EDUCATION & TRAINING
Want to join NERF for your PhD, postdoc or an internship? Check our current openings or contact one of our principal investigators directly to discuss possible opportunities at NERF.
Postdoctoral program
The exponentially growing community of postdoctoral fellows at NERF has direct access to state-of-the-art-technologies and tools of NERF. As important members of the different NERF teams, postdoctoral fellows have the opportunity to independently design their research program, to supervise students and to grow into an independent researcher in a nurturing environment.
There are several opportunities to obtain postdoctoral fellowships in Flanders. All of our postdocs are part of a large network of peers in different life sciences fields via VIB. In addition to ample opportunities for professional and personal skill development, the postdoc committee organizes a yearly postdoc day to which all of NERF’s postdocs are invited.
PhD Program
We offer a 4-year PhD training program in an exciting research environment. There are three research tracks:
- Neural circuits & behavior
- Neural systems and computation
- Advanced brain recording and imaging
PhD degrees are awared by KU Leuven, the University of Leuven. All students are also automatically enrolled in the NERF-VIB-KU Leuven Center Brain & Disease Research PhD program and in the imec PhD program. This gives student access to a large network of peers and to diverse training opportunities.
More information & how to apply
Bachelor’s students
We host Belgian and international undergraduate students at NERF for both short-term (3 weeks) and long-term (up to 6 or 9 months) internships. Students take part in research activities in one of the NERF labs and are directly supervised by top-notch NERF scientists.
KU Leuven and imec internship programs are in place to provide undergraduate students opportunities at NERF labs. Moreover, NERF labs have direct contacts to several universities abroad.
Master’s Students
We welcome Master's students from all around the world. All are fully embedded in our NERF teams and trained in state-of-the-art methods in neuroscience, such as the design and use of high density neuroprobes, functional imaging, optogenetics…
We host Master’s students from a wide range of disciplines such as physics, biology, engineering or computer sciences. We also teach a class on Neural Systems & Circuits.
