Within the UMCG Particle Therapy Research Center (PARTREC), which is embedded in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems of the UMCG, we are looking for a post-doctoral fellow in radiation physics to strengthen our multi-disciplinary preclinical particle therapy research programme.
The successful candidate will contribute to the realization of a new research infrastructure for image guided particle irradiations in preclinical radiation biology research at the UMCG Particle Therapy Research Center. (S)he will be part of the PARTREC Radiation Physics group, which consists of five faculty and several PhD-students and post-docs and is an integral part of the Medical Physics and Instrumentation Division of the UMCG Department of Radiation Oncology.

UMCG Particle Therapy Research Center
UMCG foresees a central role for particle therapy in general and proton therapy in particular, both in patient care and clinical research at the UMCG Groningen Proton Therapy Center and in radiation biology and physics research at its newly established Particle therapy Research Center. Our strategic research priorities are related to the physics and biology of particle therapy with a special focus on proton therapy.
UMCG PARTREC operates a large superconducting cyclotron for experimental research, mainly in radiation physics and biology to support further development of radiotherapy with ion beams. For this research program the cyclotron delivers beams of various ions ranging from protons to oxygen with energies up to 190 MeV for protons and 90 MeV per nucleon for ions of helium to oxygen. The accelerator is furthermore used for research in nuclear physics by faculty of the University of Groningen and for radiation hardness testing by science and industry. Some 25 fte of technical staff operate the accelerator facility and provide the support to design, build and operate experimental stations.
UMCG PARTREC promotes multidisciplinary research in which radiation physics and biology, imaging, big-data analysis and clinical research come together to improve the quality of proton therapy treatment and explore potential benefits of other particles for cancer treatment. At UMCG, there are currently over 30 PhD students and post graduates are dedicated to particle therapy research. UMCG PARTREC is a dedicated research facility functioning in synergy with the UMCG Groningen Proton Therapy Center (GPTC). Therefore, UMCG PARTREC has the ability to uniquely combine technology development, preclinical and patient studies with an R&D program to demonstrate clinical and economic benefits and to continuously improve proton therapy technology and the treatment itself, while also assessing the feasibility of other particles for high precision radiotherapy. This combination offers unique career development opportunities in the field of Medical Physics.
The UMCG PARTREC accelerator facility is well integrated in the research landscape and participates in various EU-projects. The facility is open to the worldwide scientific community and industry.
Currently a new research infrastructure for image guided preclinical irradiations (IMPACT), supported by an infrastructure grant awarded by the Dutch Cancer Society, is under development. It is expected to be fully operational by 2024. At this new infrastructure also novel irradiation modalities such as FLASH (ultra high dose rate) and spatially fractionated radiotherapy with proton and helium beams will be available for users.

- A PhD in physics or applied physics with proven expertise relevant for the field.
- Expertise in radiation transport physics including Monte Carlo simulations, radiation detection and dosimetry.
- Experience in performing experiments at accelerator facilities.
- Experience in programming and data analysis (C++, Python, MATLAB).
- Expertise in beam physics or instrumentation development incl. IT-aspects and in medical imaging are highly relevant assets.
- Interest in radiation biology is essential in our multidisciplinary environment.
- Relevant post-doctoral work experience in academia or elsewhere.
- Strong internal and external communication skills as well as leadership qualities.
- Experience in coaching and teaching PhD students and junior postdocs is an asset.
- Interest in teaching at the RUG faculties of Science and Engineering and Medical Sciences.
- Excellent command of English (spoken and written).

The applicant should be able and willing to work in a radiation environment and should have or be willing to quickly obtain the required qualification.
Part of the work will have to be done outside the normal working hours.

The UMCG has a preventive Hepatitis B policy. The UMCG can provide you with the vaccination, should it be required for your position.

In case of specific professions a ‘Certificate of Good Conduct’ is required.

We offer a stimulating and creative research and learning environment in a growing research center. It is a temporary fulltime (36 hours a week) post-doctoral fellow position for a period of up to three years. The successful candidate will initially be offered a position for one year, a two year extension is conditional on a positive evaluation after 12 months.

Your salary will be a maximum of € 4.615,- gross per month (scale 10), depending on your qualifications and relevant experience, based on a full-time appointment. In addition, the UMCG will offer you 8% holiday pay, and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC). Employees relocating from abroad may be eligible for the Dutch ‘30% ruling’, a tax advantage which results in a significantly higher net salary.

How to apply
Please use the digital application form at the bottom of this page - only these will be processed.
You can apply until 9 January 2022.
Within half an hour after sending the digital application form you will receive an email- confirmation with further information.

The application form must include:
- A motivation letter;
- A CV (including educational and employment history, academic transcript of the MSc studies, publication list etc.);
- The name and email address of at least two academic referees.

Radiotherapie

We are looking for a highly motivated and ambitious postdoctoral scientist with a background in radiation physics for particle therapy to join our team that in the coming years will realize and commission the new IMPACT facility for image guided particle irradiations in preclinical research in particle therapy.
IMPACT consists of a versatile new particle beam line; a 3D X-ray imager at the irradiation position, a bioluminescence imager and image based irradiation planning tools. It will be built in collaboration with several external partners. The project is funded by the Dutch cancer foundation KWF (KWF grant 11766) with further financial support from the UMCG and the University of Groningen. You will take the lead in the validation of the irradiation planning tools and will strongly contribute to the development and validation of the irradiation modalities, the commissioning of the entire facility and user experiments. You will be involved in setting up the data management infrastructure through which users of the facility will have access to the data related to their irradiations.