PhD Position in AI and Multimodal Digital Liver Pathology

KU Leuven invites applications for a fully funded PhD position focusing on the development and validation of artificial intelligence methods for multimodal digital liver pathology. Based in the Govaere Research Group within the Department of Imaging & Pathology, the researcher will work on combining digitized histopathology slides with molecular and radiological datasets to predict clinically relevant disease features. The successful candidate will engage in interdisciplinary research spanning the inflammation-to-cancer continuum, including MASH, ASH, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Expected duties include creating computational pathology workflows, managing large datasets, collaborating with clinical specialists, and participating in a structured doctoral training program.

• Curate, quality-control, and harmonize whole-slide images and linked clinical-molecular datasets.
• Develop and train computational pathology workflows utilizing deep learning, self-supervised learning, and multiple-instance learning.
• Integrate image-derived features with transcriptomic, spatial-omics, genomic, or proteomic profiles.
• Explore multimodal prediction models incorporating radiological and MRI data where appropriate.
• Collaborate with pathologists, clinicians, and molecular researchers to biologically interpret model predictions.
• Evaluate model performance, generalizability, and interpretability using rigorous reproducible workflows.
• Prepare scientific manuscripts, communicate results at conferences, and contribute to the broader academic environment.