Researcher greenhouse technology, covering and screen materials

Wageningen University & Research
Wageningen University & Research

The mission of Wageningen University and 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, 6.800 employees and 12.900 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen's unique approach. WUR has been named Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.

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

Wageningen University & Research, business unit Greenhouse Horticulture, is a leading international contract research institute for greenhouse horticulture. We focus on innovations in the greenhouse horticulture sector. Together with industry, science and government, questions on greenhouse design, crop management and cultivation are analyzed and translated into applied research and innovation projects.
The Greenhouse Horticulture business unit has approximately 150 employees and various research teams:

• Crop health, water and soil
• Crop physiology
• Crop management and quality
• Greenhouse technology

The position described here is part of the Greenhouse Technology research team. In the Netherlands and various regions in the world, our research is focused on sustainable systems for greenhouses and indoor farming production. Experts in crop physiology, crop protection, greenhouse climate, water, energy, modelling, data science, computer vision, sensors and robotics work together in multidisciplinary projects. We do this together with experts from science and business. For more information, visit

www.glastuinbouw.wur.nl

In an ambitious research program we are working on energy saving in Dutch greenhouse horticulture, helping to make the sector more sustainable. In the coming years, Dutch greenhouses must be free from using fossil energy and causing emissions. On behalf of the government, suppliers and growers, we provide answers to research questions, stimulate innovations and help to implement them in practice. Internationally, research questions are often related to greenhouse production systems aimed at local growing conditions and achieving high yields with a minimal use of resources such as water and energy. In a number of (longer-term, out-of-the-box) projects we are pushing the boundaries of what is technologically possible in the future.

Projects involve close collaboration with WUR LightLab. This laboratory is part of the Greenhouse Technology team and carries out research to develop improved greenhouse covering and screen materials for horticultural applications. Improvements in the optical properties of materials for an improved crop production and increased energy savings are central to this. Research takes place in collaboration with companies, guidelines for new materials are developed and the potential of new materials is investigated by measurements, models and/or experiments. Another important activity is carrying out standard measurements of commercially available materials on behalf of companies. WUR LightLab is an ISO17025 accredited test laboratory.