Tenure Track Assistant Professor Food-Energy-Water Nexus (1.0 FTE)

Updated: 11 months ago
Deadline: 01 May 2023

The University of Groningen is a research university with a global outlook, deeply rooted in Groningen, City of Talent. Quality has been our top priority for over four hundred years, and with success: the University is currently in or around the top 100 on several influential ranking lists.

The Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) is the largest faculty within the University. We offer first-rate education and research in a wide range of science and engineering disciplines, from classical disciplines such as mathematics, astronomy and mechanical engineering, to interdisciplinary fields such as artificial intelligence, energy & environment and nanoscience. Our community has an open and informal character with students and staff from around the world.

The position we offer will be embedded in the Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen. This institute does research on two of the focal points of the university of Groningen: Sustainability and Energy. The institute consists of 6 base units that cover a wide range of subjects within these topics, ranging from energy conversion processes to atmospheric sciences, societal studies to wind energy, and nuclear energy to global carbon cycles, which make the institute both nationally and internationally stand out. All these base units contribute to the MSc programme Energy & Environmental Sciences making this one of the broadest-oriented MSc programmes of its kind. The IREES group in particular supports also Science & Society related BSc-education, aiming to make students reflect on the ethics and professional aspects of their current study and future working environment as an academic.

The Integrated Research on Energy, Environment and Society group (IREES) is looking for a tenure track assistant professor who will strengthen our research and teaching related to the Water-Energy-Food nexus. This area of research investigates solutions and pathways for a sustainable energy future without causing devastating impacts on the supply of food and water and other ecosystem services. Research in this field addresses a wide range of topics such as options to produce renewable energy on farms; carbon, water, and land footprints of changing diets; impacts of global food trade on the use of natural resources; and social, economic and environmental trade-offs and co-benefits of the energy transition across scale. To appropriately address these issues, novel combinations of existing tools (e.g. global value chain analysis, LCA, global agroecological zones model, and InVEST) and new multi-disciplinary approaches are needed. Contact us, if you are excited about investigating the opportunities and potential pitfalls of the energy transition and working in a multi-disciplinary environment.

As Assistant Professor you will:

• set up and develop your own research line and contribute to the research lines in the research group IREES (Integrated Research on Energy, Environment & Society)
• supervise PhD students
• acquire external funding
• promote the societal relevance of your research
• teach in and contribute to the development of our Energy and Environmental Sciences Master program
• contribute to the organization of the faculty, for example by participating in working groups and committees, in the domains of teaching, research and management

At the stage of Assistant Professor 60% of your time is for research, 30% for teaching activities and 10% for organizational tasks. After five years you will be assessed for tenure and promotion to the level of Associate Professor (see Conditions of employment).


We encourage you to apply if you have:

• a PhD degree in the field of Energy & Sustainability or a related field
• at least two years of postdoctoral experience outside of the Netherlands, preferably in a different country than where you received your PhD (can be compensated for after the appointment via extended research visits abroad)
• a relevant international network
• excellent research qualities, as shown by a publication record in international peer-reviewed journals
• a good track record in teaching, appropriate to your career stage
• demonstrable organizational competences
• cross-cultural sensitivity
• good command of spoken and written English

And you are:

• a team player with good communication skills
• able to work well in an international, culturally diverse, environment
• able to acquire substantial research grants from external sources
• in possession of or willing to obtain a University Teaching Qualification (Dutch: BKO) within three years
• able to speak the Dutch language or motivated to speak it within five years.


We offer you a full-time tenure-track position as Assistant Professor and:

? a salary, depending on qualifications and work experience, from € 3,974 up to a maximum of € 5,439 gross per month (scale 11 CAO Dutch Universities, depending on your career stage) for a full-time position
? a starting package of k€ 40 to travel, organize workshops, etc., as well as access to additional resources for education development projects
? holiday allowance and end-of-year bonus of respectively 8% and 8.3% of your yearly salary
? a pension scheme
? maternity and parental leave
? the possibility to work part-time (0.9 FTE or 0.8 FTE)
? a personal development trajectory and a mentor program
? dual career support for partners of new faculty members moving to Groningen.

Consider our website for more information about the working conditions at the University of Groningen: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/new-staff/conditions-of-employment?lang=nl

As Assistant Professor you will enter a tenure track that, if followed successfully, will lead to a Full Professorship in approximately 10 years. In case of a full-time contract, you will initially be appointed for 7 years and your performance will be assessed after 5 years. This moment may be extended with at most one year in case of a life event (e.g. prolonged illness or maternity leave). If your assessment is positive, you will get a tenured appointment as an Associate Professor. After another 4 to 7 years you will be assessed for promotion to the position of Full Professor. Please consider Career Paths in Science for a complete description of our tenure track system as well as the criteria for promotion: https://www.rug.nl/fse/organization/vacatures/vacatures/career-paths-in-science-edition-4?lang=en .



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