PhD Position in Sustainable Business Process Management and IoT-Driven Process Innovation

KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (Brussels Campus)

We are looking for a highly motivated PhD researcher with an interest in Business Process Management (BPM), digital technologies, and sustainability. The position is supervised by Prof. Irene Vanderfeesten and Prof. Estefanía Serral Asensio and offers the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research at the intersection of business processes, Internet of Things (IoT), and sustainability.

Project

Organizations today face increasing pressure from regulators, customers, and society to operate more sustainably. While business processes are traditionally optimized for efficiency, cost, and quality, organizations are now expected to actively manage their environmental footprint and social impact. However, translating sustainability ambitions into measurable operational improvements remains a major challenge.

This PhD project aims to help organizations bridge that gap. By combining Business Process Management (BPM) with emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and real-time analytics, the research will develop new methods and technologies that make sustainability measurable, manageable, and actionable within day-to-day operations.

The project will investigate how environmental and social sustainability objectives can be translated into operational process indicators, how sustainability data can be captured through IoT technologies, and how this real-time information can support process analysis, redesign, automation, monitoring, and decision-making throughout the BPM lifecycle. Examples include measuring and improving carbon emissions, energy consumption, worker well-being, and safety at the process level.

The research will contribute to the emerging field of Sustainable Business Process Management (SBPM) by developing novel concepts, methods, and technologies that enable organizations to improve both operational performance and sustainability outcomes simultaneously. As such, the project addresses one of the key challenges of digital transformation: leveraging digital technologies not only to make organizations more efficient, but also more sustainable.

The work combines methodological innovation with practical relevance and will be conducted in close collaboration with industry partners, particularly in smart industry environments, ensuring that the research delivers tangible impact for both academia and practice.

Research Topics

Possible research directions include

• Translating sustainability objectives into measurable process performance indicators.

• Designing IoT-based approaches for collecting sustainability-related process data.

• Developing methods for integrating sustainability information into process analysis and redesign.

• Investigating how sustainability metrics can support adaptive and automated process execution.

• Extending BPM models, notations, methods, and technologies to enable sustainability-driven decision-making.

• Evaluating and validating proposed solutions in real-world industrial settings.

Profile

We are seeking an ambitious candidate who

• Holds a Master's degree in Information Systems, Business Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related discipline.

• Has expertise in Business Process Management, Information Systems Engineering, and/or digital technologies.

• Is interested in sustainability, IoT, process automation, data analytics, or digital transformation.

• Demonstrates strong analytical, conceptual, and problem-solving skills.

• Is able to work independently while contributing effectively to collaborative research projects.

• Has excellent written and spoken English skills.

• Experience with BPM systems, enterprise information systems, process mining, IoT platforms, or data analytics is considered an asset.

Offer

We offer a four-year PhD position at KU Leuven, one of Europe's leading universities. As a doctoral researcher, you will enroll in the PhD programme in Business Economics (specialization: Management Informatics) and receive advanced research training and supervision from internationally recognized experts.

The position offers

• A fully funded four-year PhD appointment (upon successful yearly evaluations).

• A competitive doctoral scholarship in accordance with KU Leuven regulations, including social security coverage, holiday allowance, and an end-of-year bonus.

• The opportunity to conduct pioneering research on the integration of sustainability, IoT, and Business Process Management.

• Close collaboration with leading academic researchers and industrial partners.

• Opportunities to publish in top international journals and conferences and to build an international research network.

• Professional development through doctoral training, research seminars, and international collaborations.

• A supportive, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research environment.

• A workplace at KU Leuven's Brussels campus, located in the heart of Europe.

This position provides an excellent opportunity to develop into an independent researcher while contributing to innovative solutions with both scientific and societal impact.

Research Environment

You will join LIRIS (KU Leuven Research Center on Information Systems Engineering), a leading research group within the Faculty of Economics and Business. LIRIS is internationally recognized for its research in Business Process Management, Information Systems Engineering, digital transformation, process analytics, and organizational innovation.

The group offers a vibrant and collaborative research environment with strong international academic partnerships and longstanding collaborations with industry and public-sector organizations. These collaborations provide access to real-world challenges, empirical data, and opportunities to develop research with tangible impact in practice.

More information about LIRIS

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Irene Vanderfeesten, mail: irene.vanderfeesten@kuleuven.be.

Applicants should apply via the online application procedure.

Your application should include

• A motivation letter (of maximum one page). Please state your skills, research interests and fit with the PhD position. This should be a personal and individual letter: refrain from submitting a motivation statement that has visibly been created with generative AI tools.

• Your CV. Please specify your Master's degree (Master's programme, university + country, year obtained, final grades) and Master's thesis (Title, Year, Supervisor) in your CV. Highlight any prior academic accomplishments.

• A transcript of your grades and prior qualifications.

Candidates who meet the basic eligibility criteria and demonstrate a good alignment with the open position will be shortlisted and invited for an interview. The final selection of the candidate may be done as soon as a suitable candidate has applied: do not wait until the formal end date to submit your application.

You can apply for this job no later than October 23, 2026 via the online application tool

KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.

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