Details

Category: 
Position
Function: 
Postdoc
Department: 
Microbial Ecology
Contact: 
Jos Raaijmakers
Closing date: 
Sunday 4 September 2016

The NIOO-KNAW offers a position for a

Postdoctoral Researcher NIOO-KNAW Microbial Ecology & WUR Bioinformatics

Vacancy number Post Doc-ME-016042

 

Project description

Plant microbiomes represent an untapped resource of microorganisms and natural bioactive compounds that significantly contribute to plant resilience to pathogens and abiotic stresses. In this project, you will implement innovative metagenomic strategies to unravel plant microbiome assembly and activity. More specifically, we will systematically connect stress resilience in crops to specific microbial species and bioactive metabolites in soil and rhizosphere microbiomes. The research is projected to lead to fundamental new insights into microbe-microbe and plant-microbe interactions, and may result in the industrial development of novel crop protection solutions for agriculture.

This project will be carried out as a joint position between the Department of Microbial Ecology at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (Prof. Dr. Jos Raaijmakers) and the Bioinformatics Group at Wageningen University (Dr. Marnix Medema and Prof. Dr. Dick de Ridder). These two research groups (located close to one another at the Wageningen campus) actively collaborate to develop and apply novel computational methods for the analysis and integration of meta-omics data.

 

Requirements

We are looking for an ambitious, enthusiastic team player and result-driven scientist with:

  • a PhD degree in bioinformatics, computational biology
  • demonstrable expertise in working with next-generation sequencing data
  • proven proficiency in programming (e.g., Python and/or R)
  • solid statistical and mathematical skills
  • strong affinity with microbial ecology and specialized metabolism
  • excellent oral and written communication skills in English

 

Appointment

We offer a dynamic research environment bridging two groups with strong international profiles, a state-of-the-art computational infrastructure, strong national and international collaborations, and the possibility to further develop your scientific education with courses, training and conferences.

The position is full-time (38 hours/week) for a period of three years. The appointment will initially be for 1 year, and based on a positive evaluation extended with another two years.

Salary

The gross salary starts at € 3.044, -(scale 10.4) per month in the 1st year, and will gradually increase to a maximum of € 3286, - (scale 10.6) per month in the 3th year, Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO Nederlandse Universiteiten), excluding 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus.

Location

These are temporary appointments, initially for 1 year at the WUR Bioinformatics and upon satisfactory performance to be prolonged for a maximum of 3 years total at the NIOO-KNAW Microbial Ecology.

Information

Additional information about these position is available from Jos Raaijmakers (j.raaijmakers@nioo.knaw.nl) or Marnix Medema (marnix.medema@wur.nl)

Applications

Please send your application including complete curriculum vitae and names of three referees and vacancy number to vacature@nioo.knaw.nl. The closing date for the application is July 10, 2016.

 

Web pages:

Key publications:

 

The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) is a top research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). NIOO-KNAW focuses on fundamental and strategic research into individual organisms, populations, ecological communities  and ecosystems. The mission is to carry out excellent research in ecology.