university of utrecht phd

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Utrecht Centre for

Pharmaceutical Policy and Regulation

Phd programme.

Background The Utrecht Centre for Pharmaceutical Policy and Regulation offers an international high quality PhD-programme for professionals with several years of relevant work experience. The unique format of the programme combines academic research and public health practice requiring candidates to use their work experience, data and policy issues as input for their PhD-thesis. The Utrecht Centre is a leading platform for independent multidisciplinary research which links drug regulation, pharmacoepidemiology, public health and policy analysis.

The Centre is based at the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, an internationally acclaimed research institute, and works closely with many well-known international partners such as the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency as well as with national partners such as the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board and the National Health Care Institute.

Research Themes

The work of the Centre concentrates on the design and evaluation of pharmaceutical policies with a focus on Global Health, Drug Regulatory Science (e.g. drug approval) and health technology assessment (e.g. drug access, pricing and reimbursement).

More information Please read the flyer to learn more about the programme, what we offer and what type of candidates we are looking for: PhD programme professionals 2021_final

Application At the moment the application is closed. To be informed about the next application deadline, please send an e-mail to Dr. Rianne van den Ham, [email protected], and you will be put on the contact list.

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PhD in Ethics

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The Ethics Institute of Utrecht University’s department of Philosophy and Religious Studies seeks a researcher for a four-year, full-time PhD project “ Disrupting ageing: Personhood, meaning, and vulnerability across the lifespan ”, as part of the inter-university Gravitation consortium Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technology (ESDiT) .

Wat ga je doen?

The ageing of societies is one of the 21st century’s most disruptive demographic trends. Simultaneously, age-related technologies challenge the ‘naturalness’ of ageing and draw into focus ambiguities in the concept of ageing itself. For instance, technologically-mediated relationships, life extension, and technologies such as AI avatars may make biological and chronological age less relevant, and shift the emphasis to socio-cultural conceptions of age. Such shifts have normative significance particularly if ageing is envisaged as a process that occurs throughout the lifespan.

Since ageing is a phenomenon infused with normativity, with normative expectations corresponding to phases in the human life cycle, the conceptual cleavage of ageing invites innovation in related moral concepts. This PhD project examines ways in which technologies that bear on ageing disrupt biological, socio-cultural, and normative understandings of ageing. It considers how these disruptions generate fruitful possibilities for reconceptualisation of ageing itself, as well as intertwined normative ideas of personhood, meaning, and vulnerability. In doing so, the project will investigate non-western and non-canonical ideas that might reinvigorate core moral concepts implicated by ageing.

This PhD position is part of the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies programme, a ten year long international research programme of seven academic institutions in the Netherlands that started in January 2020. The programme aims to achieve breakthrough research at the intersection of ethics, philosophy, technology / engineering and social sciences, and to position its consortium at the top of its field internationally. A key objective is to investigate how new technologies challenge moral values and ontological concepts (like “nature”, “human being” and “community”), and how these challenges necessitate a revision of these concepts. The programme includes four research lines, “Nature, life and human intervention”, “The future of a free and fair society”, “The Human Condition” and “Synthesis: Ethics of Technology, Practical Philosophy, and Modern Technology-Driven Societies”.

This position is situated within the research line “The Human Condition” and within a working group on conceptual disruption and technology. You will work under the supervision of Christopher Wareham (UU), Marcel Verweij (UU), and Naomi Jacobs (UT). You are expected to play an active role in the project described above and to participate actively in the workshops, public events, courses and other activities of the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies programme in general and the “The Human Condition” research line and conceptual disruption working group in particular. The position is based at the Ethics Institute, which is part of the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. It provides a stimulating and internationally oriented research environment.

Wat breng je mee?

