Job description
You will work as a Postdoc in the ERA CoBioTech project: "Tobacco as sustainable production platform of the natural biopolymer cyanophycin as co-product to oil and protein". The project combines plant and industrial biotechnology to increase the value of commercially grown tobacco with products that can sustainably substitute fossil raw materials. The project aims to establish an economically feasible production system for the biopolymer cyanophycin (CGP) as a byproduct, which can be adopted by farmers and biotech companies in Argentina.
You will investigate the benefits and costs of producing CGP using tobacco plants. Three major steps should be investigated in detail: benefits and costs at farm level, at the biorefinery level, and at consumer level. For the assessment at farm level the production costs of the tobacco plant field trial farms should be verified in focus group discussions with key stakeholders in Argentina including environmental implications resulting out of changes in farm level cropping systems. For the assessment of the benefits and costs of extracting the CGP from the tobacco plants and converting it into different commercial products the related threshold levels for a commercial viable production should be identified. A real option approach should be applied for avoiding biases in the assessment at this level. The third step includes an assessment of the demand side in quantity and value. Each step involves close collaboration with project partners.

Requirements:

• a PhD degree in Agricultural Economics, or a related field
• research experience or demonstrated interest with one or several of the following subjects: investment under uncertainty, real option models, partial equilibrium modelling, choice experiments, economic assessment of farming systems
• Experience working in an interdisciplinary group of scientists will be a plus
• Excellent communicative skills (fluency in English required, knowledge of Spanish will be a plus )

Conditions of employment
This is a temporary appointment, 0.5 FTE (19 hours per week) post-doc for a fixed term of 3 years.

Salary depends on training and work experience and based om a fulltime employment, ranges from € 3.111,- gross per month to € 4.048,- gross per month (scale 10) according to the Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO Nederlandse Universiteiten). In addition, we offer a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-the-year bonus of 8.3% of your annual salary and a good pension of the ABP Pension Fund.

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 thus Wageningen has a large international community and a lot to offer international employees. Applicants from abroad moving to the Netherlands may qualify for a special tax relief, the so called 30% regulation.

Wageningen University & Research

Wageningen University & Research
Delivering a substantial contribution to the quality of life. That's our focus - each and every day. Within our domain of good and safe food & food production, food security and a healthy living environment, we search for answers to issues affecting society - such as sustainable food production, climate change and alternative energy. Of course, we don't do this alone. Every day, 5000 people work on 'the quality of life', turning ideas into reality, on a global scale.

For further information about working at Wageningen University & Research please visit www.wur.eu/career