Field Technician Plant-Insect Interactions and Agroecology

Are you intrigued by insect community dynamics and biodiversity in natural and agricultural systems? Enthusiastic to contribute to the transition towards sustainable ecology-based agriculture? Do you enjoy team effort, data collection across farms in the Netherlands, and to support greenhouse experiments? If yes, then we may have a wonderful opportunity for you as field technician on plant-insect interactions.

We seek two highly motivated technicians (0.8-1.0 fte for two years) to support our research on plant-insect interactions and agroecology. In our team, you will participate in research on the interactions of plants with pollinators, insect herbivores, and their natural enemies as part of natural and agricultural ecosystems. The two positions differ in tasks and skills, although you will be collaborating and have the opportunity to combine both profiles in your job.

Technician 1 What you will do:

• You will study the interactions between native brassicaceous plants and their insect communities.
• Your primary role will be to monitor insect herbivores and pollinators on individual plants in the field, measure plant and insect traits, maintain greenhouse experiments, culture insects, assess parasitism success (dissection), and manage data and seed collections.
• Your work will be dynamic, participating in several new and ongoing experiments.
• You will contribute to sampling for molecular analysis and have the opportunity to do basic molecular analysis such as PCR and qPCR.
• You will occasionally join your colleague (technician 2) in field data collection across farms in the Netherlands and taxonomic sorting of insect samples.

Technician 2 What you will do:

• You will study how crop diverse production systems affect in field (functional) biodiversity, weeds and crop pests and diseases.
• You will measure plant traits, crop damage and yield, soil characteristics, as well as biodiversity on different levels including arthropods soil organisms, birds and other small vertebrates.
• You will analyse insect samples for taxonomic diversity, and help with data preparation and management.

The team of technicians will closely collaborate and visit the sampling network of farms across the Netherlands as well as perform intensive sampling on crop systems experiments in Wageningen and Lelystad.

This requires you to travel frequently and occasionally to stay over during field trips.

For this position, we particularly look for candidates with knowledge on arthropod taxonomy and proficiency in Dutch language is considered a pre.

Your team
This project will be carried out at the Laboratory of Entomology within PSG (Wageningen University). You will be part of the group of Prof. Erik Poelman. We are an enthusiastic team of around twelve young scientists studying evolution of plant defence strategies, multitrophic insect community ecology and how these fundamental insights are applied in designing sustainable agriculture. An impression of our team can be found here www.erikpoelman.com. You will be part of a large consortium with exposure to arable farmers, government agencies, crop protection organisations, breeders, nature conservation organisations, banks, food chain partners, and environmental education within the programme CropMix www.cropmix.nl.

For both technician positions we ask that:

• You are an enthusiastic and team-oriented (agro-)ecologist holding a higher education degree (HBO or University) in life sciences.
• You are a communicative person who feels responsible for organisation of experiments, accuracy of data collection and data storage.
• You particularly enjoy field and greenhouse work with plants, insects and small vertebrates, laboratory experiments on plants and insects and the taxonomical sorting of insect samples.
• You have coordinator skills, can work independently and you are flexible in switching between tasks.
• You have basic skills in data analyses
• Knowledge of arthropod, small vertebrate and/or plant taxonomy is considered an advantage
• A driver’s license (Category B) is required
• We expect proficiency in the English language. Proficiency in Dutch is considered a pre.

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 € 3382,- and € 4484,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 8). Additionally, a contract for 0.8-1.0 FTE can be discussed. As for your contract, it is a temporary position for the 2-year duration.

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.