Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB)

The centre

Belgium

VIB is a centre of excellence in Life Science research located in Flanders, the north part of Belgium. VIB has a joined venture with five major Flanders Universities, and researchers are active on the university campuses. VIB is uniting forces of all university partners, VIB Core Facilities, the Discovery sciences team and a Technology Watch team to allow the adoption of novel technologies in the field. VIB is widely recognized as a world-leading knowledge centre in life sciences and biotechnology with an excellent reputation in technology transfer. The unique combination of basic research and a focus on innovation and business is one of the major contributors to its success. VIB is highly committed to being the driving force behind the growth of the dynamic life sciences cluster in Flanders.

Employment Conditions

MD-PhD students will receive an employment contract at VIB. Every MD-PhD student will register for the PhD program at the partner university where the host lab is located. The MD-Ph.D students will receive a competitive gross yearly salary consisting of:

12 monthly gross salaries (net salary is dependent on the family situation)
- Monthly 200€ net travel allowance.
- In the case the fellow comes with a family (spouse/children) an additional monthly family allowance of 200€ is foreseen.
13th month (pro-rata the worked months during the year), payable in December.
92% holiday pay based on the number of worked months in the previous year and payable in June.
Full health coverage (affiliation to the national health system and additional hospitalisation coverage).
20 legal holidays + 1 day per worked month = max 32 days per year.
Access to bike lease plan (to be financed with (part of) the end of year premium).
Support with the move to Belgium, visa application (if necessary) and registration in the local commune.

Research areas and Technologies

Scientists at VIB conduct pioneering research across a wide spectrum of disciplines ranging from cancer, inflammation and neuroscience to plant biology. Our scientists are world leaders in their fields, and this is one of our greatest strengths.

Clinical landscape

VIB has a joint venture with 5 universities in Flanders. VIB labs at these universities have close links to hospitals such as UZ Gent, Leuven Gasthuisberg, UZA (Antwerp), UZ Brussels. The New Grand Challenge Programme cross discipline projects incorporating VIB scientists, clinicians, patient organisations and other societal impact partners.

PhD Programme

PhD students at VIB will enrol at the university campus where their host lab is located. Overall VIB’s PhD population is fully gender balanced and very international and consists of about 350 PhD students. PhD students can follow courses from the universities’ doctoral schools as well as plug into the broad variety of training that VIB offers, ranging from scientific to bioinformatics, skills.

Life at institute

VIB provides all employees with an attractive work environment, including access to outstanding infrastructure, core facilities and novel technologies offered by the Technology Watch team. VIB also has a wellbeing team safeguarding good interpersonal relations and respect.

International community in the city

VIB researchers are located at different cities in Flanders. All cities are very lively student and international cities but in addition they play a role as the major cities of Flanders: Gent, Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp and Hasselt. Almost all Belgian people are very knowledgeable in English. Each campus is maximum one hour distance from each other. VIB also offers several opportunities to meet among the different campuses by organising yearly VIB seminars, conferences, and Tools and Tech meetings, among others.