We are looking for an excellent candidate to fill the role of a 3-year ESR position (PhD candidate) at MU to work on advanced computer simulation for creating virtual cardiac patient populations. The main objective is to develop methods to automatically simulate signals of cardiac function, such as valvular blood flow velocities and deformation (strain) of the cardiac muscle, that are representative for patients with various cardiac diseases. This methodology will be used to create virtual cohorts of cardiac patients that supplement real clinical data. Ultimately, these data will be used for training of machine learning algorithms that improve and facilitate diagnosis of cardiac diseases. You will work in close collaboration with colleagues at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven; Belgium) and will spend several months at the R&D offices of GE Vingmed (Oslo, Norway) and Medaphor (Cardiff, UK) to get acquainted with state-of-the-art intelligent ultrasound technologies.

MARCIUS is an Innovative Training Network funded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and promotes international exchange by requiring that hosts must hire students that have not lived in the host country. An additional key advantage of this training network is that students at all institutes must visit other institutes in the network through mandatory secondments, allowing each student to live and work in other environments during their PhD program.

Offer Requirements

·       REQUIRED LANGUAGES

ENGLISH: Excellent 

Skills/Qualifications

Qualifications

• Must have a Master of Science degree in one of the following fields: mechanical, electrical, or biomedical engineering, biophysics, physics, or mathematics. Candidates from related scientific disciplines are welcome to apply.
• Knowledge about cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology is required.
• Good programming skills are required. Knowledge of Matlab and/or C/C++ is a plus.
• Knowledge about and experience with biological signal processing and analysis or computational cardiovascular modeling is advantageous.
• Strong academic record with a weighted average grade of master’s or equivalent education with a grade of B or higher.
• Advantageous to have a special interest and competence within medical technology, practical experience with research methods, and R&D work at research institutes, universities and/or the health sector.
• Emphasis on teamwork, innovation, being dynamic and enthusiastic as well as collaborating well with other members of a team.

• Relevant certificates, including all grades, credits and marks and recommendation letters must be submitted along with the application. Certified copies of study credits with grades will be needed from those called to an interview.

Relevant certificates, including all grades, credits and marks and recommendation letters must be submitted along with the application. Certified copies of study credits with grades will be needed from those called to an interview.

Fixed-term contract: 1 + 2 years.

Special rules for eligibility of ESR candidates: 

ESRs shall, at the time of recruitment by the host organization, be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral degree.

Mobility Rule: at the time of recruitment by the host organization, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in The Netherlands for more than 12 months in the last 3 years. Compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.

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

The full-time position is offered for three years (first year + two years after receiving a positive evaluation), with a yearly evaluation. The salary will be set in PhD salary scale of the Collective Labor Agreement of the Dutch Universities (€2.325 gross per month in first year to €2.972 last year). On top of this, there is an 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance. 

Maastricht University

Maastricht University (www.maastrichtuniversity.nl) is the most international university in the Netherlands and, with 18,000 students and 4,400 employees, is still growing. It stands out for its innovative education model (problem-based learning), international character and multidisciplinary approach to research and education. Thanks to its high-quality research and study programmes as well as a strong focus on social engagement, UM has quickly built up a solid reputation. Today it is considered one of the best young universities in the world.

CARIM School CD

The research project will be embedded in the CARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases (www.carimmaastricht.nl), which is one of the largest top institutes for translational cardiovascular research in Europe, producing more than 500 scientific articles and approximately 40 PhD dissertations per year. This unique environment will enable the ESR to operate at the intersection of the different, but complementary disciplines of biomedical engineering, physiology, clinical cardiology and medical device industry. This will be a highly valuable experience to the ESR in their future employment in academia or health industry.