Are you passionate to explore novel food sources and do cutting-edge research in food processing and design? Are you willing to pursue a career in academia? Withing Wageningen University & Research we have 2 open PhD positions in the field of Future Food ingredients design.

Food Quality and Design group of Wageningen University and Research (FQD, WUR) offers two PhD positions in Future food ingredients design to talented food technologists with an interest in advancing the field of novel food sources. As a PhD candidate, you will contribute to the development and optimization of postharvest processing of novel food sources by different technologies, and will make an impact on the future of food production. You will work with various new materials sourced from cellular agriculture, precision fermentation, edible insects, yeast, and mycelium to process and design novel food ingredients using such techniques as extrusion, aerogels, oleogels, scaffolds.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• conducting research (designing experiments, data collection and processing, analyzing the results);
• writing scientific publications which will form the basis of your PhD dissertation;
• presenting research findings at (inter-) national scientific conferences and/or symposia;
• fulfilling requirements of PhD program.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Food Quality and Design group, and member of the Future Food team, which is led by Prof. Vincenzo Fogliano.

You have the following competencies and skills:

• a successfully completed MSc degree in food technology or related areas;
• knowledge of food science and technology especially of food proteins and their functionality;
• experience in conducting research, including design of experiments, data collection, work in a laboratory, data analysis;
• you are a critical thinker, problem solver and have strong time management skills;
• you have strong scientific writing (evidence from your thesis and/or publications) and communication skills;
• excellent English for communication and writing scientific publications. Certified C1 is needed unless you got your MSc in English.

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 receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team.

The gross salary for the first year is € 2.541,- per month rising to € 3.247,- in the fourth year in according to the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale P). This is based on a full-time working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.

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 18th 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.
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. For instance under the "30% rule", certain categories of international staff can receive tax exemption on approximately 30% of their gross salary.

Wageningen University & Research

The mission of Wageningen University & 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 (6,400 fte) and 13,200 students and over 150.000 participants to WUR's Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

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.