About the University of Antwerp

The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society.

Position

You will work actively on the preparation and defense of a PhD thesis in the field of built heritage, and in specific, augmented mapping of cocoa heritage in São Tomé and Príncipe or Ghana depending on the candidate’s language skills.

You develop scientific knowledge that has the potential to be translated into strategic insight and/or guidelines for understanding and mapping food-related multidimensional heritage in times of climate change.

You will collaborate with colleagues within the Built Heritage group of Antwerp Cultural Heritage Sciences (ARCHES) and the Architecture and Interior (A+I) research group.

You will publish scientific articles related to the research project both independently and with your promotors Prof. dr. Yonca Erkan and Prof. dr. Sara Eloy.

You will carry out a limited number of teaching and research support tasks for ARCHES Research Group and A+I research group.

Profile

• You hold a Master degree in heritage studies or a related discipline (architecture, architectural conservation, urban planning, interior architecture, etc.) or you will have obtained it by the time you start work.
• You can demonstrate excellent study results.
• You have fluency at least at the C1 level in English and/or in Portuguese. Dutch is desirable but not essential.

What We Offer

We offer a doctoral scholarship for a period of one year. Following a positive evaluation, the scholarship can be renewed for another year, up to a maximum of four years.

The planned start date is 1 November 2026 (or 1 January 2027 if non-Belgian nationality) or as soon as possible after that date.