Two research positions are open at KU Leuven, Belgium, in the Environmental Microbiology group of Prof. Dirk Springael of the Division of Soil and Water Management, starting from between September – October 2021.

The first one is a 4-years position for a PhD that will study the biology of the insertion sequence element IS1071 and its ability to recruit and spread adaptive gene functions in microbial communities.

The second one can be filled in by either a 4-years PhD or a 3-years post-doc and will study the use of mixed substrate utilization to improving the biodegradation of a mixture of organic micropollutants by consortia of dedicated bacterial strains in dilute freshwaters in a membrane biofilm reactor.