Junior lecturer bioinformatics and data science

As a junior lecturer, you will contribute to the Wageningen University Bioinformatics Group’s education efforts. You will help deliver, organize, and innovate our teaching, with room for contributions to research. Your duties and responsibilities will include:

• teaching a number of existing courses that fit your specific expertise, innovating courses when needed and setting up new courses when possible, always in collaboration with other group staff members
• serving as the focal point for organizing the group’s educational efforts
• keeping up-to-date with university education organization
• representing the group in education working groups
• organizing thesis student intake etc.

As we believe academic education should be linked to research, you will also have time (20%) to maintain your own research line and/or contribute to those of other staff members, for example through joint supervision of MSc/PhD students.

This position offers the opportunity to develop an academic career in education in bioinformatics, data science and machine learning, closely connected to state-of-the-art research, in the so-called “Education Career Path” of Wageningen University. You will work in Wageningen together with staff highly engaged in education, part of a group with ~30 postdocs and PhD students and ~20 MSc students working in an open, relaxed atmosphere. If you do not yet have a university teaching qualification (UTQ), you will be supported in obtaining one and be encouraged to seize opportunities to develop yourself further. To support you in your role, you will join the Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Program that is adopted by all universities in the Netherlands.

Are you interested in joining our team? We look forward to your application.

You are a junior academic with an interest in developing a career in teaching, education innovation and research, with a focus on bioinformatics and data science/machine learning in the green life sciences. You also possess:

• a PhD degree in bioinformatics, computational biology or closely related field
• demonstrable education skills and experience in teaching university courses, supported by a vision on education
• programming skills (at least Python), fluency in Linux command-line use and experience with the use of -omics data analysis tools
• experience in education innovation and organization (also at the study programme level) are not essential, but considered a bonus
• strong communication and organization skills
• curiosity, a critical attitude, and an interdisciplinary mindset

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 of between € 3,413,- and € 4,670.- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). A contract for 0.8 FTE can be discussed. Initially, we offer you a one-year contract, which will then be extended to an open-ended contract if there is mutual enthusiasm. Of course, we would be happy to discuss this with you if you have any questions.

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 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!

You will work here
The Wageningen University Bioinformatics Group organizes courses in several study programmes and various graduate schools (EPS, PERC, BioSB), with audiences ranging from BSc/MSc students in molecular and biological sciences to MSc students in bioinformatics and PhD students in various disciplines. Our education is closely tied to our research, which aims to develop and apply methods to obtain biological insights from -omics measurements in the green life sciences. Over the past years, the group has set up several new courses in bioinformatics and more generally in data science and machine learning/deep learning. The latter disciplines are considered increasingly essential elements throughout the life sciences (including plant and animal breeding, nutrition and health, food science, etc.) to solve some of the major challenges faced by society.

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