An academic in Quantitative Supply Chain Management

An academic in Quantitative Supply Chain Management

Reference: 38664 / LSM 057 / 2027

UCLouvain seeks to recruit

A full-time academic position in Quantitative Supply Chain Management

Main campus: Louvain-la-Neuve

About us

UCLouvain is the leading French-speaking university in Belgium and is also widely recognised internationally. Founded in the heart of Europe in 1425, the university brings together 40,000 students and 6,000 staff members on nine campuses in Brussels and Wallonia. Research and education activities are organised in 20 faculties, 23 research institutes, 5 learning centres and 18 libraries. UCLouvain also has two university hospitals.

UCLouvain is a major player in the transition to a sustainable society. The challenges of the ecological crisis are integrated into courses and the university develops numerous local projects (such as a university farm and sustainable campuses). As a digital university, UCLouvain is involved in open science and education, and trains academics in innovative teaching practices through its Louvain Learning Lab. Thanks to two science parks, the university’s research benefits from interaction with 250 companies and 3 incubators, which is fuelled further by being at the centre of a region driven by technological innovation.

UCLouvain has a strong tradition of international collaboration in both teaching and research. These partnerships take shape through numerous exchange agreements, its firm commitment to the European alliance Circle U. and the network The Guild, as well as the welcoming of a large community of international researchers, supported by the Louvain Welcome Desk.

The University's staff policy is based on five pairs of values which are fundamental pillars of the way the University operates, works and lives together: https://uclouvain.be/fr/emploi/politique-personnel.html

Post description

Within the Louvain School of Management (LSM) and the Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modeling in economics and statistics (LIDAM), Social Sciences and Humanities Sector, this position will include the following teaching, research and community service duties:

• Teaching

To develop, in future managers, high-levels skills in methodological aspects of supply chain management, including optimization methods, scheduling, planning, logistics, transportation, sourcing and procurement, risk modeling, and decision-making under uncertainty. Sourcing and procurement courses will be approached from a quantitative and analytical perspective. The teaching load is delivered in English and French at the bachelor's and master's levels, across the two campuses of the Louvain School of Management (LSM), located in Louvain-la-Neuve and Mons. Overall, your presence will help to expand the capacity for supervising dissertations and diversify teaching approaches, whilst ensuring a stronger interdisciplinary presence.

• Research

To develop an internationally visible research agenda addressing complex decision and optimization problems in supply chain design, planning, and operations across strategic, tactical, and operational levels, including sourcing, production, inventory, distribution, and transportation. Representative applications include (but are not limited to) network design, supplier selection and contract design, pricing and tariff optimization, production planning and scheduling, inventory control, routing, decision-making under risk and uncertainty, including reliability and resilience considerations. The research program is grounded in the foundations of mathematical programming, with expected expertise in integer optimization, stochastic optimization, robust optimization, and distributionally robust optimization, applied to complex logistics problems. The integration of optimization with data-driven approaches, leveraging statistical and econometric methods to enhance uncertainty modeling and support real-world decision-making, is seen as a natural and valued extension of the research agenda.

The successful candidate is expected to play an active role within the Louvain Institute for Data Analysis and Modeling (LIDAM), and more specifically in the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE), by participating in academic events, publishing in leading journals in operations research and and management science, supervising doctoral students, and actively collaborating with researchers from CORE, and more generally from the Louvain Institute for Data Analysis and Modeling (LIDAM), as well as with those of institutes working in related disciplines such as the Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations (LOURIM) and the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics, and Applied Mathematics (ICTEAM).

• In addition …

Once tenured, you will carry out various service activities and responsibilities within the institution, such as being a member of a programme committee or examination committee or having management responsibilities within the faculty or research institute.

You will also contribute to serving society, particularly in the economic, social, cultural or development cooperation fields. Finally, you will ensure, through research and teaching activities, the university’s international visibility.

Who we’re looking for

• Education

You have a PhD in Operations Research, Operations Management , Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, Management Engineering, or a closely related quantitative field.