• You will have completed, prior to appointment, a Master’s degree or equivalent degree in Philosophy, Ethics, or Political Philosophy/Theory. Other Master’s degrees will also be considered if you have a demonstrable expertise in analytical/conceptual problems and approaches to normative justification, in close connection with the themes of the research project.
• You have an interest in moral and political philosophy, applied ethics, and normative issues related to technology.
• Knowledge in a more specialised field relevant to the project (e.g. solidarity, ethics of technology, conceptual disruption, etc.) is welcome.
• Especially welcome are approaches to this project that engage with traditions and perspectives that are currently marginalised within Western philosophy.
• You have an excellent track record and research skills, relative to experience, and excellent academic writing and presentation skills.
• You have the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• You have an active interest in interdisciplinary work which connects philosophical analysis to other relevant disciplines and societal challenges.
• You have a high level of proficiency in English.

Wat bieden wij?

• a position for a period of 18 months - in case of good performance and a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended for the remaining period of 30 months (4 years in total);
• a working week of 38 hours and a gross monthly salary between €2,770 and €3,539 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

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FellowshipBard

18 fully funded phd programs at utrecht university, netherlands.

Are you holding Master’s degree and looking for fully funded PhD positions? Utrecht University, Netherlands invites online application for multiple funded PhD Programs / fully funded PhD positions in various research areas.

Candidates interested in fully funded PhD positions can check the details and may apply as soon as possible. Interested and eligible applicants may submit their online application for PhD programs via the University’s Online Application Portal. 

1. Fully Funded PhD Position in Applied Economics

Summary of phd program:.

The research project will focus on identifying consequences of judges’ verdicts, and on firms’ strategic behavior involving their decision to go to court. It can affect their market and litigation behavior during and after court cases. There are two separate data sources, which have not been matched so far: there is information about the court proceedings, and the judge’s verdict. The other is a database containing financial data of firms involved in court cases.

Application Deadline: 7 June 2023

2. fully funded phd position in theoretical research on online algorithms.

You will focus primarily on researching online algorithms, design novel algorithm and analyse the competitive/approximation ratio by providing mathematical proofs. The goal is to publish the results in scientific journals and proceedings and present them at international conferences. You will also be involved in teaching by supervising tutorial groups of Bachelor’s and Master’s level courses and supervising student projects. This PhD position is a 5-year programme on Online Algorithms and you will be settled in the Department of Information and Computing Science. You will conduct about 70% research and 30% teaching. This allows the selected candidate to develop a strong academic profile.

Application Deadline: 31 May 2023

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3. Fully Funded PhD Position in Psychologically validated digital twins of human decision-making in urban mobility

To realize the project’s aims, the PhD candidate will investigate individual differences in human decision-making for urban mobility scenarios that involve one or multiple forms of mobility (e.g., walking, cycling, taking public transportation, or a different kind of mode) in different urban settings. The PhD candidate will investigate two levels of decision-making and how it impacts mobility: operational level decisions (e.g., how small decisions such as whether to briefly pause to determine where to go next impact travel speed) and strategic decisions (e.g., how a preference to avoid crowded areas impact an agent’s route).

4. Fully Funded PhD Position in Synthesis and Characterisation of van der Waals Materials

You will join the research group of Machteld Kamminga, who is a newly appointed assistant professor funded through QuMat. She focusses on the synthesis and characterisation of various quantum materials, aiming to bridge the gap between condensed matter physics and materials chemistry. Her expertise and interests are in synthesis / crystal growth, X-ray diffraction and neutron scattering, and magnetic and superconducting properties of materials.

Application Deadline: 29 May 2023

10 best platforms to create and sell online courses, 5. fully funded phd position in technologies for ai in education .

Join our research effort with a four-year PhD position on AI in Education in the context of the Dutch National Lab on AI in Education (NOLAI). external link In this PhD you will aim to develop a framework for learner modelling services. For this, you will develop methods to determine and compare the quality of various services for different learner modelling approaches and use these methods to help researchers and teachers decide which learner modelling approach and services to use in which situations. In this position you will be part of the Software Technology for Learning and Teaching external link research group of the department of Information and Computing Sciences of Utrecht University.

