PhD fellowship in RASOPTA at the Chair of Aroma and Smell Research, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität...

Updated: over 2 years ago
Location: Erlangen, BAYERN
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 15 Sep 2021

A 3-year PhD fellowship is available at the Chair of Aroma and Smell Research, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany, with an expected start January 1st 2022.

The fellowship is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 956481.

About RASOPTA

The RASOPTA consortium consists of enthusiastic academic researchers and innovative non-academic partners, which together will train a new generation of scientists with expertise in sustainable and healthy fish production with minimum water consumption. Production of fish in recirculated aquaculture systems (RAS) requires experiences from several scientific disciplines, but there is need to bridge existing knowledge gaps between these disciplines to ensure a high water quality, healthy and non-stressed fish, and a supreme consumer quality of the fish. Therefore, in RASOPTA state-of-the-art training in important disciplines within RAS technology will be provided by 10 universities and research institutes and 8 non-academic partners in 8 countries. Primary goals of the training are to improve microbial processes to maintain a high water quality, to identify flavour compounds that may affect consumer preference for fish from RAS, and to ensure an optimum health and welfare of the fish. The research also aims at developing a DNA-based chip for early warning of quality and health of the fish. To reach the interdisciplinary goals in RASOPTA, the consortium will train 12 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in disciplines ranging from chemistry, microbiology and molecular biology, to physiology and pathology of fish. More information about RASOPTA can be found at https://rasopta.ku.dk/ .

About your project

Together with three other Early Stage Researchers (to be recruited by the University of Copenhagen and the Fraunhofer IVV (Freising, Germany), you will contribute to RASOPTA’s work package 2 which focuses on the investigation and the development of managing strategies regarding off-flavours in fish and water of RAS.

You will identify off-flavour hotspots in freshwater RAS systems, develop strategies to avoid off-flavour formation, and evaluate consumer acceptance of RAS fish. You will apply analytical methods such as gas chromatography-olfactometry/mass spectrometry to investigate water samples obtained from different sites of the RAS, and determine the influence of biofilters and microbes on off-flavour formation. Moreover, you will study the organoleptic properties of the fish and its acceptance by sensory evaluation and consumer testing of fish. You will work in close collaboration with the Early Stage Researchers at the University of Copenhagen and at Fraunhofer IVV, who will work on additional aspects of off-flavour generation in different RAS systems.

Mobility within RASOPTA is of high importance and you are therefore expected to spend two months at University of Copenhagen, and two months at RAS production units in Denmark and France.

You will be enrolled as a PhD at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and are expected to participate in the training programme of RASOPTA with at least 12 ECTS. At FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, a comprehensive training programme is also available, offered by the Graduate Centre of FAU.

About Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

The FAU was established on 4 November 1743 and transferred to the state of Bavaria in 1810. It has been housed in the former margraviate residence in Erlangen since 1818. In the summer semester of 1890, the number of students enrolled at the University reached 1,000 for the first time. The Nürnberger Hochschule für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, a college of business, economics and social sciences, was integrated into FAU in 1961, as was the Pädagogische Hochschule Nürnberg, a teacher training college, in 1972. Today, approximately 40,000 students study at the FAU campuses in Erlangen, Nuremberg and Fürth. At an international level, FAU stands out as an innovative university founded on diversity with an outward-looking, international perspective.

The Chair of Aroma and Smell Research at the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy has been established in 2017 and is active in different research areas: i) the elucidation of aroma and smell compounds in food and non-food items, in the food value chain, and during manufacturing and recycling processes; ii) the investigation of the resorption, biotransformation, excretion and bioactivity of aromatic substances in the human body; iii) in the investigation of olfactory perception and its biochemical and psychological principles; iv) in smell landscapes and in understanding the cultural role of odor in past, present and future; v) in studying chemical communication processes in humans and animals; v) in developing and studying biointerfaces in neurobiological processes. The Chair of Aroma and Smell Research hosts an interdisciplinary team of around 20 early stage researchers.

FAU wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.