Postdoc position for Odor-Based Selective Recognition of Veterinary Disease at Wageningen University & Research

We are looking for

Do you have a nose for innovative research to improve farm animal disease detection?
Are you the junior postdoc that would like to apply your knowledge and expertise for the development of an ‘e-nose’ for use on poultry farms within the project ‘OBserved? Do you have a strong affiliation with technical innovations as well as farm animal health? And would you like to work in a multidisciplinary team with other researchers from different universities and universities of applied sciences and in close collaboration with poultry farmers and farmers’ advisors, societal organisations and industrial partners? If the answer is yes, please look at the positions that we have to offer at Wageningen University & Research.

Your duties and responsibilities include:             

• As postdoc in this project you will help the PhD student systematically gather relevant data on farms and during experiments.
• You will play an important role in the identification of novel biomarkers associated with target molecules or metabolites, especially those related to intestinal (microbial) disbalances based on microbiome and metabolome analyses.
• Being an important facilitator of the cross-disciplinary collaboration and communication with other researchers, partners and stakeholders.
• Analysing the bio-informatics and other (diagnostic) data in relation to Volatile Organic Compound patterns.

We ask

You have:

• Relevant expertise with microbiome or metabolome analyses, bio-informatics or other related fields and can combine these skills to analyse complex research questions.
• The ability to work closely in a multidisciplinary team and effectively organize own work and assist other (junior) researchers in achieving an efficient work flow.
• The ability to contribute to hypothesis generation, experimental design, data analysis and communicate research findings through reports, peer-reviewed publications and presentations.
• The willingness to act as a ‘hub’ to facilitate combined data collection and analyses of relevant animal-related and VOC-related data.
• Excellent communication skills in spoken and written form in English.

In our international working environment there is an increasing amount of communication in English. For this position language level C1 is required. If you do not yet have this level, we will of course help you and you can go to our language center Wageningen in' to Language

Don’t meet every single requirement?  At WUR we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

We offer

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment . A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 2.960,- and € 4.670,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the

Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU)

(scale 10). We can offer a temporary position for a period of three years.

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.
You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University ” in the Netherlands for the 18th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.
Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.
Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling. For instance under the "30% rule", certain categories of international staff can receive tax exemption on approximately 30% of their gross salary.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University ” in the Netherlands for the 18th consecutive time.

More information

For more information about this position, please contact Dr. Annemarie Rebel by e-mail [email protected]
For more information about the procedure, please contact Ine van’t Land, Corporate recruiter by e-mail [email protected]

Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.
This vacancy will be listed up to and including 16 January 2023.

Equal opportunities
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) employs a large number of people with very different backgrounds and qualities, who inspire and motivate each other. We want every talent to feel at home in our organisation and be offered the same career opportunities. We therefore especially welcome applications from people who are underrepresented at WUR. For more information please go to our inclusivity page . A good example of how WUR deals with inclusiveness can be read on the page working at WUR with a functional impairment

We are

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,200 employees (6,400 fte) and 13,200 students and over 150.000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus!

Information about the ‘OBSeRVeD’ project
Within the NWO funded NWA-ORC project OBSeRVeD (Odor-Based Selective Recognition of Veterinary Disease), we aim to develop an innovative electronic nose that can recognize specific molecules or a combination of specific Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) for early detection of poultry disease. This will facilitate early, and more effective interventions, which will reduce the need for antibiotics and chemicals and will reduce the impacts on animal and public health and welfare.

In total, seven PhD students and 4 postdocs will be appointed at Utrecht University, Delft University of Technology, University of Twente, Radboud University, Saxion University of Applied Sciences and Wageningen University & Research. They will collaborate closely with each other and with our partners, including Fontys and The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and several companies specialized in sensor- or data platform technology, poultry feed or poultry veterinary service or farm hygiene industry.
Utrecht University (UU) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) collectively seek and will supervise a PhD student (appointed at UU) and a postdoc (appointed at WUR) to collaborate with each other, (industry) partners, and the other PhD students and postdocs appointed at the other knowledge institutes for the poultry scientific part of the OBSeRVeD project.

To read more about OBSeRVeD: see the links below:

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.