Application Deadline: 12 June 2023

6. fully funded phd position in circular green hydrogen production.

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented PhD candidate to join our research team at the Faculty of Geosciences. The successful candidate will work on an interdisciplinary project that integrates innovation systems, transition studies and the circular economy with material and chemical engineering sciences with the goal to foster a fully circular green hydrogen economy.

Application Deadline: 28 May 2023

Looking for more funded phd programs click here, 7. fully funded phd position in imagining institutional interventions on land markets using gaming methodology.

Climate, energy, nitrogen, and housing crises force societies to make urgent and drastic spatial choices against an ever-increasing scarcity of land. Policymakers have been using spatial designs to address these spatial challenges, employing appealing imaginations of the future to depict changes in the physical environment. These designs are crucial in articulating ambitions for spatial outcomes, but insufficient in bringing about the required spatial transitions, as transitions presuppose institutional changes as well. However, the working of new institutions is sometimes hard to imagine.

8. Fully Funded PhD Position in Legal opportunities and obstacles towards a sustainable expansion of offshore wind energy in the North Sea

As a PhD candidate at Utrecht University, you will conduct research for four years, under the guidance of various colleagues of the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law external link from Utrecht University to generate relevant results for the Dutch society and the legal community. The subject of your PhD dissertation, focusing on the international, EU and domestic legal framework regulating offshore wind energy in the North sea, falls within the NWA-funded project ‘Ecosystem-based Adaptive Management for Renewable Energy in a Sustainable North Sea’ (Ecoamare). The PhD will be embedded within the School of Law, department International and European Law. The candidate will also be a member of the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability law (UCWOSL – one of the research groups of the School of Law) and the UU strategic theme Pathways to Sustainability.

Application Deadline: 1 June 2023

Get professional job ready & in-demand career certificates, 9. fully funded phd position in economics.

Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) offers one fully funded three-year PhD position. The candidate is expected to conduct high-quality research in the field of public economics, resulting in a doctoral dissertation. You can watch the video Utrecht University School of Economics: the Real World Perspective external link if you would like to know more about working at U.S.E. The candidate will be involved in the project ‘Voluntary sustainability certifications in public procurement and their welfare effects’. The aim of the project is to analyze the welfare effects of sustainable public procurement, and thereby contribute to Utrecht University’s research theme ‘Pathways to Sustainability’.

Application Deadline: 25 May 2023

Top 10 free statistical analysis software, 10. fully funded phd position in just transitions in crop genome editing for smallholder farmers.

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented researcher to join our team in studying the potential impact of gene editing technologies (such as CRISPR-Cas) for smallholder farmers in the global South. In theory, genome editing is highly promising for developing climate resilient crops that may benefit smallholder farmers in the global South – hence addressing both sustainability and inequality. In practice, however, this promise is not yet realized. We will investigate whether and how crop genome editing can contribute to a just transition for smallholder farmers in the global South.

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11. fully funded phd position in cooperation between human operators and ai algorithms in the railway sector.

Future planning of rail infrastructure usage requires a dynamic approach in which human operators interact with automated planning tools to jointly optimize the planning process. This requires both novel, yet-to-be-developed algorithms (AI), and a redefinition of the role that the human operator plays in the automated planning loop. Moreover, such algorithms and human operations need to be understood in the real world, in actual contexts of work, to tie scientific theories to everyday practice.

Application Deadline: 21 May 2023

12. fully funded phd position in implementation of circular business models.

As a PhD researcher, you will contribute to create a better understanding of transition pathways towards effective, scalable, and resilient circular business models, by analysing past and current trajectories of firms that have been attempting to implement circularity in their business. Investigating the origin and evolution of circular entrepreneurial endeavours allows you to identify the main driving and shaping factors as well as (solutions to) barriers from the perspective of the firm or entrepreneur in relation to external actors and trends.

