Postdoc wanted at KULeuven

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leuven invites applications for a postdoctoral position in the area of surgical robotics.

We seek outstanding postdoctoral applicants to strengthen this expanding research group. A fully-funded position starting from January 1, 2015 for the duration of two years is available. We are looking for goal-oriented candidates that are dedicated to close the gap between proof-of-principle laboratory setups and systems with proven clinical relevance. Earlier experience in clinical trials is a plus.

Candidates should be in the possession of a PhD in engineering or computer science on topics such as surgical robotics, medical image processing, design of medical devices, human-robot interaction, mechatronics, general robotics or should be capable of demonstrating similar capabilities and skills.

The successful candidate will develop and validate assistive technology for amongst others robotic eye-surgery. These activities will be linked, but not limited to the upcoming European-funded H2020 project EurEyeCase that will be co-ordinated by the University of Leuven. Within EurEyeCase the candidate will have ample opportunities to engage with our clinical (hospitals in Leuven, Rotterdam and Milan) and industrial partners (SME's in Germany (2), Netherlands) and Austria and will have the opportunity to follow the development trajectory until the operating room.

The successful candidate will have a large responsibility for this particular project, but is also expected to pro-actively engage and collaborate with parallel activities in the research group.

The robot-assisted surgery group is a dynamic and multi-disciplinary research group consisting of members of the divisions PMA (Production Engineering, Machine design and Automation) and BMe (BioMechanics), which maintains tight and multiple collaborations with UZ Leuven, the largest university hospital in Belgium, located close to the Mechanical Engineering Department. The group is currently coordinating the EU FP7 CASCADE project on robotic catheterization and collaborating with the University College of London in the GIFT-SURG project on fetal surgery. Other active research lines include amongst others bilateral teleoperation, haptics, shared control, bio-mechanical tissue modelling, real-time FEM, human intention recognition, surgical training and robotic laser surgery.

Applications should contain a C.V., a cover letter describing research interests and goals, a full list of publications, copies of up to three relevant papers, and names and contact information for at least three references (expected to provide letters of recommendation).

Application procedure:

Please refer to this link for application details.

• Envisioned starting date Jan 1, 2015 (recruitment will continue until suitable candidate is found)
• Deadline of application December 31, 2014.
• Please feel free to contact us for further information. In such case, please insert "RAS Postdoc - robotic eye surgery"
• as header in your communication.
• The site will remain open until a suitable candidate is found, but as mentioned envisioned starting date would be January 1st.