Fish Nutritionist (Assistant or Associate professor)

As a leading fish nutritionist you are committed to the sustainable development of fish, crustacean and shellfish aquaculture. You embrace our ambition to integrate studies on nutrient requirements and feed intake regulation by studying the physiological processes underlaying optimal fish performance in aquaculture systems. You recognize that nutritional physiology is a core element of the One Health approach to aquaculture that connects fish nutrition and physiology with waste management, welfare, health and environmental performance.

The Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology group (AFI) at Wageningen University & Research is hiring a new staff member with a quantitative approach to fish nutrition in aquaculture. If you are an ambitious scientist specialized in the nutritional physiology of aquatic animals, and you are able to strategically integrate your expertise with ongoing research on feed intake regulation and waste management, then you are the person we want to team up with.

We welcome applications from both experienced senior scientists ready to lead for impact and high-potential early-career researchers aiming to grow into such a role. For both profiles we see a bright future ahead within the chair group. Depending on your experience and track record, you will be appointed at Assistant or Associate Professor level within our Academic Career Framework.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Develop or contribute to an ambitious physiology-based research line on nutrient requirements in aquaculture;
• Coordinating the nutrition team’s research into a financially-sound unit, supported by strong collaboration with industry partners;
• Teaching on fish nutrition-related topics at BSc, MSc and PhD level;
• Sharing the responsibility for managing the AFI group;
• Actively sharing the ambition of the Wageningen – Aquaculture Research & Education (W-ARE) initiative to work on sustainable aquaculture.

This position is part of the Academic Career Framework (ACF) at Wageningen University & Research. The aim of this ACF is to achieve a new balance in recognising and valuing academics where both team collaboration and the unique talent of individual scientists are seen, by creating more differentiation in career paths, putting the emphasis on the quality of work and less on quantitative results, doing justice to the individual qualities and ambitions of academics as much as to team performance, promoting all aspects of open science and encouraging high-quality leadership in the academy. We foresee that you will move forward in your career towards the professor path of the ACF.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology, which is led by Prof. Geert Wiegertjes.

In this challenging career trajectory:

• you acquire and/or support innovative and creative (inter-) national research projects in aquaculture nutrition;
• you develop and teach curricular courses and (co-)supervise Bsc, Msc, and PhD theses with colleagues close to you;
• you contribute to the further development of the Aquaculture biology and Fisheries ecology chair group as a whole.

Senior HR Business Partner

Als senior HR Business Partner binnen het onderdeel Agrotechnology & Food Science Group (AFSG) van Wageningen University & Research ben je een belangrijke gesprekspartner voor leidinggevenden. Je werkt proactief, legt gemakkelijk verbinding en krijgt energie van het initiëren en begeleiden van organisatieveranderingen. Daarnaast bouw je actief mee aan de verdere ontwikkeling van de HR-dienstverlening. In deze rol maak je impact, denk je vooruit en werk je samen aan een toekomstbestendige organisatie.

In deze rol draag je bij aan de ontwikkeling van teams en de organisatie als geheel. Je levert een actieve bijdrage aan de ontwikkeling van integraal HR-beleid en adviseert en ondersteunt verschillende onderwijs- en onderzoeksgroepen bij de implementatie daarvan. Daarnaast bouw je aan professionele werkrelaties met leidinggevenden en geef je samen met het Center of Expertise (CoE) invulling aan Recruitment, Vital & Health en Learning & Development.

Jouw taken en verantwoordelijkheden als senior HR Business Partner zijn:

• Sparringpartner en adviseur voor leidinggevenden en directie op het gebied van organisatieontwikkeling, individuele- en teamcasuïstiek;
• Actief meedenken en een inhoudelijke rol vervullen bij de ontwikkeling en uitvoering van strategische personeelsplannen en organisatievraagstukken;
• Invulling geven aan de HR-agenda en (mede) verantwoordelijkheid zijn voor de succesvolle implementatie van HR-beleid AFSG-breed; de focus ligt de komende jaren op leiderschap, sociale veiligheid, organisatieontwikkeling, cultuurverandering en talent ontwikkeling.
• Deelnemen in diverse HR-domeinen en optreden als trekker van een HR domein en van verschillende projecten. De 5 domeinen zijn: Talent Attraction, People Growth, People Services, Organizational Development en Culture.

Jouw team
Je werkt direct samen met een gedreven HR team van circa 12 collega’s, waaronder 5 HR Business Partners en andere HR-specialisten zoals een recruiter, vital & health advisor enHR Service Officers. Samen streven we naar een cultuur waarin collegialiteit, authenticiteit en samenwerking centraal staan. Een informele omgang met elkaar en ruimte voor humor vinden we daarbij belangrijk. Daarnaast hechten we veel waarde aan een open en transparante werkomgeving, waarin we samen de schouders eronder zetten en bouwen aan de verdere professionalisering van onze HR-dienstverlening.

Senior HR Business Partner

As a Senior HR Business Partner within the Agrotechnology & Food Science Group (AFSG) at Wageningen University & Research, you are a key interlocutor for managers. You work proactively, build connections with ease and are energised by initiating and guiding organisational change. You also actively contribute to the further development of HR services. In this role, you make an impact, think ahead and collaborate towards a future-proof organisation.

In this position you contribute to the development of teams and the organisation as a whole. You play an active part in shaping integrated HR policy and advise and support various education and research groups in its implementation. You also build professional working relationships with managers and, together with the Centre of Expertise (CoE), you contribute to Recruitment, Vitality & Health, and Learning & Development.

