The Animal Production Systems (APS) group at Wageningen University & Research is looking for a Research engineer within the project 'Towards a circular food system'. The aim of the project is to compose pathways towards circular food systems that enable us to feed the world while respecting the planet.

The candidate will work in an interdisciplinary, international research team with several postdocs, PhD and MSc students. Each group member has her/his own knowledge domain, such as animal sciences, plant sciences, ecology, and human nutrition. The candidate, being part of this research team, will integrate the knowledge from these various domains in order to develop a non-linear optimisation model related to how to feed the world sustainably and within planetary boundaries. This position, therefore, requires mathematical skills and as it has a bridging function, a helicopter view on food systems research would be beneficial.

The candidate should have experience in linear and non-linear optimisation, data science, and data visualization, as well as a strong interest in finding solutions that foster a sustainable food system. The candidate also should have an interest and skills in training others and have a desire to work in a team.

Requirements

• PhD degree with a mathematical, OR (operations research), or agro-ecological background.
• Optimisation modelling skills.
• Highly developed GAMS and/or R programming skills.
• Ability to develop methods for connecting diverse data and methods from multiple biophysical and geographical scales.
• The ability to work effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary research team, and carry out independent individual research, to achieve team goals.
• Excellent communication skills and proficiency in English (both oral and written) are prerequisites (e.g. TOEFL internet based 90 with a minimum of 23 for speaking, or IELTS (academic version) 6.5, with a minimum of 6.0 for speaking).

Desirable Criteria

• Extensive knowledge in farming systems and capacity to evaluate them from different perspectives (e.g. from environmental, production, development and food security perspectives).
• Experience with geographical information systems.
• Knowledge of Cloud computing environments, like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, and experience deploying data science projects in the Cloud.
• A record of science innovation and creativity plus the ability & willingness to incorporate novel ideas and approaches into scientific investigations.

A full-time fellowship for a duration of 48 months (4 years), starting with a contract of one year with a performance evaluation. The research will be carried out in the Netherlands but will require international collaboration.
Salary depends on training and work experience and based on a fulltime employment, ranges from € 2.972 gross per month to € 4.978 gross per month 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 (https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontenten/belastingdienst/individuals/living_and_working/working_in_another_country_temporarily/you_are_coming_to_work_in_the_netherlands/30_facility_for_incoming_employees/).

Wageningen University & Research

The mission of our University is to explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life. Within Wageningen University & Research, nine specialised research institutes from the Wageningen Research Foundation and Wageningen University have joined forces to help answer the most important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With approximately 30 locations, 5,000 employees, and 10,000 students, it is one of the leading organisations in its domain worldwide. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of the unique approach of Wageningen.