Postdoc in Analytical Chemistry

Can advanced analytical chemistry reveal both the risks and benefits of perennial rye?

Perennial rye is emerging as a promising crop for more sustainable grain production, with potential benefits for soil health, climate resilience, and resource efficiency. However, little is known about how perennial growth influences the accumulation of natural toxins and beneficial compounds in grain. This project aims to address these knowledge gaps by comparing perennial and annual rye systems and evaluating their implications for food safety, nutritional quality, and sustainable agriculture.

What will you do?
Using state-of-the-art mass spectrometry, your postdoctoral project will investigate the occurrence and structural diversity of natural toxins and other secondary metabolites in perennial and annual rye grain. The results will contribute to a better understanding of the links between crop longevity, soil health, grain quality, and food safety.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• elucidate structural diversity of natura toxins in perennial ryegrass using high resolution mass spectrometry and computational tools for non-targeted data analysis;
• perform data processing, statistical analysis, and interpretation of complex metabolomics datasets;
• disseminate research findings through peer-reviewed publications, presentations at scientific conferences, and engagement with project partners;
• contribute to project meetings and collaborate with multidisciplinary researchers within the consortium.

You will work here
The project is part of the GoodGrain consortium, coordinated by Aarhus University and funded by Plant2Food awarded to Laura Righetti, which will be executed in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, which is headed by Prof. Han Zuilhof. You will be supervised by Dr. Laura Righetti.

PDoc Single Biomolecules Chemical Analysis in Physiological Liquid Conditions

We are looking for a talented Post-Doctoral Researcher for a 1- to 2-years position for the development of AFM-IR infrared nanospectroscopy in combination with microfluidics to achieve chemical analysis of protein and their assemblies in liquid physiological conditions.

As a post-doctoral researcher, you will contribute to push the boundaries of nano-chemical analysis, withing the Ruggeri’s lab at Wageningen University in the frame of the project Nano-Scope.

The Nano-Scope project focuses on the study of protein interactions and self-assembly in disease and drug formulations at the single-molecule level; and it runs in collaboration with dr. Ioana Ilie at Amsterdam University, as well as several industrial partners: Bruker Nano (USA); Digital Surf (France); Novo Nordisk (Denmark); Discoveric Bio Alpha (Switzerland).

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• developing and applying nano-chemical imaging and spectroscopy via AFM-IR to study protein structure and chemical properties;
• developing the technical capabilities of AFM-IR in liquid environment leveraging microfluidics;
• preparing and pre-characterising protein-based samples for nano-analysis;
• writing manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals reporting on the results of your research;
• supervising MSc and PhD students.

Your team
You will work with dr Francesco Simone Ruggeri and his team of Nanoscale Imaging and Spectroscopy, which will include several PhDs and Post-Doctoral researchers. The group develops and applies advanced nanoscale imaging and spectroscopy approaches to investigate the chemical, structural, and physical properties of complex molecular systems.

You will work here
You will join the group of dr Francesco Simone Ruggeri, which is embedded within the department of Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter (PCC) at Wageningen University.

PhD: 3D radiation in clouds and wildfire plumes using GPUs and machine learning

This PhD project is part of ORCRIST: Optimized Ray-tracing for Cloud-Radiation Interaction Simulations in 3D using GPUs and Machine Learning, funded by the NWO Open Technology Programme.

Sunlight and heat radiation move through the atmosphere in three dimensions, yet almost every weather and climate model still treats radiation as a purely vertical process. We want to change that. As a PhD candidate in Wageningen, you will help build the first Monte Carlo ray tracer for the atmosphere that is fast enough for forecasting, and use it to find out how 3D radiation shapes clouds, solar energy availability, climate sensitivity and wildfire plumes. You will work in a tandem with a fellow PhD student in computer science at Leiden University, who focuses on GPU optimization, while you lead the physics. Together you will develop a machine-learning denoiser that brings the ray tracer to operational speed. Your research has a clear route to society: throughout the project you will work with a user committee of KNMI, weather forecasting company Whiffle, TNO, software company VORtech and Columbia University.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Setting up three benchmark simulations in the GPU-accelerated model MicroHH: solar energy forecasting, tropical climate, and a real wildfire plume.
• Developing a 3D thermal radiation solver within the RTE-RRTMGP-CPP ray tracer, including smart strategies for sampling radiation sources.
• Quantifying how 3D radiation changes clouds, surface irradiance and plume dynamics compared to conventional 1D radiation.
• Co-developing a physics-informed machine-learning denoiser with your Leiden colleague, and evaluating it together with the user committee in operational settings.
• Publishing your results in leading journals and presenting them at international conferences and to users from the field.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair of Meteorology (Meteorology and Air Quality Group), led by Prof. Vilà-Guerau de Arellano. You will be supervised by Dr.ir. Chiel van Heerwaarden and Dr.ir. Menno Veerman, both at WUR, and by Dr. Ben van Werkhoven at Leiden University. The team is small, open and collaborative, and has a track record of building widely used open-source simulation codes. You will have access to national and European supercomputers (Snellius, LUMI) and dedicated GPU hardware.

PhD – Resilience against disaster and war in the Netherlands

There is an increasing risk of disasters and war in the Netherlands. The government is therefore trying to increase societal resilience. In this PhD research, you look at the implementation and impact of such resilience initiatives to discover how well they prepare residents for crises.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• You carry out a literature review to identify which characteristics make communities resilient against disasters and war and/or how resilience initiatives contribute to resilience.
• You study the implementation and impact of resilience measures from the government as well as spontaneous resilience projects from communities.
• You analyze who begin resilience initiatives, who participates in them, who takes decisions, and who benefits from them.
• You collect data in different municipalities and/or Safety Regions in the Netherlands to formulate new theory and contribute with scientific insights to disaster sociology, for example through developing new knowledge on community resilience, disaster vulnerability, and emergent organizing.
• You support in formulating recommendations to administrators and policymakers who deal with resilience and present your research results.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Sociology of Development and Change , which is led by Prof. Bram Büscher. You will be co-supervised by dr. Jori Kalkman and dr. Esther van ‘t Veen.

PhD – Militarization of Societal Resilience

The Dutch government aims to strengthen societal resilience against war and disaster. The military plays a prominent role in these efforts, raising concerns about militarization and its adverse impact. In this PhD, you study how militarization in the Netherlands unfolds and examine its effects.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• You conduct a literature review on ‘militarization’ in the context of crises, domestic security, and resilience.
• You analyze Dutch policy documents to determine whether/how these documents contribute to a militarization of society and whether/how it contributes to militarism.
• You collect qualitative, empirical data on the implementation of resilience measures (e.g. expansion of military terrains, emergency booklets, citizen mobilization, increased civil-military, and new crisis plans) to critically examine their effects.
• You write and publish several scientific articles to contribute to critical scholarship on resilience and critical military studies.
• You contribute to policy and practice by sharing constructive reflections on current and proposed policies, and by presenting your findings.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Sociology of Development and Change , which is led by Prof. Bram Büscher. You will be co-supervised by dr. Jori Kalkman and dr. Sumit Vij.