PhD Position Additively manufactured biodegradable bone substitutes with tunable degradation

Design the next generation of biodegradable, additively manufactured bone substitutes. Combine materials, mechanics, and machine learning to shape patient-specific regenerative implants.

PhD Position: Additively Manufactured Biodegradable Bone Substitutes with Tunable Degradation

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, TU Delft — Departments of Precision and Microsystems Engineering (PME) & Biomechanical Engineering (BME)

Are you excited by the idea of engineering next-generation regenerative implants? Do you want to combine additive manufacturing, materials science, biomechanics, and physics- and machine learning-based modeling to create transformative medical solutions? Join us in this ambitious collaboration between the PME and BME departments, and help shape the future of patient-specific bone replacement.

In this PhD project, you will develop biodegradable porous bone substitutes produced through additive manufacturing of metal-ceramic composites. These architected implants will be tailored for mechanical performance and controlled degradation, enabling safe and effective regeneration in load-bearing environments.

Your core challenge is to understand and predict how geometry, material composition, and manufacturing parameters drive quasi-static performance, biodegradation kinetics, and manufacturability. You will employ a combined physics-based and machine-learning modelling approach, supported by in-vitro mechanical and degradation experiments for validation.

The developed porous structures will integrate seamlessly with macro-geometries and topologically optimized architectures from sibling PhD projects, delivering a fully engineered, patient-specific bone-replacement solution.

This PhD position is part of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (Horizon Europe). As an MSCA Doctoral Candidate, you will join a vibrant international cohort, participate in network-wide schools and workshops, and pursue mandatory research secondments abroad. The MSCA framework offers exceptional training, mobility, and career-development opportunities.

Job requirements

Your Key Responsibilities:

• Investigate the role of design parameters, architecture, material composition, and AM process settings on mechanical performance and degradation behavior.
• Develop physics-based and data-driven models to link geometry, materials, and biodegradation kinetics.
• Conduct in-vitro mechanical tests and biodegradation experiments to validate models.
• Collaborate closely with researchers at PME and BME, as well as with the wider MSCA network.
• Interface your designs with macro-scale implant geometries and topology-optimized structures from sibling projects.

Your Profile

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Biomedical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field.
• Knowledge of additive manufacturing, biomaterials, or mechanical testing.
• Strong background in lab works including material characterization, chemical process, and in vitro testing.
• Experience with programming (e.g., Python, Julia) is a plus.
• Interest in biomechanics, biodegradable materials, and design for AM.
• Good communication skills and the ability to work in a multidisciplinary team.
• Willingness to relocate and undertake international secondments.
• Compliance with MSCA mobility rule: you must not have lived or carried out your main activity (work, studies) in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the past 36 months.

What we offer:

• A fully funded PhD position within a prestigious MSCA Doctoral Network.
• Close supervision and mentorship from both PME and BME departments at TU Delft.
• Access to state-of-the-art additive manufacturing and experimental characterization facilities.
• Training through network-wide workshops, summer schools, and transferable-skills programmes.
• Research secondments with international academic and industrial partners.
• Collaboration with a cohort of Doctoral Candidates working toward an integrated, patient-specific implant design pipeline.

About TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

Faculty Mechanical Engineering

Driven by a deep-rooted desire to understand our environment and discover its underlying mechanisms, research and education at the ME faculty focuses on fundamental understanding, design, production including application and product improvement, materials, processes and (mechanical) systems.

ME is a dynamic and innovative faculty with high-tech lab facilities and international reach. It’s a large faculty but also versatile, so we can often make unique connections by combining different disciplines. This is reflected in ME’s outstanding, state-of-the-art education, which trains students to become responsible and socially engaged engineers and scientists. We translate our knowledge and insights into solutions to societal issues, contributing to a sustainable society and to the development of prosperity and well-being. That is what unites us in pioneering research, inspiring education and (inter)national cooperation.

Conditions of employment

• Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months, followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.
• Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €3059 - €3881 gross per month, from the first year to the fourth year based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.
• The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

Additional information

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Mohammad J Mirzaali (m.j.mirzaali@tudelft.nl) and Dr. Alejandro M. Aragón (a.m.aragon@tudelft.nl).