PhD research projects

Our offer

A 4-year PhD training program with access to state-of-the-art research facilities. PhD students at NERF work together with internationally recognized scientists to develop their research projects in an exciting research environment. In addition to guidance from their advisor, students are also advised by their thesis committee members to support their academic and professional development.

Research tracks

Neural circuits & behavior
Neural systems and computation
Advanced brain recording and imaging

Training

We are committed to career development. As a PhD student, you will get intensive and dedicated supervision and access to an extensive training course program available through our different affiliated institutes. After successful completion of the program, you will be awarded a PhD degree from KU Leuven. Our students enroll the programs of the doctoral schools of biomedical sciences, humanities or social sciences, or science, engineering & technology.

imec academy Training @ VIB KU Leuven doctoral schools

Role of long-range cortical and thalamocortical circuits in visual perception

How is the brain wired up to enable sight? Research the contribution of multiple visual areas and visual pathways to vision in the Bonin lab.

Learning and memory without the brain

Dissect how repetitive motor training reinforces learned locomotor behavior as a member of the Takeoka lab.

Mechanisms of axonal repair in retinal diseases

Attempt to better understand what aspects of the response to injury in zebrafish enables circuit restoration, identify crucial molecular players, then translate and test these insights in mice as a member of the Farrow lab.

Unveil and improve data on patients with acute CNS injury

Every neuron saved from ischemic or apoptotic death counts. For a patient, it may be the difference between either or not regaining consciousness, either or not having sufficient strength and coordination to walk, either or not avoiding serious cognitive decline. A project at the Urban lab

Investigate the principles of robustness in neural systems with machine learning

Use computational methods to study the role of different scales — from membrane and synaptic biophysics to connectivity patterns — in conferring robustness to neural systems, at the Gonçalves lab.