The project

The Brussels-Capital Region (BCR) faces a major challenge in limiting dependence on motorized transport. The Regional Mobility Plan (Good Move) aims to reduce the dominance of cars and promote public transport and active modes such as cycling, which provide physical, mental, and social benefits. Yet measures such as low-traffic neighborhoods encounter strong opposition, especially in densely built-up areas. The growth of cycling as a transport mode shows clear socio-economic and cultural differences between neighborhoods and between different communities.

The UNICYCLING project investigates future cycling scenarios in the BCR and aims to develop robust and equitable measures in cycling policy. It seeks to understand current cycling cultures, identify key factors influencing cycling, develop scenarios for 2050, and assess the impact of those scenarios on different socio-economic groups. Beyond infrastructure, the project looks at meanings (norms, identities), competences (skills), and policy (laws and decrees) that influence cycling. Using a mix of methods—interviews, surveys, and policy analysis—the project will map relevant factors and develop scenarios through systems analysis and futures exploration. A diverse group of actors, including policymakers, civil servants, NGOs, and citizens, will participate in UNICYCLING via a series of workshops, outreach events, media appearances, and a closing event as part of a participatory process.

The PhD candidate will conduct academic research in the fields of urban mobility and foresight.
In particular, he/she will:

• collect and analyze qualitative data (e.g., interviews, focus groups, content and discourse analysis) and quantitative data (e.g., surveys, travel behavior datasets);
• write academic publications and research reports.
• present research findings at workshops, academic conferences, and policy events;
• contribute to public outreach activities;
• supervise master's students.

Profile

What do we expect from you? 

• You hold a Master’s degree in, for example, urban planning and spatial planning, geography, urban studies, economics, applied economics, social sciences, or movement sciences. You may also apply if you will obtain your degree in January 2026.
• You have a strong interest in factors influencing travel behavior, and in particular in the tension between transport modes in relation to socially inclusive and sustainable mobility in an urban context, which you can demonstrate through, for example, professional experience or the orientation of your thesis work.
• You are eager to learn and interested in qualitative and/or quantitative research; you have organizational skills and enjoy engaging with people.
• You write fluently and have an excellent command of French and English. Good knowledge of Dutch is an asset.
• Relevant prior professional experience outside the university (e.g., consultancy, policy preparation, or applied research) and familiarity with the Brussels context are recommended (but not a strict requirement).
• Strong team spirit and open to collaboration with colleagues.

• You have not carried out work under an assistant mandate paid from operating funds for more than 12 months (cumulative).

  Offer

  Will you be our new colleague?

  We offer a full-time PhD scholarship for 36 months (based on three one-year contracts), with an intended start date of 1 April 2026.

  You will receive a scholarship amount linked to one of the government-established salary scales.

  Please note: the effective granting of the PhD scholarship is subject to the suspensive condition of your enrollment as a PhD student at the university.

  At VUB, we guarantee an open, engaged, and diverse workplace and offer you opportunities to (further) develop your career.

  As well as this, you will also enjoy various other benefits:

• Extensive homeworking options, a telework allowance of 50 euros per month OR an internet fee of 20 euros per month;
• An open and informal working environment where attention is paid to work-life balance, and exceptional holiday arrangements with 35 days of leave (based on a fulltime contract), closure between Christmas and New Year and 3 extra leave days;
• Cost-free hospitalisation insurance;
• Full reimbursement of your home-to-work commute with public transport according to VUB-policy, and/or compensation if you come by bike;
• A wide selection of meals in our campus restaurants at attractive prices;
• Excellent and affordable facilities for sport and exercise, a range of discounts via Benefits@Work (in  all kinds of shops, on flights, in petrol stations, amusement parks...) and Ecocheques;
• Nursery near campus, discount on holiday camps;
• The space to form your job content and to continuously learn through our VUB learning platforms and training courses;

• And finally: great colleagues with a healthy drive.

  Working at VUB

  For this position, our Main Campus in Etterbeek (Brussels) will be your home base.

  For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for freedom, equality (and equal worth), and connectedness—values strongly lived on our campuses by both students and staff. At VUB you’ll find a diverse collection of personalities: innovators through and through, but above all people who are 100% their authentic selves. With around 3,500 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer in the private sector in Brussels—an international city with which we are very happy to connect, and around which our four campuses are located.

  Our education and research are grounded in the principle of free inquiry aimed at human progress. We reject any purely authority-based argument and guarantee the free formation of judgment needed for societal engagement with this basic principle.

  VUB is autonomous and democratically governed. In this way we safeguard the exercise of fundamental freedoms within our university, as well as the right of the University Community to take part in university policy and its oversight.

  The university’s mission includes:

• developing, transmitting, and applying high-quality academic education and scientific research, free of prejudice;
• embedding this in society in a spirit of social commitment;
• the critical formation of everyone in light of the responsibility to be carried within the community.

Interested?

Does this position appeal to you?

Submit your motivation letter, CV, diplomas, and an excerpt of your writing (such as your thesis) via the VUB online form at jobs.vub.be no later than 8 February 2026 (link for application available shortly). If you are preselected, you will be invited for an interview on Thursday 19 or Friday 20 February 2026.

Questions? Contact Prof. dr. Geert Te Boveldt (Geert.te.Boveldt@vub.be) or Prof. dr. Kobe Boussauw (kobe.boussauw@vub.be) (phone numbers available on request)

Want to know what it’s like to work at VUB? Visit jobs.vub.be to discover more about our campuses, benefits, strategic goals, and colleagues.

Additionally, we are also looking for a PhD candidate at the UCLouvain, you can visit the vacancy here. 

Research team

Principal investigators:

• prof. dr. Bas de Geus (UCL-PA&Health)
• prof. dr. Kobe Boussauw (VUB-Cosmopolis)
• prof. dr. Geert Te Boveldt (VUB-Mobilise)

Post-doctoral researechers

• dr. Eva Van Eenoo (VUB-Cosmopolis)
• dr. Sara Tori (VUB-Mobilise)