Researcher Biodiversity and Policy

Would you, as a Researcher Ecology like to contribute to advancing knowledge regarding urgent societal challenges related to landscape and biodiversity? Do you have in-depth expertise in (Dutch) flora and fauna and enjoy conducting applied scientific research within a project-based organization? If so, we want to hear from you!

Within the Biodiversity and Policy (BP) team of Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR) we are looking for a new colleague. As an ecologist you will perform applied and policy relevant research focusing on monitoring, modelling, protecting, and restoring biodiversity in (agricultural) landscapes and protected areas both nationally and internationally.

Here are the links that give you an idea of the projects we are working on:

https://research.wur.nl/en/projects/restore-connect-restoring-connectivity-and-landscape-coherence-kb/

rapport-basiskwaliteit-natuur-bebouwde-omgeving.pdf

Model for Nature Policy 2024: Automatische validatie, modellering habitattypen, abiotische gebiedskwaliteit, abiotische knelpuntanalyse, nieuwe grenswaarden stikstof - Wageningen University & Research

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• carrying out research, process and interpret research results within project frameworks, and write publications, including peer-reviewed scientific articles and Dutch reports and articles
• Designing and coordinating (field) research on (Dutch) flora and fauna, landscapes, and forms of agricultural management.
• Working in a project organization as a project leader in inter- and transdisciplinary research.
• Translating science based research on ecological knowledge into policy

You will work here
Your home-base will be the team Biodiversity & Policy of WENR based at the Wageningen Campus of Wageningen University & Research, and you will also collaborate intensively with colleagues in other teams at WENR as well as with researchers in other research institutes in the Netherlands and internationally.

You will be working in an enthusiastic multi-discipline team of about 30 colleagues working on research projects related to biodiversity conservation and restoration in a broad-spectrum: societal research related to transformative change to landscape ecology research or research of biodiversity in various ecosystems.

By joining you will have the opportunity to be involved in wider projects working alongside a team of passionate, committed colleagues, and be able to build on a wealth of expertise to take this important work forward.

PhD position: Thermal Imaging & Crop Canopy Transpiration

As a PhD candidate, you will contribute to the development of innovative methods and models to monitor and interpret crop canopy transpiration using thermal imaging combined with microclimate sensing. You will work with advanced camera systems, microclimate sensor arrays and crop canopy models to quantify how environmental variability affects canopy transpiration and stomatal behaviour. You will conduct experiments in greenhouses and vertical farms, collaborate with engineers and modellers across work packages, and work closely with technology providers and growers to turn your findings into practical crop‑centred control strategies.

This project is part of the GreenControl programme which is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and 11 companies. This programme encompasses 7 PhD students appointed at the universities of Wageningen, Delft, Eindhoven and Twente. Within GreenControl, you will work in parallel with another PhD in the same group, focusing on carbon related traits and colleagues across different disciplines, technology companies and growers, ensuring that your research results are directly usable in operational climate‑control strategies.

Your duties and responsibilities:

• Designing and conducting experiments using thermal imaging, climate sensors, and multilayer energy‑balance modelling to quantify canopy transpiration.
• Use robust image‑processing and develop data‑integration pipelines that combine imaging, microclimate and crop structural information.
• Investigating how airflow, temperature, humidity and light influence stomatal behaviour and daily canopy water use and implement the findings in a mechanistic model.
• Collaborating with scientists, engineers, growers and industrial partners to translate scientific insights into algorithms and control‑oriented tools.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Horticulture and Product Physiology, and member of team of Silvere Vialet-Chabrand, which is led by Prof. Leo Marcelis.

The Horticulture and Product Physiology (HPP) group at Wageningen University & Research focuses on understanding and controlling plant growth, development, and product quality, particularly in controlled environments such as greenhouses and vertical farms. By integrating plant physiology, modelling, and data-driven approaches, the group aims to predict plant performance and optimize production systems across the entire supply chain, contributing to sustainable and efficient horticulture.

Researcher / Lecturer in food microbiology

Are you passionate about educating our future scientists? And do you want to combine this with your ambition to do research in the field of safety of plant-based foods? We are looking for a passionate Researcher/Lecturer in the chair Food Microbiology! Will you join our team?

We are looking for a passionate researcher with a strong research background and great interest in microbial ecology of plant-based foods and quantitative microbiology and who would like to combine this with teaching activities.

As researcher, you will be part of the project GRASP – Genomic-driven Risk Assessment of Plant-based foods. This project, funded by Plant2Food (Novo Nordisk Foundation), aims to predict behaviour of microbial sporeforming contaminants in plant-based foods to contribute to more sustainable food chains. The sporeforming pathogens Bacillus cereus and Clostridium botulinum harbor genetically different subgroups with very distinct growth behavior and heat resistance. Critical knowledge gaps exist on the behavior of these subgroups in plant-based foods, while this is key to develop strategies to control these pathogenic contaminants. Hereby GRASP aims to investigate prevalence, genetic diversity and behaviour of these sporeforming pathogens in plant-based foods. This knowledge will be used to develop a genomic-driven risk assessment that will be integrated into a validated user-friendly model tool. The GRASP project is a collaboration with the Danish Technical University (DTU). The project at Wageningen focusses on Bacillus cereus and the DTU project partner focusses on the sporeformer Clostridium botulinum.

