Do you want to contribute to research into defence strategies of plants against various insects? Are you fascinated by the genomic flexibility that plants evolved to tackle complex challenges? Would you like to pursue a PhD where you become part of a collaborative academic environment in a multidisciplinary team of young scientists? Then you might be the candidate we are looking for!

Plants respond to insect attack by mobilizing defences that specifically target the current attacker. How this response limits or provides opportunities to deal with future attack and how plants account for future risks will be the focus of your research. Your task is to mine genomic data to reveal phylogenomic patterns in signaling pathways underlying defence responses against insect herbivores within diverse plant species of the Brassicaceae family. Your project seeks to link ecological interactions with molecular defence mechanisms through comparative genomics by focusing on gene presence-absence variations, copy number changes, and visualizing synteny and structural rearrangements across multiple genomes. In addition, you have the opportunity to measure transcriptomic responses of various Brassicaceae plants to attack by multiple insect herbivores, quantify resistance to these herbivores and may delve into causality of genes in defence plasticity by creating knockout plants.

You will directly collaborate with fellow PhDs, post-docs and technicians. The team aims to link plant physiological adaptations to attack by multiple herbivores in a plant phylogenomic context (your work) to plant growth-defence strategies and plant-insect interaction patterns in the field.

You will work here
You will be embedded within the Laboratory of Entomology in the team of Prof. Erik Poelman, that studies community ecology of plant-insect interactions. His team consists of ecologists, entomologists, plant physiologists and molecular biologists. The group has a strong team spirit build by about fifteen young scientists. In this project you will closely collaborate with and be co-supervised by Dr. Klaas Bouwmeester from the Biosystematics group.

• You have successfully completed a MSc degree in biology, plant sciences, bioinformatics or a related discipline;
• You are team-oriented, reliable and communicative, and eager to collaborate with other young scientist;
• You are an enthusiastic molecular biologist or bioinformatician with strong affinity for molecular plant genomics;
• Your expertise is rooted in understanding plant physiological responses to stress, and you enjoy to combine molecular profiling of plant responses to insect attack with measurements on plant and insect performance;
• You have the patience and demonstrable computational skills required for thorough exploration of genomic data.
• You have practical experience in basic molecular techniques, preferably in RNA isolation and qPCR;
• You have a very good level of oral and written English. You are required to show us a certification of English skills. For more information about the required level please take a look at: https://www.wur.nl/en/Education-Programmes/PhD-Programme/English-language-requirements.htm;
• You meet all the entry requirements of the WUR PhD programme.

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

• 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 € 2.872 - per month rising to € 3.670,- 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 19th 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.

Because we expect you to work and live in the Netherlands 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. We can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example helping your partner to find a job, housing, or schooling. Finally, certain categories of international staff may be eligible for a tax exemption on a part of their salary during the first five years in the Netherlands.

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, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 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 the video below 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.