PhD student – Sustainable Biocontrol of Rice Grain Rot in Vietnam

The ideal candidate:

• holds a Master's degree in Engineering Technology, Bioscience Engineering, or a related discipline.
• has a strong interest in plant-microbe interactions, microbiome analysis, (comparative) genomics, and sustainable agriculture.
• enjoys combining laboratory research with computational data analysis.
• is eager to collaborate within an international multidisciplinary research consortium.
• is willing to present research at international conferences and publish in leading scientific journals.
• is enthusiastic about supporting teaching activities and supervising Bachelor and Master students.
• is proactive, creative, solution-oriented and able to work independently while functioning well within a team.
• is well-organized, flexible, critical-thinking and not afraid to take initiative;
• can work independently, but also has good teamwork skills;
• thinks in solutions, not in problems;
• has an excellent command of English (spoken and written).
• is eager to apply for an independent fellowship with the support of the PIs.

Rice is the staple food for more than half of the world's population. However, rice production is increasingly threatened by rice grain rot, a devastating disease mainly caused by Burkholderia glumae. In Vietnam's Mekong Delta—one of the world's most important rice-producing regions—this disease can cause yield losses of up to 75%, and its impact is expected to increase further under climate change. Current management options are limited, while reliance on chemical pesticides is becoming increasingly unsustainable.This ambitious project aims to develop innovative microbiome-assisted biocontrol strategies against one of the most destructive bacterial diseases affecting rice production in Southeast Asia. The project combines fundamental and applied research through three closely integrated research lines: (i) Characterization of Burkholderia glumae isolates collected throughout the Mekong Delta; (ii) Identification of beneficial microorganisms and microbiome signatures associated with healthy rice fields using high-throughput sequencing and advanced bioinformatics; (iii) Discovery, characterization and evaluation of indigenous bacterial biocontrol organisms capable of suppressing rice grain rot.The successful candidate will apply a broad spectrum of state-of-the-art techniques, including: microbial isolation and culturing, plant infection assays, microbiome sequencing and analysis, whole genome sequencing, comparative genomics and genome mining, qPCR method development, and applied bioinformatics.The project offers a unique opportunity to work at the interface of microbiology, microbial ecology, plant pathology, genomics, bioinformatics and sustainable agriculture, while contributing directly to global food security and environmentally friendly crop protection.The PhD will be conducted at KU Leuven, in close collaboration with Can Tho University (Vietnam). The research will result in a PhD degree at KU Leuven and is expected to generate multiple high-impact scientific publications, presentations at international conferences, and close interaction with academic and industrial stakeholders.The Laboratory for Process Microbial Ecology and Bioinspirational Management (PME&BIM) at KU Leuven (Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, Campus Group T, Belgium) is internationally recognized for its expertise in plant-microbe interactions, and the development of innovative biological control strategies for sustainable agriculture (https://iiw.kuleuven.be/onderzoek/pme-bim), and is part of the KU Leuven Plant Institute (https://www.kuleuven.be/plant-institute). We offer a fully funded four-year PhD position (initial one-year appointment, renewable up to four years following positive evaluation) at one of Europe's leading research universities. The successful candidate will join a dynamic and internationally recognized research group with extensive expertise in microbiome analysis, biological control, molecular microbiology, and next-gen sequencing. We offer access to state-of-the-art molecular biology and sequencing facilities, opportunities to perform international research visits and collaborate with researchers in Belgium and Vietnam, and to contribute to research with direct societal impact by developing sustainable alternatives to chemical pesticides and improving global food security. In addition, we offer an inspiring, interdisciplinary and supportive research environment with strong international collaborations, and you will be given support to participate in international conferences and publish your science in respected scientific journals.