Onderzoeker Precisielandbouw

Werk jij graag als onderzoeker op het snijvlak van akkerbouw en innovatie? Wil je bijdragen aan de toepassing van precisielandbouw, zoals AI en robotisering, in de praktijk? In Lelystad krijg je de kans om samen met boeren, startups en bedrijven te werken aan de toekomst van het akkerbouwbedrijf. Sta jij stevig in de sector en krijg je energie van samenwerken en vernieuwen? Dan is dit jouw kans.

Binnen Wageningen Plant Research, in het kennisdomein van de open teelten in Lelystad zoeken we een gedreven onderzoeker precisielandbouw. Je werkt aan innovatieve toepassingen op het snijvlak van veldonderzoek, datagedreven teeltoptimalisatie en slimme landbouwtechnologie. In deze functie draag je bij aan de ontwikkeling, evaluatie en implementatie van smart implements, sensortechnologie en AI‑gestuurde oplossingen die passen binnen de missie van Wageningen University & Research om duurzame en toekomstbestendige landbouwsystemen te realiseren.

Je werkt nauw samen met collega‑onderzoekers, bedrijven en akkerbouwers om onderzoeksresultaten te vertalen naar praktische toepassingen in het veld. We onderscheiden ons in de open teelten vaak door de schaal waarop we werken en de praktijkrijpheid (hoge TRLs) van de toepassingen. Hiervoor werken we samen met bedrijven, innovators en onderzoeksinstellingen aan nieuwe oplossingsrichtingen.

Jouw taken en verantwoordelijkheden als Onderzoeker zijn:

• ontwikkelen en testen van nieuwe precisielandbouwtoepassingen in samenwerking met het onderzoeksteam;
• verzamelen, analyseren en rapporteren van data, met oog voor de inpassing in het bedrijfssysteem van de akkerbouwer;
• begeleiden van projecten om ondernemers te laten werken met precisielandbouwtechnieken, zoals NPPL, AGROS, NxtGEN;
• demonstreren en testen van technieken en kennisoverdracht aan groepen ondernemers;
• organiseren van workshops, open dagen en andere kennisdelingsactiviteiten;
• meedenken over oplossingen voor regionale vraagstukken en opzetten van projecten vanuit proefbedrijven in Lelystad, Valthermond, Vredepeel, Westmaas en Randwijk.

Jouw team
Jij gaat samenwerken met team Precisielandbouw in Lelystad. Dit is een klein team van 5 onderzoekers en een groepshoofd. Je komt terecht in een enthousiast team waarin samenwerken, kennisdelen en vernieuwen centraal staan, en waar mensen lef hebben om nieuwe dingen te ondernemen. Wij bieden je daardoor een inspirerende, innovatieve en collegiale werkomgeving, direct in contact met de akkerbouwpraktijk. Je krijgt de ruimte om je expertise verder te ontwikkelen en bij te dragen aan onderzoek dat ook direct impact heeft op die praktijk. De standplaats is Lelystad, maar dit team werkt ook regelmatig op een van de andere regio locaties (bijv. Vredepeel, Valthermond, Randwijk), op de campus in Wageningen, en soms vanuit huis.

Hier ga je werken
Het team precisielandbouw maakt onderdeel uit van Wageningen Plant Research in Lelystad. De mensen in Lelystad werken aan de ontwikkeling van nieuwe strategieën op het gebied van onder andere teelttechniek voor akkerbouwers, tuinders, toeleverende en afnemende bedrijven in de agro-industrie, overheden en maatschappelijke organisaties. Er werken ca. 200 mensen. Het onderzoek wordt uitgevoerd op de centrale locatie in Lelystad, maar deels ook op regionale onderzoeklocaties (Randwijk, Vredepeel, Valthermond en Westmaas) en op praktijkbedrijven. Het team precisielandbouw biedt je een inspirerende en collegiale werkomgeving binnen een toonaangevend onderzoeksinstituut dat vooroploopt in innovatieve landbouwwetenschappen.

Post-doc (ReGeNL lines 2 & 3): Monitoring outcomes of regenerative agriculture

Are you interested in the science-based transition of Dutch agriculture towards a regenerative system? A system in which a diversity of ecosystem services are valued rather than only the product yield? Do you have experience working in transdisciplinary teams that interacts on a daily basis with many other societal stakeholders? Then come and join the Soil Biology group!

We are looking for an interim post-doctoral researcher that will lead the development and implementation of monitoring plans for 1000 farms across the Netherlands, as part of the National Growth Fund programme ReGeNL.

