Postdoctoral position – Sustainable food and packaging systems

Aarhus University, Faculty of Technology, Department of Food Science, offers a 2-year position at the postdoctoral level within the area of food packaging, in particular biopolymer interactions for structuring during processing. The position is available from 1 March 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter.

We are looking for a highly creative and motivated candidate, who will work on a multidisciplinary project at the intersection of polymer materials and food science.

The Postdoc position is part of the Food technology group at the Department of Food Science and will also include teaching and public engagement activities, as well as supervision of students. It will also include active participation in attracting funding for further research in the area. Furthermore, the position will include many opportunities to connect with other partners and industries. The group has extensive, cross-disciplinary collaboration with other research groups both national and international as well as with industrial partners.

Qualifications

• A PhD degree (or equivalent experience) in food science, food engineering, polymer science or a related ?eld;
• A good and documented understanding and background in a broad variety of analytical methods within the area of food and packaging design and development- in particular testing of polymers` physical and chemical properties;
• Deep curiosity-driven interest in investigating the structure-property-end of life of polymers and their interactions, also for food packaging applications;
• A prior knowledge and experience in biopolymer formulations, emulsions and delivery systems;
• A high level of verbal and written communication in English as this is the language at work;
• Practical abilities to work in a variety of labs, build new experimental setups and conduct research independently;
• Good interpersonal skills, the ability to thrive in a diverse, multidisciplinary environment, and the ability to disseminate scientific results;
• Experience in supervising students and teaching at a high academic level;

Read more about the Department of Food Science at www.food.au.dk.

Place of employment and place of work
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is the Department of Food Science, Agro Food Park 48, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.

Academic contacts
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact Assistant Professor Ilke Uysal Ünalan, [email protected] , and Professor Milena Corredig, [email protected] .

Letter of reference
If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range
Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation .

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities .

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here . Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here .

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here .

Application procedure
Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Deadline: 29 November 2022

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University’s website.

Aarhus University
Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,000 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 885 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/