Come to our recruitment event

Have you always wanted to expand your knowledge and soft skills? Are you a student from the VUB?
Our team is always looking for motivated students to fulfill our team.

Meet us at our public recruitment event:

Tuesday, March 25 - 18h00 (Fablab VUB)

2025-2026: Open Positions

  • MA THESIS
    Aerodynamics Design Engineer

    A Master’s Thesis is a major project where you will take on the design and optimization of a specific component of our race car. Using advanced simulation and analysis techniques, you will refine your design to maximize performance and efficiency. Your work will contribute directly to the development of the car and push the boundaries of our engineering capabilities.

    Skills: Autodesk Inventor, Fluid dynamics, CFD, Post-processing of simulations

    BACHELOR THESIS / GENERAL PROJECT
    Aerodynamics Production Engineer

    A Bachelor’s Thesis or General Project is a more focused project that emphasizes production methods and practical implementation. You will work on optimizing manufacturing processes, material selection, and structural integrity to ensure high-quality and lightweight components. This hands-on approach allows you to bridge the gap between design and production.

    Skills: Planning, Composites Manufacturing, Material Science, Static Physics

  • GENERAL PROJECT
    Business Relations Manager

    Without our partners building a race car wouldn’t be possible. Your goal will be to maintain and improve current partner relations as well as expand our ever-growing network of partners. You will be at the forefront of the team and introducing our ambitions to the professional world.

    Skills: Networking, Sales, Marketing, Finance

    GENERAL PROJECT
    Business plan

    Part of the competition requires us to build an innovative business plan around our race car. You will receive an overview of previous plans with the comments received after presenting them. Your job will be to incorporate this feedback into a new plan that you will present at the races.

    Skills: Marketing, Finances, Creativity, Sales

    It is possible to do this as a Master Thesis in the Solvay Business School.

  • MA THESIS
    Software Engineer
    A Master’s Thesis in the autonomous subteam is a large-scale project where you will design and optimize key software components for our driverless race car. This can range from AI-driven object detection to advanced algorithm optimization for perception, localization, or control. Your work will directly contribute to improving the performance and reliability of our autonomous systems.

    Skills: Linux, C/C++, ROS

    BA THESIS / GENERAL PROJECT
    Software Engineer
    A Bachelor’s Thesis or General Project focuses on the implementation and optimization of specific software tools and workflows. You may work on refining the CI/CD pipeline, optimizing code efficiency, or enhancing integration between different software modules. This hands-on project ensures a smooth and reliable software development process for our autonomous systems.

    Skills: Linux, C/C++, ROS

  • MA THESIS
    Electronics Engineer

    A Master’s Thesis in the electric subteam is a research and development project aimed at implementing new technologies in future iterations of our race car. You will explore and develop innovative solutions in areas such as battery management, power electronics, or control systems. Your work will lay the foundation for advancements that will be integrated into the car in the following season.

    Skills: Strong Electrical & Mechanical knowledge, personal mechatronical projects, Autodesk Inventor or KiCad (depending on the project)

    BA THESIS / GENERAL PROJECT
    Electronics Engineer

    A Bachelor’s Thesis or General Project focuses on smaller, practical projects that will be implemented in the current race car. You will work on optimizing existing systems, improving reliability, or integrating new components into the electrical architecture. This hands-on approach ensures immediate impact on the car’s performance.

    Skills: KiCad, C/C++, Arduino or similar, basic CAD knowledge

  • MASTER THESIS
    Mechanical Engineer

    A Master’s Thesis in the mechanical subteam is a research and development project focused on designing and optimizing new components for future iterations of our race car. You will work on innovative solutions in areas such as suspension, chassis, or drivetrain, using advanced simulations and analysis to refine your design. Once finalized, you will manufacture your designs yourself in our machine shop, ensuring they meet performance and reliability standards. Your work will contribute to long-term improvements and be implemented in the following season.

