Description
You will work in the EPOWERS Research Group of the MOBI Research Centre (Electromobility Research Centre).
Our Mission as EPOWERS Research Group is to offer and deliver cutting-edge research, provide top-notch designs and developments on power electronics, powertrains and smart green energy solutions with intelligent control systems for tomorrow's mobility, transport and smart green grid applications, with our ever-growing team of top-level researchers and experts. Our academic record at world's most renowned academic journals in relevant fields, a good word from our established national and international collaboration network of companies and research institutes, the content of the ever-growing number of projects we are involved with can be reference to our level of expertise. We follow the local and global tendencies on a daily basis, bilaterally interact and collaborate with all sorts of research, technology, business, public and political entities to contribute in shaping tomorrow's transport, mobility and green energy systems. EPOWERS is also part of MOBI Core Lab within Flanders Make - Driving Innovation.
Key Responsibilities
You will conduct cutting-edge research and work towards obtaining a PhD in the field of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), Digital Twins, and Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) for electric vehicles.
Your research will focus on the following areas:
Development of deployable vehicle-level DT platform, integrating multi-physics models (structural, thermal, electrical)
Development and integration of full-stack cloud and edge solutions, enabling scalable deployment of vehicle Digital Twins and data-driven services.
Development of component- and system-level models, combining physics-based and data-driven approaches for offline and real-time applications.
Application of AI and machine learning for vehicle monitoring, fault detection, diagnostics, prognostics, and predictive maintenance in IoT-enabled environments.
Development of PHM-as-a-Service and Digital Twin services for connected and software-defined vehicles.
Required Degree
You have a master's degree in electrical engineering or applied physics.
Required Experience
Enthusiasm and motivation to work on highly challenging research topics, and the talent to contribute to the progress of science and technology.
You have excellent object-oriented programming skills in C/C++;
Good expertise in MATLAB and machine learning models in Python;
Expert knowledge in Powertrain and Energy Management systems;
Strong analytical and research capabilities;
Ability to independently organize your own work, to solve problems, to achieve the desired goals and to cooperate;
Good scientific writing and documentation skills;
Excellent communication skills. You are fluent in written and spoken English, and knowledge of Dutch is a plus
Work experience in an industrial environment is a plus;
Project management skills are a plus.
Application Deadline, procedure
The deadline to submit applications is 31/10/2026.
Please send your application by email to ashleigh.hruz@vub.be. The subject of the email should be “LastName, Packaging PhD Application.”
Only send the files that are requested below. All files should follow the same naming convention: LastName_FirstName_DocumentType.
Files to submit:
- CV as PDF, for example, Hruz_Ashleigh_CV.pdf
- Motiviation letter as PDF, for example, Hruz_Ashleigh_Motivation.pdf
- A PDF copy of your Master’s transcripts, for example, Hruz_Ashleigh_Transcript.pdf
If you fail to follow the submission guidelines your application will not be reviewed.