• Experience

You have a proven track record in university teaching, with evidence where possible by formal evaluations.

You have a strong and independent research track record, with publications, or clear potential to publish, in leading international journals in operations research, optimization, or quantitative management science. Experience in securing competitive research funding and supervising doctoral students will be considered a strong asset.

You have supplemented this with an extended stay or significant experience abroad, outside the institution that awarded your doctorate.

• Skills

You are comfortable working as part of a team of academics and integrate research results into your teaching. You are capable of conducting high-level scientific research, from obtaining funding to team management. You are creative, open to pedagogical innovation and multidisciplinary.

You can communicate in French and English. If this is not the case, you undertake to acquire a command of these two languages within two years of taking up your position. Knowledge of other languages is an asset.

• Specifically

You will bring expertise in the modeling and optimization of supply chain systems, with a research identity anchored in the decision problems that characterize supply chain design, planning, and operations.

Your are able to combine methodological rigor in mathematical programming with a deep understanding of supply chain structures, incentives, and operational realities, and who is potentially able to integrate optimization with statistical and data-driven approaches to support evidence-based decision-making in complex supply environments.

Strong expertise in mathematical optimization and algorithmic decision-making is essential, while experience in data-driven analytics for supply chain systems is considered a strong asset.

Experience engaging with industry or real-world supply chain data is considered an asset when it is grounded in and contributes to the development of quantitative models and algorithmic methods for Supply Chain Management.

You will be expected to become an active and contributing member of the research community of CORE and, more broadly, of LIDAM, enriching its methodological culture with a research agenda at the intersection of operations research and quantitative management science, with clear supply chain identity and application depth.

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What we offer

• Tenure after positive assessment of the probationary period – typically four years. This type of career entitles you to a public sector pension.

• Appointment as lecturer or professor according to your previous academic experience, as determined by the Rectoral Council.

• Teaching load capped at 90 hours for a full-time tenure-track position, and 150 hours once tenured.

• An attractive and progressive salary according to seniority and the promotion process.

• A start date of 1 September 2027 at the earliest.

• An integrated leadership and management training programme, including a range of pedagogical, linguistic and other training courses.

• Benefits including transport, family, culture, commercial, etc.

• Official policy that supports equal opportunities and promotes diversity within academic and all other categories of staff.

• Specific emphasis on a work-life balance.

Practical Information

Application deadline: 5 November 2026 at noon (UTC+1 Time Zone) Starting date: September 1st 2027

Location

Social Sciences and Humanities Sector (LSM) (https://uclouvain.be/en/faculties/LSM) (IDAM) (https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/IDAM)

Need more information?

Questions about this position

Prof. Matthieu de Nanteuil, Dean LSM – doyen-lsm@uclouvain.be Prof. Catherine Legrand, President IDAM – presidence-idam@uclouvain.be

Questions about the procedure

Madam Céline Brauns, Rector’s Office,  celine.brauns@uclouvain.be

Questions about online application

Madam Andreea Chiriac, Rector’s Office,  secretariat-vrpp@uclouvain.be

Interested?

Applications must be submitted exclusively via UCLouvain’s online recruitment system; submissions through other channels will not be considered.

Full details regarding the application procedure are available at: https://www.uclouvain.be/en/careers/submit-your-application

Applications must include one single PDF file containing the following documents

• a cover letter (to be included in the single PDF as well as in your candidate profile);

• a detailed and up‑to‑date curriculum vitae (to be included in the single PDF as well as in your candidate profile);

• a copy of the official doctoral degree certificate;

• a complete publication list, including a summary of three recent and significant publications;

• a teaching statement;

• a research statement presenting the proposed research programme for the next five years.

Shortlisted candidates invited for an interview will subsequently be asked to provide

• a PhD project proposal, with a view to the possible recruitment of a doctoral candidate during the first year of appointment;

• three to five letters of reference, submitted directly by referees according to the instructions provided by the University.