In your role as researcher (60% of your time) you will:

• quantify the heat resistance, germination and outgrowth kinetics of Bacillus cereus. You will closely work together with the DTU regarding experimental work on germination kinetics;
• use experimental and literature data to develop predictive models for inactivation, germination and outgrowth of Bacillus cereus’ subgroups in different plant-based dairy analogues;
• evaluate strategies for control of microbiological risks based on quantitative microbiological risk assessments;
• publish results and findings in peer reviewed journals.

In your role as lecturer (40% of your time), you will have various teaching roles. Think of:

• development of educational materials on food safety and food fermentation;
• supervision of lab classes in food microbiology;
• supervise group work on food safety management;
• supervise BSc and MSc thesis research projects;
• supervise internships.

Your team
The position is available at the laboratory of Food Microbiology. Our mission is to generate and disseminate knowledge of food associated microbes to assure quality and safety of food – check out this video.

In order to control food safety and quality from primary production to consumption, solid knowledge of food microbiology is necessary, and both positive (fermentation) and negative aspects (spoilage, disease) of micro-organisms are studied. Quality and safety of food are relevant for public health, sustainability and also for enjoying life. This is what we teach and research. We do this in a dynamic, international group of people with state of the art infrastructure and many national and international cooperation's.

Senior Field Trial Technical Officer

Interested in working in the agriculture of the future? Come and work in the field! Do you enjoy working outdoors, combining technology with plants? Then this is your opportunity to help shape the agriculture of tomorrow at Wageningen University & Research.

As a Senior Field Trial Technical Officer, you will work with a wide range of precision agriculture (field trial) machinery and have experience in cultivating various open-field crops. You will work with both organic and conventional crops on an area of 220 hectares in and around Wageningen, and occasionally on farms elsewhere in the country. In this broad role, you will contribute in a practical way to new developments in agriculture.

A varied range of duties in the role of field trial worker in crop research.

• you work with modern agricultural machinery (sowing, fertilising, harvesting);
• you assist with field work on a variety of crops;
• you contribute to the design and execution of trials;
• you ensure that machinery is properly maintained and registered;
• you control weeds using machinery, manual methods, or the effective use of crop protection products;
• you will mainly work in and around Wageningen, but occasionally also on farms at other locations.

Team
You will work in the Open Field team of Unifarm, the plant and crop science research center of Wageningen University & Research. Within the Open Field team, you will collaborate with 20 permanent staff members.

PhD: Biofiltration for removal of micropollutants from concentrated streams

Are you interested in working on circular water systems? Do you want to better understand nature-based technologies for the removal of micropollutants and PFAS from concentrated streams? Join our research consortium!

The Department of Environmental Technology of Wageningen University & Research is looking for a PhD candidate within the research consortium BlueVantage. BlueVantage is a large research program with scientific and societal partners that aims to tackle growing water challenges by finding new ways to reuse water safely and sustainably. To that end, BlueVantage explores new treatment technologies to remove persistent organic micropollutants and recover valuable resources from water, thereby ensuring a clean water cycle for economy, ecology and society. The research in BlueVantage is divided over different thematic work packages in which a number of PhDs, their supervisors and societal partners together work on the ambitions of BlueVantage.

This PhD-position will be performed in a work package focussed on removing organic micropollutants and PFAS in the context of drinking water production. The work in this work package will be performed in collaboration with 2 other PhD-candidates, drinking water companies and technology developers. You will study the use of biofiltration systems for the removal of organic micropollutants and PFAS from concentrated streams, which are produced by novel membranes developed by a colleague PhD-candidate. Specifically, your duties and responsibilities include

• obtain fundamental insights in the roles of biodegradation and sorption of organic micropollutants and PFAS in biofiltration systems treating concentrated streams using laboratory experiments;
• analyze the composition of concentrated streams using LC-MS/MS and HRMS to identify organic micropollutants, PFAS, and their transformation products and advanced methods to characterize dissolved organic carbon composition;
• develop a predictive model to describe sorption and biodegradation of organic micropollutants and PFAS in biofiltration systems;
• take part in BlueVantage activities, such as consortium meetings, workshops, stakeholder interaction and courses;
• pro-actively communicate your research findings with partners within and outside of the BlueVantage consortium;
• publish your research in peer-reviewed journals and present your research at (inter)national conferences.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Department of Environmental Technology (www.ete.wur.nl), where you will be member of the ‘Micropollutants & Pathogens team, which is led by Dr. Nora Sutton. You will be co-supervised by Dr. Jouke Dykstra, Dr. Thomas Wagner and Dr. Nora Sutton.