Professor in Computational Drug Discovery

Organisation/Company KU LEUVEN Department Departement Farmaceutische en Farmacologische Wetenschappen Research Field Pharmacological sciences » Pharmacy Biological sciences » Biology Engineering » Biomedical engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 31 Jul 2026 - 23:59 (UTC) Country Belgium Type of Contract To be defined Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Jan 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by a EU programme Reference Number ZAP-2026-4 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

It is part of the assignment of the appointed candidate to develop, within the domain of computational drug discovery an international, competitive research program, to pursue excellent scientific results at an international level and to support and promote national and international research partnerships. The candidate must meet a strong research profile or have the potential to do so.

In addition, the candidate is expected to have a multidisciplinary attitude and a willingness to cooperate intensively with other researchers and research units of the department and KU Leuven institutes like Leuven.

AI as well as and VIB.AI.

• Is an excellent, internationally-oriented researcher and develops a research program at the forefront in the field of computational drug discovery, where you are expected to lead a research program in bioinformatics strongly linked to accelerating and improving the drug discovery process.
• Strengthens existing research lines and brings complementary and/or additionally new expertise including AI/Machine Learning-based methodologies that can be developed for virtual ligand screening, reverse virtual screening (target fishing) and de novo compound design.
• Is committed to providing relevant bioinformatic guidance, coaching and/or training of researchers, e.g. PhD students and postdocs, from the different research groups of the department in an open and transparent collaborative setting.
• Publishes in high impact peer reviewed international journals
• Supervises master students, PhD students and postdocs to a high international level.
• Aims to acquire competitive research funding from national and/or international agencies and submits effective research project proposals for this purpose.
• Establishes both within KU Leuven, national and international partnerships in the context of the research program.
• Strives for excellence in research and provides a contribution to the international research reputation of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences and KU Leuven.
• Can identify and pursue potential valorization of your research results, in collaboration with the technology transfer unit Leuven Research and Development according to the applicable procedures of the KU Leuven.
• Your teaching assignment will be determined in consultation based on your specific profile and will include lectures as well as other teaching approaches (tutorials, interactive workshops, internship supervision, etc.), particularly within the Bachelor and Master programs of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Teaching duties for other degree programs of the Biomedical Sciences Group or the Science and Technology Group are also possible.
• You will contribute to the educational project of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, other faculties and the KU Leuven by supervising master theses and as a promoter of PhD students.
• You will develop your teaching duties in accordance with KU Leuven's vision through activating and research-based education and you make use of the opportunities for educational professionalization offered by the faculties and the university.
• The teaching assignment load will gradually increase, depending on your qualifications. In your further academic career, due attention will be given to maintain an optimal equilibrium between research and teaching.

You will take responsibility in management tasks of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and in scientific and/or social communities. The very…