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13. fully funded phd position in natural language processing: statistical models of disagreement between annotators.

In Natural Language Processing (NLP), human annotators are frequently needed to tell researchers what a given expression “means”, by assigning the expression a label. When human judges disagree about a label (e.g., whether an utterance is offensive or not), it is important that these disagreements be taken into account, as opposed to simply aggregating the values e.g., using reconciliation or majority voting. Such disagreements are now generally recognized to provide information rather than being noise. We also need to recognize that uncertainties may originate from different sources: in particular, they may be due to semantic ambiguity or to subjective bias.

14. Fully Funded PhD Position in Natural Language Processing

Vagueness is the pervasive phenomenon in which words have imprecisely defined boundaries, which are applied differently in different contexts and by different people. For example, when a patient report describes a baby’s blood pressure as “too high”, or her condition as “stable”, these terms are interpreted differently by different clinicians. This PhD project will study mathematical and computational models of uncertainty and vagueness. In recent years, the literature in this area has shifted away from 2-valued towards multi-valued models, based on modern versions of Zadeh-style fuzzy set theory, on Gardenfors-style conceptual spaces, or on probabilistic models. But these models have rarely been tested with real data.

15. Fully Funded PhD Position in Drug Regulatory Science

This PhD position is part of research project NANOSPRESSO-NL (funded by the Dutch Research Council NWA-ORC). This project aims to research, develop, and implement a technology for decentralized and small-scale production of high-quality and affordable nucleic acid nanomedicines to improve the quality of care for patients with (ultra)orphan diseases. These diseases affect many Europeans, despite the fact that the number of people suffering from any individual rare disease is small. The vast majority of orphan diseases are genetic, and their cause can be addressed by compensating for the defective gene.

16. Fully Funded PhD Position in Rational Verification and Synthesis in Multi-Agent Systems

This PhD position is part of the CAUSES project funded by NWO and ProRail, the Netherlands railway infrastructure organisation. ProRail will provide the data and simulation environments for use in the project. You will work with another PhD candidate who will focus on how causal models of multi-agent systems can be learned. Supported by developers from the innovation and development lab and the data scientists at ProRail, both PhD candidates will be involved in designing and implementing a decision support system based on the results of the project, and will regularly visit ProRail for consultation and development.

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17. fully funded phd position in youth and climate change education.

Young people often have a fixed and sometimes threatening image of the future. However, the IPCC scenarios show that multiple futures are possible, based on different storylines for social, economic and political developments, and that there are also uncertainties caused by imperfect knowledge of climate processes and model imperfection. We would like to know how teachers in secondary geography education can teach their students to deal with this ambiguity and these uncertainties in an appropriate way. In countries with a knowledge-focused curriculum and test-driven culture such as the Netherlands, students are accustomed to teachers possessing the ‘right’ answers and to provide them with certainties.

18. Fully Funded PhD Position in algebraic geometry

Enumerative geometry is the field of algebraic geometry dealing with counting geometric objects satisfying constraints. So far, enumerative geometry largely concerned curve counting. This PhD position is funded by the ERC Consolidator Grant Surfaces on fourfolds on the enumerative geometry of surfaces on Calabi-Yau fourfolds and related subjects. This new field has unexpected connections with various areas of mathematics and physics, such as Hodge theory, singularity theory, representation theory, and string theory.

Application Deadline: 20 May 2023

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RIT graduate pursues Ph.D. across time zones

Nastaran Nagshineh, center, defended her Ph.D. thesis at RIT in April. Faculty from RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses served on her thesis committee and include, from left to right, Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, Steven Weinstein, Nathaniel Barlow, and David Kofke (a professor at the University at Buffalo). Mohamed Samaha participated remotely and appears on the video screen behind the group and alongside Nagshineh’s picture.

Nastaran Nagshineh is one of the first Ph.D. candidates to bridge RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses. Her accomplishment creates a path for future students at the university’s international campuses.

