Background
The research will be performed in the research group Center for Statistics (CenStat) within the Data Science Institute (DSI) at Hasselt University. Your supervisor will be Prof. dr. Thomas Neyens and your co-supervior dr. Maxime Fajgenblat.
As a PhD student, you will work with ecologists and with partners such as Natuurpunt Studie, the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and other stakeholders like Dragonfly Conservation Europe. The Data Science Institute (established in 2019) brings together more than 150 researchers working in the broad field of data science, spread across faculties and research groups at Hasselt University. DSI's primary objective is to facilitate a data-driven future. We are committed to addressing data-related challenges, fundamental innovations, and applicable solutions. For more information, please visit: https://www.uhasselt.be/dsi
Job content
Through online portals such as Observation.org and iNaturalist, naturalists and citizen scientists record millions of observations of plants and animals. These data are not collected according to a fixed protocol: where, when and how intensively people search varies widely, and not every species that is present is also seen. In this project you will develop Bayesian hierarchical models that account for this, such as site-occupancy models with imperfect detection and spatio-temporal models, and use them to answer ecological questions. Examples are:
- how have butterfly communities in Flanders changed over the past 125 years;
- how are the ranges of insects in Europe shifting under climate change;
- at which spatial and temporal scale does land use affect where species occur;
- how can the restoration of Natura 2000 sites be monitored with existing observations?
As a PhD student, you will conduct research in the field of biostatistics, more specifically ecological statistics. Which parts make up your PhD will be decided together. You will build the models in Stan and R and test them with simulation studies. You will publish your results in scientific journals, present your work at national and international conferences and build an (inter)national network. Finally, you will contribute to a limited extent to the teaching tasks of the Mathematics-Statistics department (for example, supervising exercise sessions, preparing and grading exams, and supervising students with their master’s thesis).
The position is funded by a research project. We expect you to apply for personal PhD funding (e.g. an FWO fellowship), with full support from the supervisory team.
Profile
- You hold a master's degree in (Bio-)Statistics or Data science (or equivalent) or Quantitative Biology. Ecologists with a strong quantitative background are also encouraged to apply.
- You are interested in ecology and biodiversity, previous experience with the research topic is an asset.
- You can program in R (or Python/Julia). Experience with Bayesian statistics (for example Stan) is a plus.
- You have a good command of English.
- You have strong communication skills, both written and oral.
- You have excellent study results.
- You enjoy working in a multidisciplinary environment and you can work well in teams.
Offer
You will be appointed and paid as PhD student. We offer you a doctoral fellowship for two years. This can be extended by two years after a positive mid-term evaluation by the doctoral committee. Start date: ideally January 2027.
Selection procedure
You can only apply online up to and including 16 November 2026. The selection procedure consists of a preselection based on application file and an interview.
Further information
Prof. dr. Thomas NEYENS, [contact details available in the full listing], [contact details available in the full listing]
For questions about the selection procedure, please email [contact details available in the full listing].
