Are you good at connecting different parties and operating in an academic environment, and does writing come easily to you? Do you enjoy networking and would you like to be part of a socially engaged team at Wageningen University & Research? If the answer is yes, read on!

About us
The Society Based Education (SBE) team of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) connects societal issues to the University's BSc and MSc programmes. The SBE team supports and inspires WUR lecturers to design their educational offerings in connection with society and in the context of hybrid learning environments.

It is WUR's ambition to allow students to learn in an authentic way as much as possible, so they can apply their academic knowledge in the Netherlands and abroad, and thereby contribute to finding solutions to current societal issues. Examples of these issues include the nitrogen crisis and climate problems in general, developing new breeding techniques in Tanzania, and developing a strategy for more agroforestry in the Netherlands. In these hybrid learning environments, students learn to look beyond the boundaries of their own disciplines, come into contact with their future occupational field, and develop complex social and personal skills, such as entrepreneurship and reflection. In this way, the acquisition of knowledge and skills related to societal problems is integrated as a foundational aspect of WUR study programmes. This requires a strong network of government agencies and public bodies, entrepreneurs, social organisations and educational and research institutions that understand the added value of collaborating with WUR students and lecturers. To this end, SBE maintains good contacts with various knowledge networks, living labs, individual clients and lecturers.

You will be working in a self-organising team working on the basis of agile principles, under the guidance of the manager of the Education Support Centre. The Education Support Centre is subsumed under the WUR Education & Student Affairs department.

What you will be doing
In this position, you will be responsible for relation management with organisations beyond WUR and for integrating the issues put forward by these external partners in WUR education with the teachers involved. Together with other team members, you will be responsible for managing a network of external and internal relations, partnerships and initiatives in an effort to identify opportunities for real-life learning in the domain of WUR. You will need to be able to recognise and explore the intersections with the authentic learning environments in WUR education and support external partners in defining their questions and issues. You will then have to link external partners to the right educational method and lecturer. In this position, you will need to understand the needs of external partners and gain insight into the specific learning outcomes of various subjects and the wishes of lecturers.

This position involves, among other things, the following tasks:

• Actively maintaining and expanding internal and external partners and networks
• Acting as contact point for organisations that wish to collaborate with WUR students
• Connecting external demand to the right educational method and lecturer within the University, and vice versa
• Investigating opportunities within and beyond WUR for strengthening real-life learning within the University's curriculum
• Acting as sparring partner for lecturers in developing opportunities for real-life learning
• Organising workshops for lecturers and external partners.

An enthusiastic colleague with a passion for education and social developments in the field of life sciences and sustainable living environment. This requires the following characteristics and qualities:

• Academic working and thinking level
• Affinity with and interest in WUR themes, such as life sciences, social sciences, sustainable living environment, nutrition or related domains
• Affinity and experience with connecting different parties
• Professional experience with designing and/or working with living labs, challenge-based learning and transdisciplinary or authentic learning (considered as an advantage)
• The ability to motivate people, and excellent communicative and social skills (oral and written)
• A good command of the English language, orally and in writing (C2).

In addition to the above-mentioned characteristics and qualities, we are looking for a colleague for our team who has a proactive attitude, can work independently and is perseverant when needed. We are looking for someone who can quickly shift between tasks and is a good organiser and team player.
Our preference goes to a candidate who is available in the short term.

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 of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary between € 2960 and € 4670,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). It considers a contract of 0,8 FTE. Scaling depends on education and experience. In case of mutual agreement a fixed contract is aimed for after one year.

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 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, 7.200 employees and 13.200 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 Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.

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

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