Nagshineh completed her Ph.D. in mathematical modeling while working full time as a mathematics lecturer at RIT Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, teaching as many as five classes a semester. She described her Ph.D. journey as “an exercise in perseverance” due to competing demands and long days. Rochester is eight hours behind Dubai, and the time difference meant many late-night classes and meetings.

“I saw this collaboration as an opportunity, rather than as a challenge, because my primary adviser, Dr. Steven Weinstein (RIT professor of chemical engineering), and my co-adviser, Dr. Mohamed Samaha (RIT Dubai associate professor of mechanical engineering), both have the same area of research interest,” she said. “They both worked toward my success.”

Nagshineh is one of 67 RIT Ph.D. students who defended their thesis this academic year and who will earn their doctorate. RIT awarded 63 Ph.D. degrees in 2023.

In 2020-2021, RIT’s Graduate School met and surpassed the university’s goal of conferring 50 Ph.D. degrees during an academic year. That number will continue to grow as students cycle through the seven new Ph.D. programs that RIT has added since 2017, said Diane Slusarski , dean of RIT’s Graduate School.

Meeting these goals puts RIT on a path toward achieving an “R1,” or research-intensive designation, from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning. RIT is currently ranked as an R2 institution . Many factors go into changing a university’s status, including research investment and maintaining a three-year average of 70 Ph.D. degrees awarded per year, according to Slusarski.

“We have met the goals of the strategic plan, and now we look forward to contributing to the research innovation in the future,” Slusarski said. “We want to help the new programs thrive and win national research awards.”

RIT’s emphasis on high-level research is seen in Nagshineh’s Ph.D. work. She applies mathematical modeling to the field of fluid dynamics. Her research has been published in top-tier journals and has gained notice, said Weinstein, her thesis adviser.

Weinstein describes Nagshineh’s accomplishments as “a testament to a fantastic work ethic and commitment” and is inspirational to younger students at Rochester and Dubai.

“The collaboration between RIT Dubai/Rochester has continued,” he said. “Another paper was submitted a few weeks ago with Mohamed Samaha and Nate Barlow (RIT associate professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics) as co-authors, as well as Cade Reinberger, a younger Ph.D. student in my research group.”

Mathematical modeling is one of RIT’s newer Ph.D. degree programs, and Nagshineh is among its earliest graduates. The program has doubled in size since it began accepting students in 2017, Slusarski said. This past fall, the mathematical modeling program had 35 students, with two graduating this year.

Altogether, RIT has 13 Ph.D. degree programs currently enrolling 438 students, with computing and information sciences accounting for the largest with 117 students. RIT’s other Ph.D. programs include astrophysical sciences and technology , biomedical and chemical engineering , business administration , color science , electrical and computer engineering, imaging science , mechanical and industrial engineering , microsystems engineering , and sustainability .

New programs in cognitive science and physics will launch in the fall.

The growth in RIT graduate education—with more than 3,000 master’s and doctoral students—reflects a demographic change in the student population, Slusarski said. “We have a higher percentage of women in the graduate programs than we have for RIT undergraduate programs.”

RIT’s graduate programs enroll 42 percent women, according to Christie Leone , assistant dean for the Graduate School.

Nagshineh, who also holds an MS in electrical engineering from RIT Dubai, welcomes her role as a mentor to other women students on both campuses.

“As a young woman in an Arabic country, the power of women is often underestimated and undervalued, and I hope to serve as a role model to female students, especially those that question their path,” Nagshineh said.

She plans to continue in her career as a professor and a researcher. “I would like to pursue a research program where I can advise my own students and teach them more deeply.”

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Doing a Phd

If you have completed your Master's programme, and you are enthusiastic about doing research in your field, then maybe doing a Doctorate (PhD) might be something for you. A Doctor’s degree is the highest academic degree awarded by a Dutch university. You start as 'assistant in training' (aio) or 'researcher in training' (oio).

