Tasks and responsibilities:

• contribute to the quality of education of the HMSM’s study program and the connection between education, professional practice and research;
• initiate and develop research and innovation projects relating to the research centre’s knowledge domain;
• take responsibility for the research centre’s strategic, long-term vision paper in collaboration with non-lecturing and lecturing researchers;
• provide functional guidance to (non-)lecturing researchers at the research centre;
• can (co-) supervise PhD students;
• supervise the research to be performed and monitor its quality;
• contribute to innovations within the field relating to the research centre’s knowledge domain;
• establish a network by identifying and collaborating with regional and other knowledge institutes, governments, businesses and other bodies that are relevant to the research centre’s knowledge domain;
• acquire additional financing within the scope of the applicable arrangements;
• publish in relevant Dutch and international professional and other journals and give talks at international conferences.

We expect that our new colleague:

• has a PhD in a relevant research area, preferably in food science, hospitality management, business economics, consumer behaviour or social sciences with a strong link to food;
• has demonstrable academic and practical knowledge of and experience in the food-related consumer behaviour or business economics domain;
• is an internationally recognised researcher at a university, business school or relevant research institution and ideally has worked in business;
• can be a connector between applied research, business and education;
• is an inspirational personality who has strong communicative and didactic skills and is capable of coaching others;
• has demonstrable experience with higher vocational education and involving students in research;
• endorses Zuyd’s educational vision, centered on the intrinsic interdependence of research and education;
• has an enterprising, inspiring, results-oriented and innovative attitude;
• has experience in gaining external financing for innovation and research, can bring in projects and can function as a program leader/main researcher on a project;
• has demonstrable experience with establishing and implementing relevant research in businesses;
• can work well in a team and is motivated to share knowledge and expertise.

Fixed-term contract: 8 years.

• The position consists of 0.6 FTE for eight years.
• The salary will be commensurate with the candidate’s educational background and experience but will not exceed a maximum of salary scale 15 CAO-HBO (maximum of €7,284,86 gross per month at 100% FTE).

We offer a warm welcome to our institute which offers a challenging and innovative environment with great opportunities to explore.
The research centre offers a professional, collegiate, and inspiring work environment with a high focus on connecting education, professional practice and research. You will work in an informal environment and mostly in a team with passionate colleagues.

Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

Zuyd is an ambitious university of applied sciences located in the heart of Europe, focusing on three core activities: education for students, research for companies and institutes, and training courses and study programmes for professionals. The various study programmes that we offer have ranked among the top in study programme selection guides for many years. This is partly due to the personal attention we devote to our students and our relatively small scale. In addition, we work intensively with companies, institutions/knowledge institutions, and government bodies across the boundaries of our fields of expertise. We do so because we are convinced that the 21st century is not just about knowledge, but also about the ability to apply that knowledge in practice. With 14,000 students, 50 bachelor's, master's, and associate degree programmes, 12 sites in three cities, 27 research centres, an average of 7,000 internships and 2,500 graduation projects per year, and with a history stretching back more than 100 years, Zuyd is strongly anchored in Limburg and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. We make an important contribution to the economic and social development agenda of this region.

The research centre Future of Food

No less than twelve out of seventeen ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ of the United Nations (the 2030 agenda) are directly or indirectly related to food. In order to realise these objec-tives in 2030, the food system (the whole chain from production to consumer to waste) must be transformed. Particularly in the light of the current COVID-19 crisis that has impacted the
hospitality industry dramatically, but also offers opportunities for innovating the sector and making it more sustainable.

The consumers of today are already more conscious of their food choices. This manifests itself, among others, in changing eating behavior/patterns. From the industry, there is also a growing demand of social relevance. This raises questions such as ‘how can hospitality con-cepts be developed that are innovative, healthy, sustainable and tasty and appeal to the changing
consumer’s needs?’ At the same time, because of the geographical position in the heart of the (EU)region, Hotel Management School Maastricht is very aware of the importance of
maintaining historical traditions and the consideration of regional and seasonal products.

The hospitality industry needs to find answers to questions such as the above in order to be partner in the tradition to a better food system and, consequently, a better world. The suc-cess of the hotels and restaurants of tomorrow will likely be influenced by their capability to translate consumer’s needs into products and services that meet and exceed their expecta-tions. This is a serious challenge.

The research center Future of Food is therefore given the assignment to support this
transformation by generating knowledge with researchers, students and other stakeholders and by making this knowledge accessible by means of education and service.

In order to contribute to the required professionalisation, innovation and education, the
research center Future of Food will conduct (applied) research in the following areas:

• Factors of success or failure in the process of making the chain from production to consumption more sustainable, both for SMEs and in the hospitality and foodservice industry at large;
• The development of innovative, healthy and sustainable food/hospitality concepts for the changing consumer;
• Trading off ways of influencing (e.g. nudging, coercing or incentivizing) consumers to make more sustainable and healthy food and drink choices considering the role of taste;
• The effects of sustainable and healthy nutrition on consumer well-being in the hospitality industry.