This is a 6-month interim position focused on ensuring continuity and coordination of ongoing activities on the implementation of a monitoring scheme to support farmers in their transition towards regenerative outcomes. This position bridges on-going work between Action Line 2 (AL2) of ReGeNL, where the focus is on supporting the transition of 1000 farmers towards regenerative farming and the scientific-focused Action Line 3 (AL3) of ReGeNL, specifically work package 3A measuring and monitoring of regenerative agriculture.

The post-doctoral position will be responsible for the scientific coordination of the monitoring of the AL2 1000 farms. You will work alongside the Line 3 coordinator and the line 3A scientific coordinator and ReGeNL colleagues working on AL2 to implement the monitoring programme of ReGeNL. The post-doc will also be interacting with farmers, advisors and industry partners to support in successfully achieving the ReGeNL objectives and deliverables.

We therefore seek to strengthen our team with the appointment of a post-doctoral researcher who has experience with monitoring within the agricultural domain, working with farmers and societal stakeholders. Strong communication skills and the ability to communicate in Dutch are critical for this role. As you will significantly contribute to the project leadership of line 3, we ask applicants to also show examples of their project management experience.

You will work here
The Soil Biology group integrates knowledge on soil biota across a range of scales from the microbe to the globe. Our mission is “To explore the potential of life to increase the quality of soil”.

Soils are among humankind’s most precious natural resources, but their sustainable use is under serious threat. Our aim is to advance and share knowledge on how soil life can improve the quality and functioning of soils in agroecosystems around the world, and how land management may impact soil life. Our ambition is to cover research across a range of scales and levels of detail to ensure dissemination of fundamental insights: starting with interactions at small-scale hotspots in the soil (in particular the rhizosphere and detritusphere), through management-oriented research at the plot and field scale, towards policy-relevant research at the farm, landscape and regional scale

Junior Project Manager with Artificial Intelligence group (part-time/full-time)

We are looking for a motivated and organised Junior Project Manager to support the day-to-day coordination and delivery of research projects within the Artificial Intelligence chair group. This is an excellent opportunity for someone early in their career who is passionate about AI, impact in agriculture and food domains, and academic research, and who wants to grow in a dynamic, mission-driven environment.

Your duties and responsibilities:

• Support the planning, coordination, and monitoring of ongoing research projects across the chairgroup portfolio
• Maintain project documentation, timelines, budgets, and reporting schedules
• Liaise with internal stakeholders (researchers, faculty administration, finance) and external partners (e.g., universities, industry partners, and funding bodies)
• Assist in the preparation of progress reports, grant applications, and dissemination material
• Organise meetings, workshops, and events including agenda preparation and minute-taking
• Contribute to the Chair's communication activities, including website updates and newsletters

Your team
You will work closely with the chairholder, professors, researchers, and external partners to ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope, and in line with funding requirements. Examples of our funded projects include both national grants, as LTER-LIFE, and European ones as AgriscienceFM, AgrifoodTEF, and PHENET.

You will work here
The position is with the chair Artificial Intelligence, which is led by Prof. Ioannis Athanasiadis. You will work together with the staff of the AI chairgroup.

Researcher in Precision Agriculture

Do you enjoy working as a researcher at the intersection of arable farming and innovation? Would you like to contribute to the practical application of precision agriculture, such as AI and robotisation? In Lelystad, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside farmers, start-ups and companies on the future of arable farming. Are you firmly rooted in the sector and do you thrive on collaboration and innovation? Then this is your chance.

Within Wageningen Plant Research, in the open-field cultivation knowledge domain in Lelystad, we are looking for a driven precision agriculture researcher. You will work on innovative applications at the intersection of field research, data-driven crop optimisation and smart agricultural technology. In this role, you will contribute to the development, evaluation and implementation of smart implements, sensor technology and AI-driven solutions that align with Wageningen University & Research’s mission to realise sustainable and future-proof agricultural systems.

You will work closely with fellow researchers, companies and arable farmers to translate research results into practical applications in the field. In open-field crops, we often distinguish ourselves through the scale at which we operate and the practical readiness (high TRLs) of the applications. To this end, we collaborate with companies, innovators and research institutions on new solution pathways.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• developing and testing new precision farming applications in collaboration with the research team;
• collecting, analysing and reporting data, with a focus on integration into the arable farmer’s business system;
• supporting projects to enable farmers to work with precision farming techniques, such as NPPL, AGROS, NxtGEN;
• demonstrating and testing techniques and transferring knowledge to groups of farmers;
• organising workshops, open days and other knowledge-sharing activities;
• contributing ideas on solutions to regional issues and setting up projects based at demonstration farms in Lelystad, Valthermond, Vredepeel, Westmaas and Randwijk.

