PhD Researcher for MSCA Doctoral Network on Over-the-Air Computing for Edge AI 

About the employer

The research of this PhD position will be conducted in the IDLab research group, which is embedded in imec and the University of Antwerp in Belgium. You will be employed by imec, and registered as a PhD student with the University of Antwerp. 

Imec was founded in 1984 and is today the world’s largest independent research and innovation centre for nanoelectronics and digital technology. Our worldwide team of 6,000 scientists, engineers, and innovators from over 100 countries, is driven by a shared passion to push boundaries. With expertise across nanoelectronics, AI, and digital technologies, our people are at the heart of every breakthrough. 

The University of Antwerp is a young, dynamic and forward-thinking university with a strong mission and vision. The university has over 23.000 students and nearly 7000 staff members. The University of Antwerp is one of the top young universities in the world, ranking #12 on the Times Higher Education Young University Ranking in 2024, and #168 overall in 2025. 

What you will do

The offered position is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network project ANT. The objective of Doctoral Networks is to implement doctoral programs by partnerships of organizations from different sectors across Europe and beyond to train highly skilled doctoral candidates, stimulate their creativity, enhance their innovation capacities and boost their employability in the long-term. ANT aims to train a network of 18 excellent Doctoral Candidates (DCs) by addressing the fundamental challenges of Embedded AI and accelerating the development of Embedded AI systems and applications through an innovative and interdisciplinary research and training program. 

The objective of the open PhD position is to advance current over-the-air-computing (AirComp) approaches for federated and graph-based Embedded AI to account for realistic impairments in terms of hardware, propagation environment, and sensing imperfections. AirComp is a novel technique that harnesses the interference in wireless multiple access channels for computation. This is especially useful for distributed and federated AI, where the input of one node is often a function combining the output of many other nodes. AirComp offers a significant scalability and latency advantages over traditional multiple channel access techniques in such scenarios. 

As a PhD candidate, you are expected to perform the following tasks: 

• You will conduct high quality research under the supervision of Prof. Jeroen Famaey and Prof. Kevin Mets as a member of the IDLab research group at imec and the University of Antwerp. 
• You will closely collaborate with other researchers at IDLab and actively participate in the training and dissemination events of the MSCA Doctoral Network ANT. 
• You will develop signal processing algorithms and protocols for AirComp, and implement and validate them in simulation (e.g., using Matlab) and in real-life using Software Defined Radios (SDRs). 
• You will write detailed technical evaluation reports on the developed solutions, implementation, and experiments, leading to publications in major conferences and journals in the field of wireless communications, and/or embedded computing. 
• You will assist in teaching lab sessions of relevant courses at bachelor or master level (at most 10% of your time). 

What we offer

• A position for a period of 12 months. Following a positive evaluation, the position will be renewed for another two years. 
• An inspiring and modern work environment in The Beacon innovation hub, walking distance from the historical city center of Antwerp.
• Access to state-of-the-art lab infrastructure including an AI compute cluster, and a recently deployed nextG wireless lab with cutting-edge SDRs deployed throughout the building. 
• A competitive monthly gross salary, including an year-end bonus (equal to 1 monthly salary) and a vacation supplement (equal to 92% of monthly gross salary). 
• A holiday scheme of 20 holidays, 12 compensation days, and 10 festive holidays. 
• Various other benefits, including a contribution to monthly mobility costs, meal vouchers, an internet-connection allowance, and an insurance package (including hospitalization insurance, pension plan, and disability insurance). 
• Participation in the MSCA Doctoral Network ANT’s training and networking events. 
• Support and facilities provided by the University of Antwerp to PhD students. More details on the university’s website. 

Who you are

• You have or will soon obtain a master’s degree in telecommunications engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or equivalent. 
• You can demonstrate excellent study results (as a minimum requirement distinction and preferably great distinction).
• You have a profound knowledge of wireless communications, and signal processing. 
• You have at least intermediary knowledge of machine learning algorithms, including federated learning, split learning, and graph neural networks. 
• You have strong programming skills in C/C++, Python, and/or Matlab.  
• Knowledge of machine learning libraries (e.g., PyTorch or TensorFlow), SDR hardware (e.g., USRP, ADALM-Pluto) and software (e.g., GNURadio, Matlab, LabView), and/or FPGA development (e.g., VHDL) is a plus. 
• You are a team player and have strong communication skills. 
• You have a high proficiency in oral and written English. 
• You comply with the MSCA mobility rules, i.e., you have not resided or carried out your main activity (work, study, etc.) in Belgium for more than 12 months in the last 36 months. 

How to apply 

You can apply for this vacancy through imec’s online job application platform. The position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found. Make sure to include at least: the requested diplomas, a motivation letter, your academic CV (educational record, research experience, work experience, teaching experience, etc.), at least 2 references, and transcripts of your study results. 

For more information about the position or application procedure, please contact Jeroen Famaey (Jeroen.famaey@imec.be). 

IMEC and its affiliates will not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. IMEC will consider unsolicited referrals and/or resumes submitted by vendors such as search firms, staffing agencies, professional recruiters, fee-based referral services and recruiting agencies (hereafter “Agency”) to have been referred by the Agency free of charge. IMEC will not pay a fee to any Agency that does not have a prior written agreement with IMEC, validated by its HR department, in place regarding a specific job opening and allowing to submit resumes.