"PhD on Safe AI for Organ Allocation at Eurotransplant"

Job Description

The goal of this project is to design and evaluate organ allocation mechanisms, with a particular focus on the efficiency and fairness of Eurotransplant’s liver allocation system.

We are looking for a strong, motivated PhD-student with an analytical, algorithmic background who is interested in pursuing a PhD-project devoted to the allocation of donor organs to patients. The project is in cooperation with, and partially funded by, Eurotransplant. The project has a large applied component, as results on Eurotransplant donor and patient populations can inform Eurotransplant policies.

The position is for a period of 4 years at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The student’s working locations will be at Eindhoven University where the PhD candidate will be supervised by experts in combinatorial optimization, machine learning and fairness-awareness in algorithmic decision support, and the Eurotransplant headquarters in Leiden, where access to the domain expertise and real-world data and its interpretation is accessible for the project team.

We are looking for a student with a strong background in at least one of the following subjects: statistics, machine learning, discrete optimization, operations research. A strong interest in the medical and health policy aspects of the project are a plus. An interest in both technical and socio-technical aspects of effective and fair organ allocation is encouraged.

Requirements

• A master’s degree and solid background (or an equivalent university degree) in Mathematics, Computer Science, Data Science or a closely related field.
• Experience and/or strong motivation to work with real and synthetic data.
• Experience and/or strong motivation to achieve both publishable results and real-world impact.
• Experience in related topics is a plus.
• Experience working with a research team and domain experts is a plus.
• Good academic writing.
• Spoken and written English at C1 level.
• Fluency in Dutch is not required.

Conditions of Employment

Fixed-term contract: 4 years. A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate assessment after nine months. You will spend a minimum of 10% of your four-year employment on teaching tasks, with a maximum of 15% per year of your employment.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. € 3,059 max. € 3,881).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.