We are looking for an Assistant Professor who has the ambition to grow into the position of Professor Plant phenotyping. The candidate will perform research and education on phenotyping of horticultural crops (vegetables, fruits, cut flowers and/or potplants); this may also include post-harvest phenotyping.

During the first four years, you will participate half-time in the research programme 'Plantenna: Botanic sensor networks, towards an Internet Of Plant' in which all four Dutch Technical universities (www.4tu.nl) cooperate; for this programme 6 tenure track positions are available. This programme aims to develop autonomous sensors that measure plant and environmental parameters at high resolution and low cost. Sensor information will be used to develop methods for early detection of plant-stress and environmental strain. This in turn will enable optimising growth conditions for achieving sustainable production.

For more information, also about the other positions within DeSIRE, check out this page: https://www.academictransfer.com/nl/employer/4TU/resilience-engineering-desire

Key responsibilities:

• Establish a personal research portfolio that is embedded within the Horticulture and Product Physiology group.
• Undertake research that leads to high quality research outputs.
• Teach courses (lectures, practicals) on plant phenotyping as well as crop physiology and development. Supervise BSc and MSc thesis students as well as PhD students. Develop new educational material.
• Work with the Plantenna team to ensure the success of the programme in terms of delivering improved plant instrumentation technologies and closer collaboration between the 4TU consortium.
• Submit grant applications and obtain research funding.
• Communicate the importance and significance of research to stakeholders.

The ideal candidate is characterised by:

• A PhD in plant sciences.
• Proven interest in and knowledge of plant phenotyping, photosynthesis and environmental crop physiology.
• Preferably experienced in the development of measurement systems for plant sciences, including hardware and software.
• Very good publication record in peer-reviewed journals.
• Result-driven team player with creative ideas.
• Excellent communication skills as well as good proficiency in English (both oral and written).
• Good networker.
• Capacity to acquire funds for research and education Enthusiastic educator, with the drive to implement innovative methodology in education

Wageningen University offers talented scientists a challenging Tenure Track career trajectory. Once appointed as Assistant Professor you can grow into a Professor holding a Personal Chair. Career steps follow an assessment of performance at predefined times by a tenure track committee.

This is initially a seven year position in which you will enter the tenure track. The position can be part-time or fulltime (0.7-1.0 fte). We provide a stimulating environment for science, with commitment to help you develop in your career. We offer you a temporary contract which will be extended if you perform well. Gross salary per month: from € 3.475,- up to € 4.757,- (Scale 11 VSNU) based on full time employment and depending on expertise and experience. In addition, we offer a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-the-year bonus of 8.3% of your annual salary.

The selected candidates will be interviewed by a recruitment committee (second round).

Wageningen University & Research

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is "To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life". Within Wageningen University & Research, nine specialised research institutes from the Wageningen Research Foundation and Wageningen University have joined forces to help answer the most important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.

With approximately 30 locations, 5,000 employees, and 10,000 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain worldwide. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of the unique approach of Wageningen.

For further information about working at Wageningen University & Research, take a look at thespecial career site.

The chair group Horticulture & Product Physiology conducts high impact fundamental research and educates students providing the scientific basis required to answer questions that are of utmost importance for sustainable crop production and product quality in horticulture. The research focus is on how physiological processes in crops, plants and plant organs interact with the abiotic environment and how this affects crop production and product quality. Questions from horticultural practice are translated into fundamental research topics, aiming to explain mechanisms. The research and education contributes to sustainably feeding the World with healthy high-quality products. The chair group is an international team consisting of 11 permanent staff members (6 faculty and 5 assistants), about 25 PhD candidates and postdocs and a number of guest researchers. Each year about 35 students conduct their thesis study (a 6-month research) at our group. We offer a variety of courses for BSc and MSc students, as well as industry, to transfer knowledge on horticulture (pre- and post harvest), environmental physiology and product quality. Recently Wageningen University together with Utrecht university has received a grant for investing 22 Million euro in phenotyping infrastructure which will boost our phenotyping research.

The Plantenna project

Within the Plantenna programme the person appointed in the Horticulture and Product Physiology group will be responsible for the biological domain of the programme. They will therefore be expected to work with the Plantenna team to ensure that the potential of the physical measurement systems and data acquisition at the disposal of the Plantenna project is applied to plants in the most efficient way. Within the plant biology context it will be necessary to identify priorities for the 'Internet of Plants' concept, leading to instrumentation development that reflect the practical needs of plant measurement in the field and the priorities for plant environmental physiological measurement and phenotyping, and to be able to communicate these priorities to the Plantenna team. Measurement of the physical environment of the plant (eg humidity, carbon dioxide mole fraction), the physical state of the plant (eg temperature, water status), and the physiological operation or state of the plant (eg stem water flow, photosynthetic light-use efficiency, stomatal conductance) all lie within the scope of the Plantenna project. The Plantenna project aims to bring the creative application of new instrumentation technogies and approaches to the field of plant measurement and for this sophisticated biological insight and wisdom will be essential. The technologies developed are expected to be suitable for large-scale, long-term use in the field or protected cultivation, and should therefore be low-cost, low maintenance and low (or no) contact in nature.