At Utrecht University

At Utrecht University you take part in education in one of the Graduate Schools and often also teach students. During the four-year PhD programme you work under the guidance of a professor on creating a research project that results in a dissertation or a series of articles in scientific journals. You can search for positions on research projects on offer or a position whereby you are free to submit your own research proposal. Read more on doing a PhD at Utrecht University. 

Other options

The best way to find a PhD position is through networking with the professor in the field you wish to specialize. Another option is to search via www.academictransfer.nl . Here you can also find more information on doing PhD research in the Netherlands. 

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Working at Utrecht University

Phd position in molecular control of growth-immunity trade-offs in arabidopsis.

The immune system helps plants resist pathogen infections and has been well studied. However, it becomes increasingly clear that enhancing defense comes at a cost, as plants slow down growth even if the infection is successfully combatted. In this project, you will investigate how plants control their growth during and after an immune response. This research is embedded in the CropXR work package on growth-resilience trade-offs and combines digital phenotyping and molecular omics technologies.

Current projections show that the incidence of diseases on crops will increase in the coming decades, and thus, new strategies, beyond strengthening the immune system, are needed to ensure the resilience of future crops to diseases. It turns out that plants slow down their growth during and after an immune response regardless of the disease intensity. However, how these growth processes are regulated in plants is unclear. In this PhD project embedded in CropXR, you uncover the genetic and molecular basis of plant growth during and after an immune response. With this knowledge, we aim to develop solutions for resistance that do not compromise crop growth.

Your project is a part of the CropXR research programme. CropXR develops innovative breeding methods for making crops more resilient, sustainable, and climate-adapted. With a budget of 96 million euros for the next ten years, CropXR focuses on creating eXtra Resilient (XR), sustainable, and climate adaptive crops. By combining plant biology, simulation modelling, and artificial intelligence we aim to develop ‘smart breeding and cultivation’ methods. Thus, we try to speed up the breeding of complex resilience traits for several crops in different growing systems. This collaborative effort involves four universities and numerous companies. It encompasses scientific research, data collection and sharing, education, and practical applications in agriculture and plant breeding.

Your project is embedded in the CropXR work package C4 that brings together expertise on biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, proteomics, and molecular biology to decipher the molecular-genetic networks that plants use to regulate trade-offs between growth and stress resilience. You will work closely with other PhD candidates in this and other CropXR work packages.

The project comprises three phases:

• In the first phase of the project, you will perform high-throughput digital phenotyping of Arabidopsis thaliana  mutant population grown with or without administered immunity-activating treatments in the Netherlands Plant Ecophenotyping Center (NPEC) . You will utilise modelling, genetic mapping, and machine learning techniques to identify genes controlling the growth during and after an immune response.
• In the second phase of the project, validation of the genetic leads will be performed using CRISPR-Cas gene editing and alteration of gene expression.
• In the final phase, you will perform time-course experiments using quantitative proteomics (proximity labeling) and RNAseq methods for selected targets to gain insights into the protein complexes driving growth during and after an immune response. You will also have an option to explore possibilities to translate obtained knowledge into applications.

As a PhD candidate, you will be responsible for designing and conducting experiments behind the computer and in the laboratory. You will interact with other PhD candidates and researchers involved in experimental research, bioinformatics and/or modelling at Utrecht University, Wageningen University and Research, University of Amsterdam, and TU Delft, as well as with experts from breeding companies within CropXR. You will also be involved in supervising students and, occasionally, sharing your expertise in the classroom with Bachelor's students. This second part of the job will help you learn about teaching and open additional perspectives for the next career steps.

A supervision team of 2-3 people will support your professional development as a researcher. Our research group and the CropXR consortium provide all the needed expertise. You will have opportunities to discuss your professional development and future career steps with a mentor from an industry or other area of your choice.

We currently have another PhD position on growth-immunity tradeoffs available in Dmitry Lapin’s team. For more information about this position, check out our website.

