NutriBudget – PhD Vacancy (Deadline 8 August)

A fully funded PhD studentship in nutrient management

Diploma

MSc in agriculture engineering, biosystems engineering, environmental engineering, or soil sciences.

Job description

A fully funded PhD scholarship titled “Novel measures and roadmaps to support nutrient budget optimization” is available at RE-SOURCE Lab, within the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at Ghent University in Belgium. We are looking for a top student, to work as a PhD candidate under the following recently funded project:

Sponsor: The European commission under Horizon Europe program, Call ID:

HORIZON-CL6-2021-ZEROPOLLUTION-01-02

Title: NUTRIBUDGET: Optimisation of nutrient budget in agriculture.

 

The aim of NUTRIBUDGET project is is to develop and implement a prototype of an integrated nutrient management platform, called NutriPlatform, in various regions across Europe, as a decision-support tool for farmers, advisors, European policy makers and regional authorities. The specific aim of the PhD is to analyze nutrient and carbon measures and to provide targeted data on the existing state-of-the-art related to the measures investigated at lab- and pilot-scale investigations within the project. Being Ghent University the Coordinator of NUTRIBUDGET, the PhD is expected to support the follow-up of the daily management of the project and to work in strong collaboration with other research groups from Ghent University, namely, the Precision Soil and Crop Engineering Group (Precision SCoRing) and the Plant Breeding and Cropping Systems Group, as well as with Wageningen University (NL).

We are looking for successful candidates with a MSc degree obtained between September 2022 and September 2020 who will undertake the following responsibilities:

· Run your PhD project and deliver the project results in a timely manner.

· Submission of high quality publications in international journals.

· Link and integrate with research project of the other PhD students in the two groups as deemed appropriate.

· Contribute to group activities as requested by your promoters that are within the remit of the role and the grant, and the associated grade. This may include:

1. Supporting and collaborating with MSc and other PhD students.

2. Contribution to teaching programmes if requested to do so.

3. Assist in other activates in the group as deemed necessary.

 

Candidate profile

The candidate should fulfil the following requirements:

· Have a MSc degree in agriculture engineering, biosystems engineering, environmental engineering, or soil sciences.

· Preferentially have knowledge in the use of basic software and modelling languages, such as, MATLAB Toolbox, LabVIEW, R, ArcGIS, C++…

· Good contextual understanding of agricultural-environmental interface, and soil-crop relationship.

· Should have a high level of proficiency in English sufficient to communicate effectively with colleagues and write papers and reports.

· Good practical problem solver / Ability to find appropriate solutions to academic and technical problems.

· Ability to work as a member of a team within a dynamic research group

 

Offer

· We offer a fully funded PhD scholarship starting anytime between 1st September 2022 and 1st October 2022. We offer approx. €2150 per month net based on a full working week (38 hours).

· Candidates will have the opportunity to work within a stimulating research environment within the RE-SOURCE Lab with interdisciplinary team comprised of agricultural engineers, environmental engineers, soil scientists, agronomists and data mining experts, where many international collaborations are foreseen.

 

Prof. Meers 

https://www.ugent.be/bw/gct/en/research/ecochem/overviewresearch/researchmeers

www.nutricycle.vlaanderen

www.biorefine.eu

How to apply

Applications should be submitted by not latter that August 8, 2022, enclosing the following documents:

· A cover letter outlining your motivation, research and teaching experience.

· A detailed CV and publication record.

· Your MSc degree or an interim document if you are still finishing your MSc.

· A verified transcript of your MSc and BSc degrees.

· Two reference letters from academic members.

Applications need to be submitted via email with subject ‘PhD NutriBudget’ to Sylvie Dewerte (Sylvie.Dewerte@ugent.be) and Prof. Erik Meers (Erik.Meers@UGent.be).