Technician Insect Virology

We are looking for a technician to carry out tasks to support ongoing research in insect virology. In this role, you will be responsible for the continuous rearing of several insect species and you will assist researchers and students in preparing and carrying out their experiments. You will work within the Insect Virus group within the Laboratory of Virology, alongside another technician and various PhD candidates, postdocs and MSc and BSc students.

You will as a technician contribute to the successful execution of laboratory operations and support the work of employees and students. Within the chair’s research group, you will be part of a team of 6 technicians, who have divided a number of general organizational and administrative tasks amongst themselves and can take over each other’s duties where necessary.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Caring for and maintaining insect cultures;
• Assisting with and carrying out experiments with insects;
• Assisting with and carrying out laboratory work;
• Carrying out general laboratory management tasks;
• Collaborating with technicians, PhD candidates, postdocs and students.

Your team
You will work with in the Insect Virology group, as part of the NWO Vici project ‘Invisible influencers: How hidden virus infections shape insect life’ led by Dr. Vera Ros. The project is aimed at disentangling how the insect’s virome (i.e. the assemblage of viruses) impacts insect immune responses, fitness and behaviour, and thereby influences interactions with and effects of incoming virus infections. The Insect Virology group is part of the chair group Laboratory of Virology, and research in the Insect Virology group focuses on multiple aspects of insect-virus interactions including mechanisms behind viral manipulation of insect behaviour, virus discovery, covert virus infections (i.e. infections without clear symptoms) in insects and the use of viruses for biological control of insect pests.

You will work here
The Laboratory of Virology is part of the Plant Sciences Group of Wageningen University. It is located at the Wageningen Campus in the Radix building. We provide virology teaching at Wageningen University within BSc and MSc programs across various disciplines. The Virology chair group comprises around 35 staff members, including research staff, technicians, PhD candidates, postdocs and visiting researchers. Each year, an average of 25 BSc and MSc students undertake their final-year research within Virology. The Virology group conducts fundamental research into plant viruses, insect viruses and arboviruses. Where possible, the knowledge generated is translated into applications aimed at improving food production and human and animal health.

Postdoc Researcher social and financial values of cooperative urban development

How can cooperative ownership and development models in the housing and energy sectors contribute to an affordable, sustainable, and equitable society? Can they help shape a new economy that prioritizes sustainability and broad-based prosperity alongside economic growth? What added value—both financial and societal—do they offer, and what are their tangible real-world outcomes?

Over the coming years, this question will be explicitly explored in Amsterdam through an interdisciplinary research project involving Wageningen University & Research and the Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) Institute.

The Urban Economics chair group at Wageningen University & Research is seeking a researcher to investigate the societal and financial value of cooperative urban development. The research focuses on current urban challenges in Amsterdam (specifically regarding housing and energy) and bridges academic analysis with concrete policy and practical questions.

This position offers a unique combination of academic research and direct engagement with urban practice and policy. You will be employed by WUR and work from both Wageningen and the AMS Institute in Amsterdam. AMS is a partnership between Wageningen University & Research, TU Delft, and MIT, where academia, the municipality, and societal partners collaborate on urgent urban issues.

The research is conducted in close collaboration with the Municipality of Amsterdam and other urban partners. Consequently, this is not an isolated academic project; rather, it is a role where your research is directly relevant to urban decision-making and where you actively contribute to developing follow-up research and new collaborations.

Your duties and responsibilities include:
As a researcher, you will conduct research—both independently and collaboratively—into cooperative urban development models, with a strong focus on empirical case studies in Amsterdam. You will develop analytical frameworks that provide an integrated view of financial and societal costs and benefits, and which are directly relevant to urban policy and investment issues.

Your activities will include:

• Developing and implementing a research design for an integrated societal and financial cost-benefit analysis of cooperative urban initiatives in the housing and energy sectors;
• Conducting empirical research within selected case studies, including document analysis, interviews with initiators, policymakers, and other stakeholders, as well as the analysis of project and policy data;
• Developing indicators and methods to systematically measure the societal performance and financial outcomes of cooperative models;
• Translating research findings into both academic publications and accessible, practice-oriented outputs for policymakers and other urban partners;
• Actively contributing to knowledge exchange and co-creation with urban partners and financial institutions—including through the AMS Institute—and exploring opportunities for follow-up research and external funding.

Your team
You are formally affiliated with the Urban Economics Group, where you are part of a multidisciplinary team of urban (behavioral) economists. AMS serves as the base for your research, with a strong focus on collaboration with the city, policymakers, and other knowledge institutions.

At AMS, you work in an interdisciplinary team and maintain close ties with the Municipality of Amsterdam, civil society organizations, and academic partners. This position is ideal for researchers who wish to actively bridge the gap between academia and urban practice.

