Associate Professor with Tenure in Food Science and Engineering

Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore is seeking an accomplished and visionary academic and research leader in Food Science and/or Engineering to lead the food related activities at NTU.

The appointment will be hosted jointly by the College of Engineering and the College of Science. Food security/resilience and safety are key areas identified by the Singapore government as national priorities.  In order to strengthen Singapore’s food security and achieve the “30 by 30” goal set by the government to meet 30% of population’s nutritional needs locally by 2030. “The Singapore Food Story”, a S$144M initiative has been setup by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and jointly developed by Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). This initiative will fund three R&D themes focusing on development and use of productive, climate-resilient, innovative and sustainable technologies for agriculture and aquaculture, as well as new biotech-based foods and ingredients, underpinned by a robust future-ready food safety system. To achieve the ambitious goal of “30 by 30”, universities such as NTU, and research agencies will play a critical role in terms of talent development as well as providing essential research and development expertise. NTU aims to become a global leader in food science and technology by coordinating its relevant research and educational activities across various colleges. The current vacancy will play a pivotal role in realising this.

The Position

The successful academic will provide foundational vision, leadership and oversight for the strategic and research direction for food activities at NTU. Fostering a world-class research and development programme, the candidate will enhance NTU’s visibility by further developing its leadership both domestically and globally, as well as building and maintaining a diverse range of credible and productive relationships within NTU, the Singapore partners and international leaders.

The ideal candidate for this position is a world authority in the field of food science and/or food engineering with the highest academic credentials, is a dynamic individual with a very distinguished proven track record of providing strong strategic and research leadership in academia, has demonstrated formidable teambuilding capacities, and is leading translational activities in collaboration with industry, national and international agencies. She/he will have proven experience in developing beneficial relationships with a broad range of stakeholders and funding bodies, and will be a highly skilled and experienced researcher, ideally bridging food science and engineering with NTU’s other expertise with an excellent track record of success in the relevant discipline. The successful candidate will be instrumental in building a strong university-wide initiative in food science and technology, with structural links towards other parts of Singapore’s society, and beyond.

About Food@NTU

NTU has early on recognized the importance of the food area and has over the last 5 years made significant efforts in developing its own capacity in this research space. A number of institutional and individual initiatives have been launched for education and research.

The Food Science and Technology (FST) program has developed a strong program in education of talent ranging from undergraduate to PhD education, and has contributed to research on circular economy for food. The educational program is a collaborative effort with Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

The Nanyang Food Technology Centre (NAFTEC) has coordinated technologically oriented research projects in areas of healthy ageing, food safety and aquaculture.

Together with these two entities, individuals and groups of faculty from science, engineering, medicine, humanities, and business disciplines have built-up a research base at NTU which can broadly be classified as (i) urban food production and disease management, (ii) food processing technology (iii) food safety, (iv) functional foods, health, nutrition and the gut microbiome,  (v) consumer behaviour and education, (vi) supply chain analytics and fintech for agriculture, and (vii) food security and sustainability. These topics align well with the overall national research focus on sustainable food production, future foods (advanced biotechnology-based protein production), and food safety science and innovation. The topics reflect NTU’s unique multidisciplinary approach to food research unlike the classical approach employed by most universities; based on the strong position that NTU has in adjacent disciplines.

Hiring Institution: NTU