Project Manager Sustainable Agriculture

Do you want to make an essential contribution to the transition towards sustainable arable farming as a project coordinator?
Do you enjoy working in an organising and supporting role for a large national research team and project partners such as arable farmers, governments, crop protection organisations, breeders, nature organisations, banks, food chain partners and green education institutes? Then we are looking for you as the project coordinator for the CropMix project!

As project coordinator, you are responsible for the organisational aspects of the CropMix project and you work closely with the project leaders.

• You support the project leaders with the progress and planning of the research programme.
• Together, you ensure a clear project timeline and keep an eye on the budget.
• You take the lead in organising project meetings, work visits at locations across the Netherlands, national and international symposia, and open days.
• You handle communication with project participants and collect the content for project reports.
• You manage the project website and help promote the project in the media.
• You coordinate a citizen science project, MoestuinMix, on crop combinations in home gardens.

The position is temporary for the 2-year duration of the CropMix programme.

Your Team
The CropMix programme is part of the Dutch National Science Agenda and is led by researchers from Wageningen University & Research. Together with the sector, the interdisciplinary national research team works on creating a breakthrough in the transition towards sustainable arable farming.

We study how increasing crop diversity in the field can replace the use of pesticides and fertilisers through ecological processes. Forms of mixed cropping, such as strip cropping and crop rotation, support pest control, reduce the spread of diseases, improve nutrient efficiency, and make better use of sunlight to stimulate plant growth.

Sustainable production ensures that fields contribute to biodiversity goals. Understanding biodiversity recovery is important not only for assessing when natural pest control can effectively replace pesticides, but also for understanding how measures to increase overall biodiversity can be reflected in product prices or subsidies.

CropMix examines which social and institutional changes in the food system are needed to enable and speed up the transition towards sustainable arable farming with mixed cropping. This is done by exploring a variety of possible transition pathways, such as short, local supply chains or adjustments to existing (inter)national chains.

• A higher vocational degree (HBO), BSc or MSc level of working and thinking
• Affinity with agriculture and a passion for sustainable cropping systems
• Experience in project management, including financial aspects
• You work proactively when planning and organising meetings
• You work in a structured way and enjoy handling different tasks at the same time
• You are accurate, communicative, and a team player
• You are able to maintain contact with different stakeholders (citizens, companies, farmers, researchers)
• You enjoy writing project reports, news updates and maintaining the website
• You have an excellent command of Dutch and a good command of English

In our international working environment there is an increasing amount of communication in English. For this position it is about language level C1 . For this position a Dutch language level of C1 is required.

You can see that there are plenty of challenges waiting for you. These challenges can also be seen as opportunities to grow. So even if you do not yet have the full track record described in the vacancy, but you do have solid work experience, we would still like to invite you to apply.

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 € 3.708,- and €5.057,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 9). Additionally, a contract for 0,8 FTE can be discussed. It is a temporary position for the 2-year duration of the CropMix project.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment. For 20 consecutive years, we have been voted the "best university" in the Netherlands! A place to be proud of.

WUR welcomes applications from international candidates. However, for applicants for this specific position from outside the EU/EFTA zone, immigration restrictions may apply based on Dutch and EU immigration laws. Such candidates may be eligible for an “orientation year” in the Netherlands or a visa as a “knowledge migrant”.

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.