Your qualities

We are looking for a collaborative, enthusiastic, and curious colleague who:

• has a completed MSc degree or is about to get an MSc degree in molecular and/or computational biology;
• has an affinity with experimental (plant) biology research;
• has demonstrated skills in either or both computational and molecular biology research;
• wants to learn, deploy, or even develop new methods of computational and molecular biology research.
• a position for 4 years; 
• a gross monthly salary between €2,770 and €3,539 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU); 
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus; 
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU. 

In addition to the  terms of employment  laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating  professional development , leave schemes and schemes for  sports and cultural activities , as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit  Working at Utrecht University .

The department of Biology consists of an Education Institute and 12 chair groups with a total of 350 staff members. The chair groups are organised within the Institute of Environmental Biology and the Institute for Biodynamics and Biocomplexity. The department is responsible for the Bachelor's programme in Biology, where we annually welcome over 400 students. This means we educate over 30% of biology students in the Netherlands. Additionally, staff members of the department also teach in the Utrecht Bachelor's programme in Biomedical Sciences and the Bachelor's program of University College Utrecht. In addition to bachelor education, our staff also provide teaching in various master's programmes. The department of Biology is successful in attracting international and Dutch research funding (CropXR, GreenTE, grants from European Research Council, etc.).

You will join Dmitry Lapin’s team  (5-10 team members) in the Translational Plant Biology (TPB) group. The TPB group includes four principal investigators with expertise in different aspects of plant-microbe interactions, plant development, and epigenetics. We exchange expertise to understand the principles of plant biology better and translate this knowledge into technologies that improve the sustainability of agriculture. To ensure that the researchers benefit from each other’s expertise in real-time the team and TPB have regular work-together sessions such as hackathons for data analysis, writing retreats, and thematic meetings.

In the Lapin team, we answer fundamental questions about plant immunity and growth in collaboration with industry partners. For that, we use cutting-edge technologies in high-throughput phenotyping (NPEC), machine learning, and omics analyses; the focus is not on technology development but on fascinating genetic and molecular principles of plant biology. The team is an active contributor to the research programmes LettuceKnow and CropXR . High-quality supervision and guidance are among the core values of the Lapin team, with a dedicated PhD supervision team of 2-3 members ensuring timely project guidance. You will also have opportunities to find a mentor in the plant breeding industry or public sector to enhance your career prospects after finishing the PhD research. The Graduate School of Life Sciences (GSLS) and the Graduate School of Experimental Plant Sciences (EPS) , which you will be a part of, further guarantee the quality of supervision. The Lapin team, as a part of the TPB group, has monthly social events, annual retreats and goes for daily short walks in the University Botanical Gardens. We respect each other’s working hours and strive together to maintain a healthy working environment.

CropXR was launched in 2023 to contribute to improving agricultural production by making it less vulnerable to climate change. Furthermore, it aims to contribute to diminishing the dependency of agriculture on artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides. The institute is a joint venture of the universities of Amsterdam, Delft, Wageningen and Utrecht in partnership with Plantum, the Dutch plant breeding sector association. CropXR brings together efforts from different academic disciplines (such as plant sciences, computational and data sciences, and social sciences) and private industry to catalyse sustainable change. It receives financial support from NWO , the Dutch National Growth Fund , and the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research .

More information

For more information, please contact  Dmitry Lapin  at  [email protected]

Do you have a question about the application procedure? Please send an email to  [email protected] .

As Utrecht University, we want to be a  home  for everyone. We value staff with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and identities, including cultural, religious or ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. We strive to create a safe and inclusive environment in which everyone can flourish and contribute.

If you are enthusiastic about this position, just apply via the 'Apply now' button! Please enclose:

• your letter of motivation;
• your curriculum vitae;
• contact information of at least two references;
• optional: your record of academic transcripts.

If this specific opportunity isn’t for you, but you know someone else who may be interested, please forward this vacancy to them.

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The application deadline is 17 June 2024.

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