Life is the most complex natural system on the planet. We believe that modeling complex life processes from evolution to development is essential to understanding them. We seek an ambitious and excellent researcher to join us as a new group leader in this mission. Are you interested in developing or expanding your research line in computational or mathematical modelling? Do you want to be inspired by a unique computational biology environment and collaborate with excellent experimental biologists at the Utrecht Science Park and beyond?

As a full staff member of the Theoretical Biology group at UU, you will be encouraged to (further) develop your own research line in modelling biological systems, in almost any discipline in Biology. The research of the group is diverse and fundamental, with subjects running from the immune system, plant development to evolution, and modeling approaches varying from purely mathematical to agent-based modeling (see https://tbb.bio.uu.nl). Computationally, the group is well equipped, with an in-house Linux cluster, and high-performance computing facilities on campus. The group has no wet laboratory, yet intensively collaborates with experimental groups, both within the same building and within the University and abroad.

Through recruiting students for internships and writing successful grant applications for PhD students and postdocs you are given the opportunity to form your own research group within the Theoretical Biology group. You will participate in (some of) our teaching in statistics, programming in R, and the analysis and development of simple ODE models, to biology students of the department of Biology.

To become part of our team, we ask that you:

• have a PhD in modeling biological systems and have published excellent papers on this topic;
• have a keen interest in answering biological questions using computational and/or mathematical models;
• are a team player who enjoys collaborating with experimental biologists;
• have a passion for teaching theoretical biology. Both for teaching bachelor biology students (elementary modeling with ODEs, computer programming, and/or statistics), as well as for supervising state-of-the-art research projects to MSc and PhD students;
• are an expert in both the biology and the modeling of at least one discipline in biology;
• have excellent writing skills and will use these to write and defend competitive research proposals.

• a full-time tenure track position for five years that will be subject to a mid-term evaluation after approximately 2.5 years and an end-term evaluation. If evaluations are positive after five years, the position becomes permanent;
• a full-time gross salary - depending on previous qualifications and experience - ranging between €3,746 and €5,127 per month (scale 11 at the level of Assistant Professor (universitair docent; UD) according to the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities (cao));
• benefits including 8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities;

In addition to the employment conditions laid down in the CAO for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of additional arrangements. These include agreements on professional development, leave arrangements and sports. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment yourself via the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we like to encourage you to continue to grow.

More information about working at the Faculty of Science can be found at uu.nl/science/careers.

This tenure track position is open at the level of an assistant professor. Together with Bioinformaticians, we form a Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics group (TBB), using computational biology, bioinformatics, modelling, and big data to address both fundamental and applied questions in the life sciences. We are members of the Utrecht University complexity centre and the Utrecht Bioinformatics centre. TBB staff members independently run their own research lab, composed of MSc students, PhD students and postdocs, yet both for research and teaching all staff and group members collaborate intensively. The research groups function together within the TBB group, sharing offices, their computer cluster, teaching, and group talks. As a staff member you are expected to enthusiastically contribute your own expertise to this diverse team.

The Department of Biology consists of 12 research divisions, which are organized within two institutes: the Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity (IBB) and the Institute of Environmental Biology (IEB). The department of Biology coordinates the teaching of the Bachelor’s programme in Biology, as well as Master’s programmes and PhD courses that are offered through the Graduate School of Life Sciences. Each Institute promotes the maintenance of a high-quality and interactive research environment.

At the Faculty of Science there are 6 departments to make a fundamental connection with: Biology, Chemistry, Information and Computing Sciences, Mathematics, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Physics. Each of these is made up of distinct institutes that work together to focus on answering some of humanity’s most pressing problems. More fundamental still are the individual research groups – the building blocks of our ambitious scientific projects.

Utrecht University is a friendly and ambitious university at the heart of the attractive and culturally vibrant city of Utrecht. The Utrecht region is among the most economically competitive regions in Europe, and a hub for science, innovation and education. We love to welcome new scientists to our city – a thriving cultural hub that is consistently rated as one of the world’s happiest cities. We are renowned for our innovative interdisciplinary research and our emphasis on inspirational research and excellent education. We are equally well-known for our familiar atmosphere and the can-do mentality of our people. This lively and inspiring academic environment attracts professors, researchers and PhD candidates from all over the globe, making both the University and the Faculty of Science a vibrant and wonderfully diverse international community.