Dean of the Faculty of Science

As a leading academic with a broad perspective, you know how to build connections, and you provide inspiring, trust-based leadership to the faculty community. You are committed to further supporting and strengthening the Faculty of Science’s excellent education and research.

Your job
The world is facing major societal, technological and ecological challenges. With an open outlook, an open attitude and open science principles, Utrecht University is addressing these challenges as described in our Strategic Plan 2030. As Dean of the Faculty of Science, you work with the Executive Board and your fellow deans and directors to help implement this strategy.

You hold overall responsibility for the faculty’s education, research and operational management. With academic leadership and an open, uniting style, you foster the quality and impact of our teaching and research in both the Life Sciences and the Natural Sciences. You ensure space for academic freedom, collective decision-making, and participation from the representative council. Through this, you encourage mutual trust and individual responsibility.

The faculty has a strong international reputation in fundamental research and, through its education and research, makes an essential contribution to knowledge development and to solutions for societal challenges. Recognising the importance of both fundamental and applied research and education, you connect these domains to achieve societal impact. As an ambassador of Utrecht University’s educational vision, you help steer its implementation. Attentiveness to our students and to the staff who make this work possible is central to your approach. You give direction to the further development of the faculty, in the spirit of Recognition and Rewards and inspired by Utrecht’s TRIPLE model. In doing so, you play a key role in strengthening the faculty’s relevance and visibility, both within the university community and in society at large.

Within and beyond the faculty and university, you stimulate collaboration. You recognise the potential of cross-disciplinary connections while also valuing and strengthening the distinct strengths of individual academic fields. You take initiative and recognise opportunities to make an impact. This includes the university’s inter- and transdisciplinary strategic themes, which you guide together with the other deans. In addition, you cultivate strategic relationships with knowledge institutions and with partners in the private sector and the wider society, at Utrecht Science Park, nationally and internationally. In this way, you advance the ambitions of the faculty and the university.

As dean, you lead the faculty board, which consists of the vice-dean of education, the vice-dean of research, the faculty director and the student assessor. The faculty board works closely together, gives one another space and strengthens one another from their respective roles. Leadership, Open Science, Social Safety and Team Science are important pillars within the faculty. Under your leadership, you continue to build on these themes and ensure their further consolidation and embedding.

The faculty is facing substantive and organisational challenges. These range from important sustainability ambitions and the growing influence of AI to a major real estate portfolio and the workload experienced in teaching and research. Space for the public debate and academic freedom also require ongoing attention, vigilance and transparency. In addition, the wellbeing of our staff will remain high on the agenda in the coming years, particularly regarding social safety and psychosocial workload. All of this calls for a leader who, in these dynamic and sometimes unpredictable times, can maintain a clear course, bring calm and clarity, and who can confidently build a future-proof, financially healthy and scientifically leading faculty.

See the brochure for more information about the position and the organisation.

You are a full professor in a discipline within the Life and/or Natural Sciences, with broad national and international experience. With a proven track record in education, research and academic leadership, you are able to innovate, collaborate, develop and manage. You can readily relate to the challenges our staff face in their daily work. Besides this, you have a clear vision of the role of fundamental and applied sciences in a society undergoing major transitions. You understand how our teaching and research contribute to societal challenges, and you can combine that insight with a vision for organisational structure and operations. You are well equipped to navigate today’s rapidly changing social and political context. With your outward- and inward-looking perspective and your natural ability to build relationships, you know how to increase the visibility and impact of our teaching and research within national and international networks.

With your strategic leadership insight and sensitivity, you move easily within and beyond the faculty and the university. You can bring together different perspectives and make decisive, guiding decisions. Thanks to your intrinsic drive to achieve results, you ensure that agreements are reached and followed through. This means you think in terms of opportunities, take initiative and stimulate innovation. You are confident in your decisions, while respecting all considerations and interests.

As a leader, you are approachable and people-oriented and you communicate openly. You understand the different interests and dynamics at play, and know how to connect them. You are a good listener and focused on collaboration, enabling you to inspire and engage colleagues. In doing so, you foster an open, safe and inclusive academic culture with space for reflection, differing opinions and shared ownership. You emphasise the importance of (faculty) participation and work constructively with its representatives. You care deeply about the wellbeing of the faculty and all its staff and students.

• A permanent 1.0 FTE position and an appointment as dean for a term of four years, with the possibility of a second term;
• a salary in line with the position of dean as laid down in the collective labour agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU);
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University also offers a range of its own schemes for employees. This includes arrangements for professional development, various types of leave, and options for sports and cultural activities. You can also tailor your employment conditions through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage you to keep investing in your personal and professional development. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. The Faculty of Science is explicitly and actively involved in the first three. Read more about our ambitions in the Strategic Plan 2030.

The Faculty of Science represents a strong connection between technically oriented science education and fundamental and applied research. We want to understand how things work at their core, so that this knowledge can contribute to a sustainable and healthy world for all. By bringing together different areas of expertise, we discover new solutions and answers. Our combination of diverse disciplines within a single faculty makes us a strong and impactful player worldwide in boundary-pushing research and education.

Our education and research are organised into six departments: Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Information and Computing Sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, supported by a shared operational services organisation. We provide education to more than 8,000 students (BSc and MSc), and in our advanced research facilities and laboratories, unique in the Netherlands and Europe, we conduct world-class research.

Would you like to know more about us? Visit us on LinkedIn.

For more information about the application process, please contact Hester Heyning (MD consultant) at h.c.heyning@uu.nl or +31 6 28 54 19 94.

For questions about the position, please contact Professor Wilco Hazeleger (Rector Magnificus) at w.hazeleger@uu.nl.

The first round of interviews will take place on the mornings of 28 and 30 January 2026. The second round will take place on the afternoon of 4 February 2026.