Reference : 2026/A089
Application deadline: 31/08/2026 12:00 PM
Start date: 01/01/2027
Job description
Occupancy: 100% Professorship.
Tenure Track: The starting contract is 3 years. After the first 3 years period, an evaluation of the scientific and teaching activities will be carried out. Following a positive evaluation, the position will become tenured.
Area of Research: Inorganic Non-metallic Materials Engineering
The École Polytechnique de Bruxelles (Université libre de Bruxelles) is opening a full-time academic position in Inorganic Non-metallic Materials Engineering. The recruited candidate will develop and lead research expertise in the design, synthesis, characterisation, and functional development of sustainable inorganic materials, with a focus on glass and/or ceramics (metallic materials are explicitly outside the scope of this profile). The successful candidate should combine a rigorous understanding of materials physics with experimental expertise spanning the complete workflow, from material elaboration to property characterisation and functional evaluation. The candidate will develop activities in fields directly relevant to the sustainability transition including (but not exclusively) the use of ceramics and glasses in renewable energy applications, the design of low-carbon and energy-efficient materials, the development of functional materials for transition towards industrial decarbonization.
The successful candidate will combine deep experimental scientific expertise in inorganic materials with openness to emerging methodologies and technologies. Familiarity with or interest in additive manufacturing, high-throughput experimental approaches, or computational/theoretical methods for materials design (remove?) will be considered as an asset. The ability to bridge fundamental understanding and application-driven development is essential as the candidate should demonstrate his/her ability to obtain funding from local level (Brussels’Innoviris, Wallon region) to European level.
The recruited candidate will join the 4MAT laboratory and benefit from the outstanding infrastructure of the Caramat platform, which offers unique and complementary tools for both synthesis and advanced characterisation of inorganic materials. The profile is designed to be strongly complementary to ongoing activities within the laboratory, particularly in the areas of re- and up-cycling of inorganic materials and the development of innovative materials and technologies for structural applications, thereby reinforcing the coherence and strength of the group in the development of materials.
Educational and scientific goals: The successful candidate will be responsible for teaching analytical chemistry and ceramic materials to civil engineering students enrolled in the Chemistry and Materials Engineering programme (BA-MA). Beyond core teaching duties, the candidate will be expected to propose and supervise student projects at all levels of the curriculum, including second-year Bachelor projects (BA2), first-year Master projects (MA1), and Master's thesis. The candidate will also be expected to play an active role in the life of the programme, contributing to curriculum development, participation in programme committees, and broader educational initiatives within the department.
Courses covered at the time of recruitment:
- CHIM-H-316 (10 ECTS ; partime 6ECTS): Matériaux et chimie inorganique : mise en œuvre et analyse. Shared with Prof. G. Bruylants
- CHIM-H-412 (6 ECTS; partime tbd): Microstructural design and characterization of inorganic materials. Shared with Prof. S. Godet
- CHIM-H-415: Ceramics (4 ECTS; partime tbd). Shared with Prof. H. Rahiez
The profile of the candidate will naturally enable collaborations within the following courses:
- CHIM-S-2001: Industrial applications of chemistry. Titular Prakash Venkatesan
- CHIM-H-2002: Science des matériaux. Titular Charlotte de Formanoir de la Cazerie
- CHIMH-534 : Material Selection. Titular Alexia Chabot
Qualifications required :
PhD Degree (with doctoral thesis) in Materials Engineering, Physics or Chemistry.
Skills required
- Applicants should have at least 5 years of research experience (including the PhD) at the time of their recruitment.
- Capability to teach in English (English C1).
- Applicants who do not speak French (level B2) may be granted a period of adaptation, but they must be able to teach in French at the end of the third year following their appointment.
- Good teaching and pedagogical capabilities and commitment to improve and hone teaching skills over the years.
- Excellent scientific record in the field of materials engineering, demonstrating a strong experimental approach.
- Exchange periods outside of the applicants’ home institution (during or after their PhD) will be taken into consideration when evaluating applications.
- Good capability to collaborate with colleagues, also from different fields and background.
- Commitment to work on attracting research funds to create an autonomous research group.
Interested?
For more information, please contact Prof. Prakash Venkatesan (telephone: +32 494339556 – E-mail: [email protected]) or Prof. G. Bruylants (telephone: +32 2 650.35.86 – E-mail: [email protected]).
Your application will consist of a Curriculum Vitae (if you wish, a standard CV can be downloaded from the website: https: //www.ulb.be/fr/documents-officiels/emplois-academiques-et-scientifiques-cv-type) and a document completed using the template available at this URL address
https://www.ulb.be/fr/documents-officiels/1e-applic-form-acad-tps-plein-docx.
This template structures your application by including the following elements:
- An application letter.
- A 7,000-character report (4 pages) presenting the applicant’s research activities and a research project, including how these will integrate into ULB’s research teams and make use of the CARAMAT equipment.
- a teaching dossier including a 7,000-character report (4 pages) on the applicant's previous teaching activities and a teaching project for the first five years in this position; these must be relevant to the faculty and to the teaching profiles for the programmes to which the applicant is to contribute.
- a note on the applicant's international achievements and projects (no more than 4 pages).
- the names and e-mail addresses of five referees (respecting the gender balance) who may be contacted by those in charge of evaluating applications. These referees should not have conflicts of interest because of family or emotional ties.
Incomplete applications or applications that do not use the template provided will not be examined by the selection committee.
The appointment to the academic staff of ULB is made at” Chargé de Cours” level. As of their appointment, members of academic staff are authorised to use the honorary title of” Professeur”.
Where to go to apply?
Click here: https://jobs.ulb.be/job-invite/2036/?isInternalUser=true
For any connection problems or questions about our application, consult our FAQ : e-recrut-mode-d-emploi-candidat-en-_1734942996246-pdf
N.B.: SAP complies with European and U.S. regulations and, as a result, does not allow access to its application from the following countries/regions: Crimea, Sevastopol, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) / Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR), areas not controlled by the Ukrainian government in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, and Belarus.
Therefore, candidates applying from these countries – and only from these countries – can submit their CV and application to this address: [email protected]
Equal opportunities policy
ULB's personnel management policy is geared towards diversity and equal opportunities.
We recruit candidates on the basis of their skills, irrespective of age, gender, sexual orientation, origin, nationality, beliefs, disability, etc.
Would you like to be provided with reasonable accommodation in the selection procedure because of a disability, disorder, or illness? Please contact Marie Botty, the person in charge of diversity aspects for the academic and scientific staff ([email protected]). Be assured of the confidentiality of this information.
More details on the ULB gender and diversity policy are available at Diversity at ULB - ULB.
You will find all the regulations relating to academic careers on our site at http://www.ulb.ac.be/emploi/academique.html.
