imaging, image integration, arrhythmology and/or data management, this may be a unique opportunity to join internationally renowned investigators on the topic of “idiopathic ventricular fibrillation”.

Our projects focus on the:

(1) establishing of a Dutch national registry of patients with idiopathic ventricular fibrillation;

(2) addition of the novel modality of noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging to the diagnostic flowchart of such patients;

(3) mechanistic study of arrhythmogenesis in idiopathic ventricular fibrillation to improve clinical management; and

(4) further improvement of the accuracy of electrocardiographic reconstruction by noninvasive imaging in experimental and clinical validation studies.

 • MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering, Technical Medicine, Knowledge Engineering, or Medicine. Candidates in the last months of their MSc training may also apply. Clinical doctors who wish to combine their work with a PhD trajectory are also invited.

• Excellent CV with demonstrable interest in cardiac imaging, image integration, arrhythmology and/or data management, and with a high potential to achieve the PhD degree;

• Team player with an interest to join a national consortium study with investigator meetings and patient contacts across the country.

Fixed-term contract: 1 + 3 years.

The full-time position is offered for four years (1+3 y.), with a yearly evaluation. Your salary would be €2.222,- gross per month in the first year and up to €2.840,- gross per month in the fourth year, according to the PhD candidate salary scale. On top of this, there is an 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO-NU). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information, see http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees.

The Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), School for Cardiovascular Diseases, is one of the top institutes for translational cardiovascular research in Europe. It is among the world leaders in the fields of research into vascular and thrombotic disorders and atrial fibrillation as well as translational heart failure research. It has also made important international contributions to molecular imaging in the cardiovascular field.

With an annual budget of approximately 22 mln Euros in 2016, CARIM is one of the largest cardiovascular research institutes in Europe, producing more than 550 scientific articles and approximately 45 PhD dissertations per year. CARIM employs 250 researchers from 13 disciplines, about 120 PhD students and 50 technical and support staff members.

Over the last ten years, CARIM papers have been published in high-impact journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Nature Medicine, Nature Cell Biology, Cell Metabolism, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Circulation, Lancet Neurology, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Bibliometric analyses illustrate that CARIM publications have been cited 1.97 times more often than the world average for the cardiovascular field in the period of 2009 until 2012.

CARIM is recognized by the KNAW as a research school and as an international training site for Early Stage Researchers in the framework of the Marie Curie Program.

Cardiovascular scientists from around the world join CARIM because it values open communication, close cooperation, high ambitions, good facilities and a critical learning environment.

https://www.carimmaastricht.nl/?culture=en-GB