We are looking for an enthusiast PhD candidate with a technical background to work together with a multidisciplinary team, investigating the potential of new technologies such as integrated photonics for methane measurements, developing and applying an optical sensor for the detection of methane in exhaled breath of cows at user facilities.

You will be appointed as a PhD candidate at the IMM. This institute is one of the major research institutes of the Faculty of Science at Radboud University, comprising 19 research groups in areas ranging from condensed matter science to organic chemistry and biochemistry. The institute focuses on fundamental research with a view to developing applications for society and educates the next generation of leaders in science and innovation. IMM distinguishes itself from peer institutes through close collaborations and rich interactions between chemists and physicists and/or experimentalists and theorists, and also through its excellent infrastructures.
Your teaching load may be up to 10% of your appointment.

• A Master’s degree in electrical engineering, physics or a related discipline.
• Good knowledge of optics, lasers and lock-in techniques or optical chip data acquisition and signal processing; prior experience with spectroscopy and/or miniaturised sensing systems (e.g. photonics technology) is desired.
• Programming skills (MatLab, Lab view).
• You should be a team player who enjoys working in multidisciplinary teams.
• Good communication and organisation skills.
• Fluency in English is required, basic oral expression skills in Dutch are desirable for communication with users.

• Employment for 0.8 (5 year contract) - 1.0 FTE (4 year contract).
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,443 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,122 from the fourth year onwards (salary scale P).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract) or 3.5 years (5 year contract).
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services. Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 29 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Additional employment conditions

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

The position is within the Exhaled Biomarkers and Exposure Group that is part of the Department of Molecular and Laser Physics at the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM), Faculty of Science. We focus on real-time monitoring of volatile compounds such as biomarkers in exhaled breath of humans, as a signature of their health status. To this end, we are developing and using laser-based spectroscopy systems for targeted volatile compounds and applying mass spectrometry for both targeted and untargeted compounds. Methane is a known greenhouse gas released by various sources, including dairy cows that are producing it through their normal digestive processes. To mitigate methane emission through breading and feeding requires accurate measurements of methane from individual cows. Breath analysis techniques can provide quick and non-invasive measurement of these emissions at the individual level. There is therefore a strong need for reliable gas sensors to generate accurate data based on which decisions are taken to reduce overall environmental impacts of methane emissions from dairy cows. We would like to tackle this need by aiming to investigate the potential of photonics technologies to build and apply reliable and preferably low-cost sensors to analyse methane from cow's breath. In our group, we have over 20 years of experience with various technologies of gas sensing and their applications in life sciences and data analysis. Furthermore, over the years, we have built a broad network of users of these technologies and technical experts. The PhD project represents Radboud University in the Synergia grant (SYstem change for New Ecology-based and Resource efficient Growth with high tech In Agriculture) awarded by the Dutch Research Council. This involves a national partnership between academia, several institutes and parties from the business community, aiming to build knowledge at the interface of biology, technology and society in order to develop new sustainable strategies for the agricultural sector.