1. You have a PhD in Psychology, Cognitive Science, or a related field. If you have recently obtained your PhD, it is important that you support your research and growth potential with academic references [e.g. demonstrate potential through at least one top publication, academic references, promising research projects and articles in preparation].
2. You have a strong research profile in the field and an indisputable research integrity.
3. The quality of your research is proven by publications in prominent international peer-reviewed journals.
4. International research experience is considered as an important advantage.
5. You have demonstrable qualities related to academic education. Teaching experience is a plus.
6. You possess organizational skills and have a cooperative attitude. You also have leadership skills within a university context.
7. Your spoken and written English is excellent. The official administrative language used at KU Leuven is Dutch. If you do not speak Dutch (or do not speak it well) at the start of employment, KU Leuven will provide language training to enable you to take part in administrative meetings. Before teaching courses in Dutch or English, you will be given the opportunity to learn Dutch resp. English to the required standard.
The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of KU Leuven, invites scholars to apply for a full-time research professorship in the research unit of Brain & Cognition. This position is funded by the Special Research Fund (BOFZAP), established by the Flemish Government. We are looking for motivated and internationally oriented candidates with an excellent research record and with educational competence in the field of Experimental Cognitive Psychology. The appointment is expected to start on October 1, 2026. Applications will be evaluated in parallel and independently by 1) the KU Leuven Research Council in a competitive process across academic domains and 2) the faculty advisory committee. During the first 10 years, the teaching obligations as a research professor will be limited. Afterwards, the position will be transformed into a regular professorship.Applicants will be required to establish an innovative research program in the domain of experimental cognitive psychology, studying perception and/or memory with innovative behavioral paradigms. In addition, we welcome candidates that combine this focus on cognition with research that employs an interdisciplinary and/or multi-methods approach (such as computational or neuroscience methods), integrates a neuropsychological perspective, or extends beyond the study of young, neurotypical students, embracing diversity in cognitive profiles.Brain & Cognition concentrates on the experimental and neuroscientific investigation of psychological functions, such as (visual) perception, action, cognition (learning and memory, attention, reasoning, categorization, numerical cognition, cognitive control ...) and metacognition. The research unit aims for a multidisciplinary perspective that includes a broad spectrum of experimental research, with methods varying from the objective measurement of behavior (e.g. eye tracking, virtual reality, neurocognitive assessment), non-invasive techniques for measuring and influencing neural activity in the human brain (fMRI, EEG, TMS), neuropsychology, computational modeling, to invasive, neurophysiological and genetic research in animals. The candidate’s expertise should be complementary to the expertise and methodology of the current academic staff affiliated with the research unit
8. We offer full-time employment in an intellectually challenging environment. KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied scientific research. Our university is highly inter- and multidisciplinary focused and strives for international excellence. In this regard, we actively collaborate with research partners in Belgium and abroad. We provide our students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
9. Depending on your qualifications and academic experience, you will be appointed to or tenured in one of the grades of the senior academic staff: assistant professor, associate professor, professor or full professor. In principle, junior researchers are appointed as assistant professor on the tenure track for a period of 5 years; after this period and a positive evaluation, they are permanently appointed as an associate professor.
10. You will work in Leuven, a historic and dynamic and vibrant city located in the heart of Belgium, within twenty minutes from Brussels, the capital of the European Union, and less than two hours from Paris, London and Amsterdam.
11. KU Leuven is well set to welcome foreign professors and their family and provides practical support with regard to immigration and administration, housing, childcare, learning Dutch, partner career coaching, ...
12. In order to facilitate scientific onboarding and accelerate research in the first phase a starting grant of 110.000 euro is offered to new professors, subject to eligibility criteria set by KU Leuven.