PhD: Environmental Exposures and Early Onset Breast Cancer (HER-Care, MSCDN DN)

HER-CARE (Hereditary & Early-Onset Breast Cancer: Comprehensive Personalized Assessment, early Risk Evaluation and clinical management) is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (MSCDN) that brings together leading European universities, research institutes, hospitals and industry partners to train 15 doctoral candidates in an interdisciplinary programme spanning genetics, epidemiology, molecular biology, data science, and environmental health.

Wat ga je doen?
At Utrecht University (Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences), we focus on understanding how environmental and lifestyle exposures contribute to the risk of early-onset and hereditary breast cancer. This position (Doctoral Candidate 6) will investigate the external exposome — the totality of environmental exposures — and its links with breast cancer risk.

Your job

In this PhD project, “Environmental Exposures and Early Onset Breast Cancer ”, you will:

• Link high-resolution exposome surfaces (from projects such as EXPANSE and EXPOSOME-NL) to large population cohorts, including the ESCALATION study on early-onset breast cancer;
• Apply advanced statistical, and machine-learning methods to identify and validate environmental determinants of breast cancer risk;
• Integrate external (environmental) and internal (biological) exposome data to build a more complete understanding of environmental contributions to cancer;
• A 4 month secondment in collaboration with the lab of Jana Klanova, RECETOX, BRNO, Czech republic: Quantify the internal exposome using high-resolution mass-spectrometry for analysis of 500 case-control pairs in the ESCALATION study;
• Second secondment of 4 months in collaboration with Prof. Carla van Gils at KWF Dutch Cancer Society: Aid in the translation of the research into public health policy recommendations for breast cancer prevention and surveillance strategies;
• Collaborate closely with other HER-CARE doctoral candidates and partner institutes across Europe;
• Disseminate your results through scientific publications and international conferences.

You are a motivated and curious researcher with:

• A Master’s degree in Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Data Science, or a related discipline;
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills;
• Desirable skills in bioinformatics and epidemiology
• Experience with statistical programming R, Python, or similar;
• Experience and/or interest in environmental and health research, spatial data analysis, and exposome science;
• Experience or interest in cancer research is not a prerequisite for application but valued;
• Experience with the analysis of molecular data such as metabolomics and proteomics (preferably mass-spectrometry based) is not a prerequisite but valued;
• Motivation to work in a multidisciplinary and international environment;
• Good communication skills and proficiency in written and spoken English;

• A full-time position (1.0 FTE) for one year, extended to four years upon a positive evaluation after the first year according to the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU);
• A fulltime working week and a gross monthly salary between €2,901 and €3,707 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under CAO NU);
• 8% holiday pay, 8.3% year-end bonus, and access to Utrecht University’s excellent employee benefits (pension, parental leave, and flexible terms).
• Opportunities to attend international conferences, workshops, and PhD training programs within the Exposome-NL and TNO networks.
• A dynamic research environment with strong collaboration between Utrecht University and TNO, combining academic depth with applied impact.

We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow .

You will be based at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), working within the One Health Chemical research line, led by Professor Roel Vermeulen. This multidisciplinary research line brings together several interconnected groups, including Occupational Health, Environmental Health, Planetary Health, Data Science & Exposome Group, and Exposure Science, and where this position will be located.

Our mission is to advance education and cutting-edge research to unravel the complex interactions between environmental factors—including chemical, social, physical-chemical, and lifestyle risk factors—and their effects on human and planetary health. By integrating multiple disciplines, we aim to transform scientific knowledge into actionable tools, insights, and solutions that promote sustainable well-being for individuals, communities, and ecosystems.

IRAS is an interfaculty research institute spanning the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine. It is dedicated to education and research on the human and environmental health risks associated with exposure to potentially harmful agents. Our research is structured around three core domains: Toxicology, Environmental Epidemiology, and Veterinary Public Health.