PhD position: Water-Mediated Cooling of European Cities and Citizens

Are you a highly motivated researcher passionate about urban hydrometeorology, climate modelling, heat-health interactions, and water-sensitive urban design? Do you want to work on a high-impact, international project that translates urban hydrometeorological science into real-world solutions protecting human health from extreme heat?

We are seeking a talented PhD candidate to join the Horizon Europe Innovation Action Project EUROASIS (EUROpean Adaptive, Systemic and Inclusive Solutions for heat resilience). This PhD position focuses on assessing whether innovative cooling interventions piloted in EUROASIS pilot cities will also perform in the project's replicator cities and regions across Europe's diverse hydroclimates.

As our PhD candidate, you will model the urban water-energy balance underlying (evapotranspirative) cooling—e.g., how greening and water features impact hydrometeorological conditions and translate into reduced heat-health risk based on temperature- and humidity-based heat indices. You will simulate these effects in the replicator cities against field measurements in a subset of them, and quantify the water demand of sustaining this cooling under extreme heat conditions. Your work will directly culminate in international peer-reviewed journal papers and foundational project deliverables.

You will work here
The Hydrology and Environment Hydraulics (HWM) chair group, led by chairholder Martine van der Ploeg, aims to contribute to the improved understanding of catchment-scale hydrological processes through advanced measurement, modeling and assimilation techniques. You will be co-supervised by Dr. D. (Dragan) Milosevic and Dr. AJ (Ryan) Teuling.

PhD on Modeling the Cool City: Microclimate Solutions for Urban Heat Resilience

Are you a highly motivated researcher passionate about urban climate and hydrometeorological modeling, urban biometeorology, and climate-sensitive urban design? Do you want to pursue a PhD study that translates advanced urban (bio)climate and hydrometeorology knowledge into real-world solutions protecting human health from extreme heat?

We are seeking a talented PhD candidate to join the Horizon Europe Innovation Action Project EUROASIS (EUROpean Adaptive, Systemic and Inclusive Solutions for heat resilience). This PhD position will focus specifically on evaluating and upscaling a portfolio of systemic heat-mitigation innovations across four major European pilot cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Zaragoza, and Reggio Emilia.

You will assess how physical, nature-based, and digital interventions—ranging from Amsterdam's network of shaded routes and heat shelters to Zaragoza's xerophytic "climate oases"—alter the outdoor thermal conditions and directly minimize ambient heat exposure for urban populations. Collaborating with international partners (such as Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine and Atelier Franck Boutté), you will couple advanced microclimatic and urban morphology simulations with epidemiological data to quantify heat-health benefits. As our PhD candidate, you will bridge the gap between high-resolution microscale climate/hydrometeorological simulation and empirical public health outcomes. Your work will directly culminate in international peer-reviewed journal papers and foundational project deliverables.

You will work here
The Meteorology and Air Quality Group (MAQ) aims to contribute to the further understanding of atmospheric processes and their relevance for weather, air quality and climate. We do research on a variety of topics and horizontal scales. As a university group we are responsible for the education in subjects of Meteorology and Air Quality at the BSc and MSc level and the training of PhD candidates. Students are guided in the basics of Weather and Climate, Forecasting, Turbulence and Dispersion, Boundary-Layer Meteorology and Chemistry, Atmospheric Dynamics, Desertification and Land use, and many other subjects. You will be co-supervised by Dr. D. (Dragan) Milosevic and Dr. G.J. (Gert-Jan) Steeneveld.

HR Contact Centre Officer

Make a difference as the first point of contact for HR questions

Are you strong in listening, asking questions and finding solutions? Do you get energy from contact with people and do you have a connection with HR? Then this position at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is for you.

As an HR Contact Centre Officer, you are the point of contact for employees and managers with a wide range of HR questions. You help them quickly, ensure correct handling and monitor processes when multiple departments are involved. In addition, you will work in a dedicated team on an inspiring campus and you will have plenty of opportunities to work hybrid.

Your role
Not a day is the same. You switch between different questions and quickly know how to get the right information on the table. Thanks to your service-oriented attitude, employees feel heard and helped.

What will you do?

• you answer HR-related questions from employees and managers by telephone, e-mail and the ticket system;
• you ensure correct and complete handling of questions in primary care;
• you monitor the progress of more complex issues that are taken up by HR specialists or other HR departments (tier 2/3);
• you keep the HR knowledge base in the WUR Support Portal up-to-date and user-friendly;
• you identify recurring questions and think along about improvements to processes and services.

Your team
You will be working in the HR Contact Centre, a small team consisting of two colleagues and a team leader. Together, you are responsible for a professional and accessible HR service for the entire organization.

You will be given a lot of room to share knowledge, develop yourself further and actively think about improvements within the team.