Doctoral scholarship holder technical art history​/conservation-restoration

Organisation/Company University of Antwerp Research Field Chemistry » Physical chemistry Chemistry » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 9 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Belgium Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

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The Department of Conservation-Restoration in the Faculty of Design Sciences is looking for a full-time (100%) doctoral scholarship holder in the field of Technical Art History/Conservation-Restoration.

• You will work actively on the preparation and defence of a PhD thesis in the domain of Technical Art History/Conservation-Restoration, within the project "La peinture en bois - Visualising the colourful past based on the faded present". This is a multidisciplinary project that combines heritage science (e.g., SEM-EDX, XRF, FTIR-analysis), 17th and 18th-centuries archival studies and historical recipe studies with historically accurate reconstructions, to generate new insights into the wood colouring technologies and traditions on furniture from the 17th- and 18th-century Low Countries.
• You will collaborate with the colleagues and stakeholders of the Belspo FED-tWIN HOME-AGE project, including the Royal Museum for Art & History, Brussels (KMKG-MRAH).
• You will collaborate with heritage scientists, chemists, technical art historians, museum professionals and private collectors, and you may occasionally travel to partner collections/institutions linked to relevant case studies. Therefore, good communication skills are expected to act as a mediator between the different disciplines and various stakeholders.
• You will have to travel to national and international museums, conferences, expert meetings… according to the project’s needs.
• You will reconstruct a selection of historical recipes.
• You will conduct non-invasive/micro-invasive chemical characterisation primarily using X-ray and IR-based methods (e.g., pXRF/macro-XRF, pFTIR) and UV/Vis spectrometry, and you will manage multi-technique reference datasets.
• You will publish scientific articles in WoS/VABB-SHW journals with impact factor, related to the research project.
• You will carry out a limited number of teaching and research support tasks for the ARCHES Research Group.

• You hold a master’s degree in Conservation-Restoration, Technical Art History,
  Chemistry or Physics related to heritage science
  , or you will have obtained it by the time you start work.
• You have professional proficient reading skills of
  Dutch
  .
• You have professional proficiency in reading, speaking, and writing in
  English
  .
  • Professional proficient reading skills of French is considered a plus.
  • Demonstratable reading proficiency of additional languages is considered a plus (e.g. German).
• Expertise or notable experience in material-technical study and analysis of heritage objects is considered a plus.
• Expertise or notable experience in the study and/or the reconstruction of historical technologies is considered a plus.
• Expertise or notable experience with material characterisation by means of XRF and/or FTIR is considered a plus.
• When eligible, the candidate is obliged to apply at least one time for either a FWO PhD Fellowship fundamental research or a fellowship strategic basic research during the first two years of their PhD appointment.
• Your teaching competences are in line with the University of Antwerp’s educational…