    Skills: Autodesk Inventor, Vehicle dynamics, Machining

    BACHELOR THESIS / GENERAL PROJECT
    Mechanical Engineer

    A Bachelor’s Thesis or General Project focuses on smaller, hands-on projects that will be integrated into the current race car. You will optimize existing mechanical systems, refine manufacturing processes, or improve component reliability. Additionally, you will manufacture your own designs in our machine shop, gaining hands-on experience with CNC machining, waterjet cutting, and other fabrication techniques. This project ensures a direct and immediate impact on the car’s performance.

    Skills: Autodesk Inventor, Vehicle dynamics, Machining

  • GENERAL PROJECT
    Social Media Manager

    As our social media platforms are currently our main way to showcase our innovations we want to grow them as much as possible. Your focus will be on growing these while establishing a uniform house style that will be used within the team for the coming years. You will also be responsible for making the needed banners, flyers and other promotional material for the team.

    A prior knowledge of the Adobe Suite is advised but not mandatory.

    Skills: Graphic design, Photography, Videography, Creativity

    GENERAL PROJECT
    Public Relations Manager

    As the team is growing and innovating each year, we want to show this to the outside world. Your goal will be to provide a platform for this and coordinate its working. You will be responsible for the marketing strategy that will be implemented over the coming years within the team.

    Having prior experience organizing events is a big plus but not required.

    Skills: Planning, Networking, Marketing, Project management, Event Planning

Thesis? Bachelor? Master?

Formula Student teams consists of volunteers. There are multiple ways to be a member.

VUB Racing members can be both full-time and part-time. A full-time member will typically be assigned larger projects and have more responsibilities. Part-time members are completing other courses in addition to being part of team.

Most members study Industrial Sciences also known as Industrial Engineering. This is why our home base is the Fablab of the VUB. However, anyone that studies a bachelors or masters degree at the VUB is eligible to join the team!

BAchelor thesis

In the past, our chassis, our wing profiles and our battery were all built by bachelor students. Usually bachelors are responsible for the production of parts implemented into the car.

After completing your project, you will write a short thesis documenting your work and defend your project to a jury.

A Bachelor Thesis in Industrial Sciences brings the student 7 ECTS-credits after completion. Because of its academic nature we need confirmation on the project before the 1st of September.

Master thesis

These projects have a strong research component but almost always include some production or prototyping as well.

Do you want to complete a thesis for VUB Racing but are not a student studying Industrial Sciences? Don’t hesitate to contact us so we can find a fitting promoter together.

A Master Thesis in Industrial Sciences brings the student 20 ECTS-credits after completion. Because of its academic nature we need confirmation on the project before the 1st of September.

General project

Anyone from the VUB can apply to join the team and partake in what we call a general project. These are all the projects that to not pertain to a thesis inside the Industrial Sciences of the faculty of engineering sciences.

We typically assign these projects to students that want to participate in the team but are unable to link ECTS-credits to it. If you’re studying Industrial Sciences and are not able to do a master or bachelor thesis for the team you’ll be assigned a general project.

Kyan David
2BA Civil Engineer
Soldering our dashboard after he designed it in Kicad.

Arthur De Vos
3BA Industrial Sciences
Welding our 2023 chassis after designing it in Autodesk Inventor.

Jannick Gielen
1MA Ind. Engineer
Laminating the shell after running CFD’s to decide on the shape in Simscale.

FAQs

What is expected of me?

You will be given strict deadlines and a fixed weekly workload. Formula Student teams are massive projects that have to be finished in a short amount of time. As such we expect you to devote at least 4 hours of each week to the team. Additionally you will get some smaller tasks that aren’t immediately related to your project but help the team move forward and grow.

Can I do this project as a course or thesis?

Students studying Industrial Engineering can easily combine this with their education as mentioned above. Commercial engineers have the option to do the Formula Student business plan as a master thesis.

If you’re from a different program please contact us. It is encouraged to find a motivated professor who wants to expand their standard program to accommodate you working with VUB Racing while completing one of their courses. For example you could offer to do one of your standard projects from your curriculum with our race team. We’re open to talk.

From when can I join the team?

You can join the team starting from your second bachelor’s year. We recommend gaining a strong academic foundation in your first year so you can contribute effectively once you join. Staying informed and preparing early will help you make the most of the experience!