The PhD researcher will be part of the Innovative Design for Energy Applications Lab (IDEAL) of Prof. Maarten Blommaert. The research group is embedded in the Mechanical Engineering Department of KU Leuven, Europes most innovative university [Reuters], a member of the EnergyVille research collaboration for sustainable energy research, and located at Geel campus. Building on Prof. Blommaerts expertise in numerical optimization of flow and heat transfer, IDEAL focuses on the optimal design of (thermal) energy components and systems through free-shape and topology optimization techniques. As such, the group aims to increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and realize cost savings. At the energy component level, performance is maximized through the development, implementation, and validation of model-based shape and topology optimization techniques that optimally exploit the degrees of freedom offered by present-day manufacturing processes. Applications include the design of...