Assistant / Associate Professor (ACF) Proteins

As Assistant/Associate professor within our Academic Career Framework, you will lead the research team on food proteins comprising PhD students, technicians and post-docs. You will study complex food proteins. With your research you will consolidate our leading international position in the food protein field.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• inspiring students by teaching, developing new course materials, and guiding thesis projects, together with your colleagues in the Laboratory of Food Chemistry;
• developing advanced analytical methods (e.g. chromatography, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy) and associated data processing protocols to reveal structural characteristics of food proteins and peptides (incl. their post-translational modifications) and their interaction with other food constituents upon processing (e.g. Maillard reaction, reaction with phenolics); The structural characteristics will be related, mostly via collaboration with others, to their digestibility (e.g. during gastrointestinal passage), bio-functionality (e.g. bitter / koku taste, antimicrobial activity), and techno-functionality (e.g. structuring properties);
• improving our mechanistic understanding of the selectivity of proteases to better predict protein digestion and enable efficient application of proteases in food processing;
• acquisition of grants to sustain your vision, implementing research projects, and coordination of all activities at Food Chemistry related to this field;
• becoming a driver of the protein transition from animal to alternative sources (incl. plant, fungal, precision-fermented).

This position is part of the Academic Career Framework (ACF) at Wageningen University & Research, which has replaced the traditional Tenure Track. This new career framework for all academic staff at Wageningen University starts on 9 March 2025. One of the 3 career paths is the Professor Career Path.

The aim of this ACF is to achieve a new balance in recognising and valuing academics where both team collaboration and the unique talent of individual scientists are seen, by creating more differentiation in career paths, putting the emphasis on the quality of work and less on quantitative results, doing justice to the individual qualities and ambitions of academics as much as to team performance, promoting all aspects of open science and encouraging high-quality leadership in the academy.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair of Food Chemistry, which is led by Prof.dr.ir. Jean-Paul Vincken.

In this challenging career trajectory:

• you acquire, lead and implement innovative and creative (inter-) national research projects in the Laboratory of Food Chemistry;
• you collaborate with colleagues and supervise PhD students, BSc and MSc theses and you develop and teach courses;
• you contribute to the further development of the Laboratory of Food Chemistry.

Requirements:

You are a team player with good didactic skills and enthusiasm for teaching and working with students. Good writing skills, good oral communication skills, the willingness to explore new fields in collaboration with others, are all essential competences. Experience in starting and maintaining (international) collaborations with academia and industry is appreciated as is experience with computational methods (e.g. protein modelling) and statistics.

You also possess:

• a completed PhD in Food Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, or a comparable discipline;
• a publication record relevant to the field;
• experience in project management and successful acquisition of research funding;
• relevant and well-evaluated teaching experience;
• a required level of English at C1 level and preferably at C2 level.

Salary Benefits:

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 be offered a fixed-term, 18 months contract which, upon positive evaluation, can lead to a permanent employment contract. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 4.537,- and € 6.209,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 11).

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. For 20 consecutive years, we have been voted the "best university" in the Netherlands! A place to be proud of.

Coming from abroad
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 and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example helping your partner to find a job, housing, 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.

38 hours per week

Droevendaalsesteeg