Human milk is an important source of infant nutrition in early life, but relatively few methods are available to investigate human milk and to support women with breastfeeding problems. We invite you to apply if you are a biomedical engineer, applied/experimental physicist, or electrical engineer who is interested in learning more about human milk through its interaction with light. The aim of this PhD-project will be to develop novel optical sensing methods to evaluate human milk composition and its dynamic behaviour during breastfeeding.

You will be a member of the Biomedical Photonic Imaging group of the University of Twente. You will be part of a hardworking, highly motivated and multidisciplinary research team that collaborates on engineering new methods for breastfeeding research. The main focus of your work will be on optical design and signal processing. Biochemical methods will be employed for validation purposes. You will work with breastfeeding mothers for the acquisition of human milk samples, as well as for the in situ validation of your methods. Your position will be funded by an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council.

• MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering, Applied Physics or related field.
• Excellent skills and practical experience in: (biomedical) optics or photonics, optical system design, optical signal analysis.
• Proficient in written and spoken English.
• You enjoy working in a multidisciplinary team and you are passionate about learning new concepts and doing original research.
• You are an analytical and critical thinker, with a high degree of responsibility and independence.
• You have good organizational and communication skills and you are able to collaborate and connect with colleagues, team members and study participants.

• Fulltime position for four years
• The university offers a dynamic ecosystem with enthusiastic colleagues in a stimulating scientific environment.
• The PhD salary is € 2.443,- in the first year and increases to € 3.122,- in the fourth year.
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.
• The number of holiday hours for full-time employment is 232 hours per calendar year.
• A personal development program within the Twente Graduate School.

Work is carried out at the Biomedical Photonic Imaging group of the University of Twente. We study the interaction of light with tissue using experiments, simulations, and theoretical methods. Our final aim is to develop new optical and hybrid optical-acoustical technologies to solve urgent challenges in medical diagnostics. For further information, you are encouraged to visit us at https://www.utwente.nl/en/tnw/bmpi/, where you can read more about our research.