Your tasks and responsibilities as Senior HR Business Partner include:

• Acting as a sparring partner and adviser to managers and directors on organisational development and individual and team-related cases.
• Contributing substantively to the development and implementation of strategic workforce planning and organisational issues;
• Shaping the HR agenda and (co-)being responsible for the successful AFSG-wide implementation of HR policy; over the coming years the focus will be on leadership, social safety, organisational development, culture change and talent development.
• Participating in various HR domains and taking the lead in one HR domain as well as several projects. The five domains are: Talent Attraction, People Growth, People Services, Organisational Development and Culture.

Your team
You will work directly with a driven HR team of approximately 12 colleagues, including five HR Business Partners and other HR specialists such as a recruiter, a Vitality & Health adviser and HR Service Officers. Together we strive for a culture in which collegiality, authenticity and collaboration are central. We value an informal working atmosphere and a sense of humour. We also attach great importance to an open and transparent working environment, where we work together and continue to professionalise our HR services.

PhD position in Modelling food supply chains with shelf life control and pricing

Are you committed to reducing food waste? Are you interested in how coordination, dynamic pricing and redistribution may affect food waste? Do you have a passion for applying optimization and simulation techniques to reduce food waste and make food supply chains more sustainable? If your answer is “Yes!” to these questions, then this PhD position might be the perfect opportunity for you!

We are inviting applications for a 4-year full-time PhD position as part of the SCOPE project—Shelf-life Control, Optimized Pricing, and Excess Redistribution—a collaboration between the Operations Research and Logistics group at Wageningen University, the Zero Hunger Lab at Tilburg University, and four industry partners.

In this project, you will develop and advance optimization models and algorithms to support decision-making in food supply chains, with the overarching goal of reducing food waste.

Key research questions include:

1. Coordination: How can the flow of goods in food supply chains be better coordinated —e.g., through shelf-life agreements or optimized production and (re)distribution planning—to proactively reduce waste?
2. Dynamic Pricing: How can dynamic pricing be used to prevent excess inventory of perishable products from turning into waste?
3. Redistribution: How can surplus food be effectively donated to food banks to avoid waste?

Your contribution and responsibilities include:

• To develop mathematical optimization models and algorithms to address the above questions. Given the uncertainties involved in food supply chains, we prefer candidates who have a background in (stochastic) optimization methods (e.g., machine learning, stochastic dynamic programming, simulation). Affinity with (food) supply chain management is preferred.
• To collaborate with and to co-supervise MSc thesis students and internship students employed at the partner companies involved, and support teaching as needed (in consultation with supervisors).
• To write four scientific papers and get them published in ISI ranked Q1 journals.

You will work here
The research project is a collaboration between the Operations Research and Logistics Group (ORL) at Wageningen University (WU) and the Zero Hunger Lab (ZHL) at Tilburg University (TiU). You will be appointed at WU-ORL, which is led by Prof. Dr. ir. Sander de Leeuw. You will be supervised by Dr. Rene Haijema from WU and Dr. Yasemin Merzifonluoglu from TiU.

Postdoc in Long-Wavelength Radar for Forest Disturbance Monitoring

Are you motivated by the challenge of using next-generation radar data to advance forest disturbance monitoring and near-real-time alerting, while supporting efforts to combat deforestation and a better understanding of European forest dynamics? This postdoctoral position at Wageningen University offers the opportunity to contribute to both methodological innovation and operational monitoring.

The radar remote sensing team within the Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to advance forest disturbance monitoring using long-wavelength radar data.

Radar remote sensing is highly valuable for forest monitoring because it is sensitive to structural change and enables systematic observation largely independent of daylight and cloud cover. At the same time, turning radar observations into reliable information on forest disturbance and regrowth remains challenging, as detection depends on wavelength, acquisition geometry, and environmental, seasonal, and atmospheric effects. These challenges are especially relevant with the new generation of long-wavelength missions, including NISAR and BIOMASS, and the upcoming ROSE-L mission.

The project focuses on developing and validating radar methods for forest disturbance monitoring and near-real-time alerting using long-wavelength data, with methods that are transferable across global forest ecosystems. It also applies these approaches to analyse European forest dynamics, including harvest, fire, wind damage, and bark beetle infestation. The work will pay particular attention to radar time series interpretation, large-scale implementation, and long-wavelength-specific effects such as ionospheric influences.

This position is embedded in a strong international and interdisciplinary research environment. The postdoctoral researcher will collaborate closely with international partners, including Prof. Cornelius Senf at TU Munich on European forest dynamics, and will be part of a well-established radar remote sensing network, including Dr. Maciej Soja at Wageningen Environmental Research. This provides an excellent setting for both fundamental and applied research, with opportunities to contribute to high-impact publications, collaborative projects, and operational monitoring products.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Developing, implementing and validating long-wavelength radar methods for forest disturbance detection, with a focus on NISAR and preparation for ROSE-L;
• preprocessing multi-frequency radar data from C-, L-, and P-band sensors;
• studying forest disturbance regimes across Europe;
• supporting the operational RADD near-real-time alert system;
• leading project deliverables and ensuring the timely and high-quality execution of research tasks;
• contributing to collaborative research in an international consortium;
• publishing in leading peer-reviewed journals and communicating findings to scientific and stakeholder audiences.

Your team
You will join the radar remote sensing team within the Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing. The team studies human activities and the dynamics of forest ecosystems from regional to global scales using radar remote sensing. Its work focuses in particular on fundamental radar and multi-sensor methods, near-real-time change monitoring, and the integration of satellite observations with in-situ field data.

You will work here
You will work as part of a research team within the Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing (GRS), which is led by Dr. Johannes Reiche.