Teaching and research postdoc in GISc on the development of movement models

Are you enthusiastic about the chance to combine research in Geographic Information Science (GISc) — particularly in movement analysis — with teaching and student supervision? Have you recently earned a PhD in GISc and feel inspired to share your expertise with the next generation while advancing your own research and lecturing/supervision skills? If so, we invite you to read on!

The Geo-information Science team within the Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing (GRS) is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to developing integrated approaches to geospatial systems analysis. Our team pushes the boundaries of how spatial data can be used to tackle today’s pressing environmental and societal sustainability challenges. We envision a future where high-quality, reliable geospatial information seamlessly connects disciplines and scales, driving more responsible and impactful decision-making. We advance integrative, data-driven approaches to spatial analysis for the purpose of supporting decision-making for resource management. We use methodological innovation and participatory approaches to address complex challenges, including global change. Bridging interdisciplinary boundaries enables us to conduct impact-oriented research, by using geo-information as a tool for collaborations bringing together research, society, and policy actors and interests.

As we expand our teaching capacity, we offer an exciting opportunity to combine your passion for education with cutting-edge research: you will divide your time in equal shares between teaching GISc at bachelor and master levels, and advancing research about the integration of statistical movement models with predictive simulation models. Specifically, you will develop step selection functions based on a large tracking dataset of African herbivores to quantify the animals’ selection for thermal shelter versus resource availability. You will then develop a procedure to translate these quantified relationships to a predictive agent based model for the investigation of animal movement behaviour under future climate scenarios.

We also encourage you to integrate your research and derived examples in your teaching. By involving students in research projects and taking research examples to the classroom, we aim to strengthen the quality of our study programs. There is room for the development of your own research vision and the strengthening of your didactic skills, to build a strong academic CV.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Conduct research on the integration of step selection functions with agent based models.
• Publish your findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals and present your results at conferences.
• Lecture on Geo-information Science in BSc and MSc courses offered by the GRS chair group.
• Guide students through practical exercises that apply GIS concepts using various open- and closed-source software solutions.
• Introduce students to the fundamentals of spatiotemporal data science and machine learning using scripting languages.
• Supervise BSc and MSc thesis students conducting research in Geo-information Science.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing (GRS), which is led by Prof. Kirsten de Beurs and Prof. Sytze de Bruin

You are a highly motivated researcher with strong methodological skills and expertise in Geo-information Science (GISc), particularly in the field of movement analysis. You also have a genuine enthusiasm for teaching and mentoring students at the BSc and MSc levels.

You bring:

• A recently completed PhD in Geo-information Science, quantitative ecology or a comparable field, with a focus on movement analysis.
• A demonstrated ability to publish scientific research and effectively communicate results.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills in English (at least C1 level), Dutch is preferred.
• Proven experience in teaching GISc at either BSc or MSc levels, both levels are preferred. Teaching experience includes lecturing, thesis supervision, practical supervision, and development of course materials, where multiple types of experiences are preferred.
• Practical experience with GIS software, e.g. ArcGIS and QGIS.
• Experience with scripting, where R experience is preferred.

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;
• 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 year-end 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 € 3.546,- and € 5.538,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). As for your contract, we initially offer a one-year contract that can be extended - if possible within (company) organizational circumstances - on good performance up to a maximum of three years. Of course, we are happy to have a conversation with you if you have any questions about this.

Wageningen University & Research offers plenty of opportunities for growth and development, with a strong internal recruitment policy and excellent training programmes.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment.

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.

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. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, our Welcome Center can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example housing, opening a bank account, dual career programs 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.