Assistant or associate professor soil geography and land use (tenure track)

Are you fascinated by soilscapes and how they can sustainably support eco-system services? Do you like sharing your knowledge with students and stakeholders to promote sustainable soil and land use? Then you could be the ideal candidate to join our team!

The Soil Geography and Landscape group (SGL) at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) invites applications for a tenure-track position in soil geography and land use. SGL aims to provide fundamental understanding of Earth-surface systems to address questions on the sustainable use of soil and landscape resources. Within this realm, we seek a new colleague with a strong background in soil sciences, who will focus on land-use systems and/or multi-functional land evaluation. SGL is part of the Wageningen University Soil Science cluster, renown as one of the worlds' leaders in soil sciences. Within Wageningen we closely collaborate with ISRIC-World Soil Information and Wageningen Environmental Research.

The offered position involves a combination of research (40%), teaching (40%), acquisition and general tasks (20%). The exact research focus will depend on the candidate, but should be in the realm of soil geography and land use and complementary to that of present SGL staff. You will teach at BSc and MSc levels on soil geography (from soil profile description to digital soil mapping), GIS applications and land evaluation, including an international field course offered annually in Spain. You will also supervise BSc and MSc thesis students as well as PhD candidates. An overview of courses offered by SGL is available here; note that the language for instruction of most of these courses is English. An important aspect of the job is the acquisition of research projects, both at national and international level, to fund new doctoral and postdoc positions. The general tasks should support functioning of our group, the soil cluster and/or the study programmes.

We seek a curiosity-driven soil scientist who enjoys connecting fundamental systems understanding to practical applications of newly gained knowledge.

The ideal candidate has:

• a PhD degree in soil science, geosciences, environmental science, or closely related field;
• a strong academic record and network in soil science;
• experience with quantitative analysis of coupled human-natural soilscapes, e.g. soil evolution in the context of agricultural land use, multi-functional land evaluation and/or nature-based solutions;
• a pro-active approach, embracing opportunities for collaboration inside and outside of academia;
• the skills to obtain research funding;
• teaching experience, preferably including the development of teaching materials;
• excellent communication skills in English, both oral and written, and preferably good communication skills in Spanish as well.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will be offered a fixed-term contract which, upon positive evaluation based on criteria elaborated in the University's Tenure Track policy, can lead to a permanent employment contract as professor. The fixed term contract is 7 years for candidates who start as beginning assistant professors or shorter when candidates start at associate professor level. Salary depends on knowledge and experience and will range from a minimum of € 3.821, to a maximum of
€ 5.943,- (assistant professor position), and € 5.039,- to a maximum of € 6.444,- (associate professor position) based on full time employment in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 11-13).

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen by students as the "Best University" in the Netherlands for the 17th consecutive time.

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 Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees. Applicants from abroad moving to the Netherlands may qualify for a special tax relief, known as the 30% ruling. Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family. Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling, and other issues.

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University and Research is "To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life". Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.

With its roughly 30 branches, 6.800 employees and 12.900 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen's unique approach. WUR has been named the best university of the Netherlands by students for the 17th time in a row.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus!

The Soil Geography and Landscape group (SGL) has the mission to improve and share understanding of soil patterns and landscape dynamics. We take an integrative approach that combines biophysical and human elements to gain insight in past, present and future system dynamics, and to support sustainable land management.

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.