Your team
You will be working with the Precision Agriculture team in Lelystad. This is a small team of five researchers and a group leader. You will join an enthusiastic team where collaboration, knowledge-sharing and innovation are key, and where people have the courage to try new things. We therefore offer you an inspiring, innovative and supportive working environment, in direct contact with arable farming practice. You will be given the opportunity to further develop your expertise and contribute to research that has a direct impact on that practice. The post is based in Lelystad, but this team also regularly works at one of the other regional locations (e.g. Vredepeel, Valthermond, Randwijk), on the campus in Wageningen, and sometimes from home.

You will work here
The precision agriculture team is part of Wageningen Plant Research in Lelystad. The team in Lelystad works on developing new strategies in areas such as cultivation techniques for arable farmers, horticulturalists, suppliers and customers in the agri-food industry, government bodies and civil society organisations. There are approximately 200 staff members. Research is carried out at the central site in Lelystad, but also partly at regional research sites (Randwijk, Vredepeel, Valthermond and Westmaas) and on commercial farms. The precision agriculture team offers you an inspiring and supportive working environment within a leading research institute at the forefront of innovative agricultural sciences.

Postdoc position: Finding novel sexual differentiation genes with snRNAseq

Are you an ambitious postdoctoral researcher with a strong motivation for identifying novel candidate genes involved in insect development from transcriptomic datasets? Do you have experience with RNA isolation methods and the analysis of single nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNAseq) and/or PacBio long read sequencing? Then we have an exciting project that combines molecular biology techniques with bioinformatics for you.

Understanding insect sex determination mechanisms is important for explaining how insect diversity has evolved and for developing new control methods for agriculturally and medically relevant insect species. However, most of our knowledge still relies on the well-studied Drosophila melanogaster, which alone does not represent the full diversity of insects. Oddly, in many insects we have no clue what genes are required for the regulation of female specific traits. From both an evolutionary and applied perspective, parasitoid wasps, which have a haplodiploid sex-determination system, diverge significantly from the sex differentiation mechanisms observed in Drosophila and are currently understudied. This postdoctoral project aims to identify novel genes in parasitoid wasps that are sex-specifically spliced during early embryonic development and therefore represent candidate novel genes involved in female differentiation.

To accomplish this objective, you will establish protocols and conduct experiments at all stages of a transcriptomics-based project in three closely related parasitoid wasp species. First, you will rear the insects and collect the needed embryonic tissues. Then, you will perform two complementary transcriptomic approaches: long-read PacBio sequencing on high-quality RNA extracts and single-nucleus RNA sequencing on isolated embryonic nuclei. After sequencing you will analyse the resulting datasets for novel genes that are sex-specifically spliced and curate the list of candidates to find potential sexual differentiation regulators (i.e. transcription factors) in all three wasp species.

As this PhD project is part of a larger VICI project, funded by NWO, you will work closely together with a PhD student in the team for the collection of tissues. In addition, the PhD student will subsequently characterise the novel candidates identified by your analyses for their function in regulating sexual differentiation.

As a postdoctoral candidate you will contribute to fundamental science in the context of insect evolutionary developmental biology. In addition, you will participate in cursory teaching of the chairgroup. You will be embedded in the Laboratory of Entomology, a diverse group of international scientists, and collaborate with (inter)national colleagues from both in- and outside Wageningen University & Research.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Designing and executing experiments with insects, especially establishing protocols for extracting high quality RNA and isolating nuclei from embryonic insect tissues.
• Maintain close contact with the sequencing company and related collaborators on the sequencing of the samples.
• Analysing complex sequencing datasets involving bioinformatics analysis focusing on identifying differentially spliced genes and identifying cell-type clusters.
• Teaching in courses and supervise PhD, BSc and MSc students.
• Writing and presenting research at/in internationally renowned conferences/journals.

Your team
You will work in a small team of PhD students, a postdoc and various BSc and MSc students with a focus on insect sex determination and sexual differentiation. This team is embedded in a larger chairgroup with many different lines of research.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Laboratory of Entomology (Lab of Entomology - WUR), which is led by Prof. Bregje Wertheim (Bregje Wertheim - Wageningen University & Research). You will be supervised by Dr. Eveline Verhulst (Eveline Verhulst - Wageningen University & Research) and Dr. Julien Rougeot (Julien Rougeot - Wageningen University & Research). In addition, you will also be embedded in the PE&RC graduate school (Home | PE&RC), which will allow you to follow a wide variety of training courses and provide support during your academic journey.