PhD position on high precision proton therapy for thoracic tumors at HollandPTC

Do you have affinity with medical physics research, and are you interested in working on technical solutions close to the clinic? Join a national research collaboration and contribute to technical developments that will further enhance proton therapy treatments for tumors in the thorax.

You will be part of the PROTHORAC project team, a research collaboration between the three Dutch proton therapy (PT) centers (HollandPTC, Maastro and UMCG) and affiliated universities, funded by KWF Kankerbestrijding.

The overall aim is to develop technical methods to significantly reduce radiation dose to surrounding healthy tissue, while maintaining tumor coverage and increasing treatment efficiency. The expected outcome will be an efficient workflow for precise PT which, when clinically implemented, will reduce radiation-induced side effects.

The project aims to develop the following technical solutions:

1. Develop and clinically evaluate reproducible breath-holding and regularized shallow breathing assisted by mechanical ventilation (Maastro);
2. Develop and implement probabilistic treatment planning to mitigate residual uncertainties more effectively (HollandPTC);
3. Develop and evaluate fast, precise, and efficient automated dose-guided patient positioning (UMCG);
4. Test the proposed solutions in a single workflow in a prospective in-silico feasibility trial (all sites).

The project hosts 3 PhD candidates, each located at one of the PT centers. Close collaboration between the PROTHORAC project PhD candidates is essential and will be accommodated through reciprocal site visits.

Submission is possible until: 26 march 2026

Read the full job description here.