USA: PhD Student Positions in DNA Repair Mechanisms, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

PhD student positions at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA

PhD assistantships are available to study DNA repair mechanisms in eukaryotic cells. All tuition fees and a stipend for living expenses will be paid. Candidates with experience in the fields of microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry or related areas are encouraged to apply. Minimum criteria for admission include >3.0 GPA, and a combined verbal and quantitative GRE score of >1100. For international students, a minimum TOEFL score (computer version) of >250 (or >100 internet version or >600 paper version) is required. Please send CV and address enquiries to:

Dr. Shisheng Li
Assistant professor
Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences
School of Veterinary Medicine
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803.

Phone: 225 578 9102
Fax: 225 578 9895

Email: shli[ at ]vetmed.lsu.edu

Italy: Master Scholarships in Design, Master Politecnico di Milano

Research of eligible students’ for masters Scholarships
Master Politecnico di Milano www.polimi.it

POLI.design – Consorzio del Politecnico di Milano addresses your institution, which is a relevant reference point in the cultural and commercial exchange with Italy.
www.polidesign.net

POLI.design requests your cooperation in propagating news about qualified opportunities of post-university training:

MDS - Master in Strategic Design. Design of the Value Offering (in cooperation with MIP Politecnico). – 1st level – 10th edition, held in English. Duration 13 months. Design, management, technology and empowerment, for those oriented to work on the borderline between design and management. www.polidesign.net/mds

MBC - Master in Brand Communication, the Project, the Construction and the Brand Management (in cooperation with AssoComunicazione) – 1st level – 8th edition. Duration 12 months. To manage the strategic thought of the brand as a Strategic Planner, Product Manager, Account and Media manager. www.polidesign.net/mbc

MA&C - Master in Art Direction e Copywriting. The creative couple of the future – 1st level – 2nd edition. Duration 12 months. From advertising to global communication, with 11 art directors of important agencies, for the communication of the brand of the future. www.polidesign.net/mac

MDSPI - Master in Design for the Development of the Industrial Product – 1st level – 2nd edition. For the Product Design specialists, to run the entire procedure of realization of industrial products, from their conceiving to their production. www.polidesign.net/mdspi

The complete information about the masters and the courses is on line in the site www.polidesign.net

For each of these courses our Academic Partners offer some scholarships to the eligible foreign, designers students and architects interested in specializing in Italy.
In order to be considered for a scholarship it is necessary to send a curriculum vitae by 10th september 2008 and have a fairly good knowledge of the Italian language.

For further information you may contact us at the phone number +39 02 23995864 or e-mail address: formazione[ at ]polidesign.net

Deadline: 10th september 2008

UK : University of Salford PhD Studentship

Explore game based technology to support construction design and engineering

School of the Built Environment

The Salford Centre for (Construction) Research and Innovation Research (SCRI), which is 6* at the School of the Built Environment at University of Salford and Salford Think Lab are sponsoring a doctoral studentship in order to explore game based technology to support construction design and engineering.

The doctorate will explore game based technologies, such as virtual world, game artificial intelligence, to support construction design and engineering in a collaborative environment.

Research topics include:
• Application of artificial intelligence in construction simulation
• Human behavioural modelling in construction and building design
• Construction design and engineering in virtual world
• Digital prototyping and construction simulation

Project Supervisors:
The successful candidate will be supervised by Dr. Song Wu and Prof. Terrence Fernando. The candidate will work with SCRI team and research team in Think Lab and will be able to use the state of art equipment, such as high end workstation and virtual reality facility Think Lab.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr. Song Wu, Email: s.wu@salford.ac.uk

Details of Studentship:
Applications are invited for a fully funded studentship in the area of visualization and simulation in construction. Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, an upper second class or higher degree in computer science, information technology together with a strong interest in 3D modelling and game technology research.

This studentship provides a tax-free full maintenance grant of £12,800 per annum, plus payment of UK home student tuition fees. Overseas student are also welcome to apply, but the international student fee will not be covered in the studentship.

Salford Think Lab
The Salford ‘Think Lab' provides state of the art facilities in a futuristic environment enabling researchers to engage in research that harnesses the leading developments related to Information and Communication Technologies providing new solutions to current and future challenges faced by industry, commerce and the community. It is designed for Interaction and Collaboration equipped with the best virtual environment facilities of any university in Europe.

SCRI
The Salford Centre for Research & Innovation (SCRI) was established in January 2002. SCRI brings together a diverse group of leading international academics from the Schools of the Built Environment, Computing Science & Engineering, and Art & Design. The Centre is funded by the Engineering and Physical Research Council (EPSRC), in recognition of the leading role the University of Salford has played in construction and built and human environment research excellence. SCRI is positioned within the only, and most highly rated 6* Built and Human Environment (BuHu) research institute in Britain.

BuHu
BuHu is an internationally recognised centre for research in the Built and Human Environment. It has been the top rated research institute in the UK since 1992 and focuses its research on three themes; ICT, Management and the Environment. It comprises 90 research active academic staff, of whom 20 are internationally leading Professors, more than 35 research assistants and over 170 research students. BuHu collaborates with over 500 companies and clients around the world and make significant contributions to innovations and improvements in industry and the Environment.

The Institute is very active and in recent times it has attracted research funds and support totalling more than £30M. It has produced more than 300 journal articles, 600 conference papers, 50 major project reports and supported 200 research events, including its annual International Research Week (IRE), which incorporates a two day international conference, an industry day and a two day international postgraduate research conference. BuHu has also initiated 8 EPSRC and EU funded networks

Buhu currently has more than 170 PhD students and all postgraduate research students have access to advanced technical facilities including advanced virtual reality equipment and the new Thinking Laboratory. Research students are encouraged to network with their peers and the international community.

Application Deadline:
Applications, with a detailed CV and the names and addresses of two referees, should be sent to Dr. Song Wu, 424 Maxwell Building, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT.

Scotland : Napier University PhD Studentship

Industrial CASE PhD Studentship: Development of biofuel production from algae by solventogenic clostridia

Biofuel Research Centre, Napier University Edinburgh and Green Biologics Ltd

Applications are invited for one fully funded three-year PhD studentship within the Biofuel Research Centre at Napier University. This Industrial CASE studentship will cover tuition fees to home/EU level, and will provide an enhanced standard living allowance, over the basic stipend (which is currently £12,600 per annum). Overseas students are eligible to apply, but will be liable to pay the difference between home/EU and overseas fees. Note that fees are subject to change annually throughout programme of study.

The studentship is expected to start as soon as possible.

BACKGROUND

Butanol is a by-product of metabolism by solventogenic species of the anaerobic Genus Clostridium and it is an important chemical and second generation biofuel. The industrialisation of this biological fermentation process will depend on a number of critical factors, not least of which is the identification and development of a cost-effective fermentation substrate. The objective of this project is to evaluate algae as potential fermentation substrate for biofuel production by solventogenic clostridia. The research programme will establish the features which can be manipulated for process improvement, via substrate processing/treatment, fermentation optimisation and strain development.

The position, which is in association with leading biobutanol developers Green Biologics Ltd, is an EPSRC-funded CASE award from the Bioscience for Business Knowledge Transfer Network. The studentship will be based at Napier, however appointees will spend periods in each institute during the programme.

APPLICATION

Applicants must be highly motivated and must normally hold at least a first or second class honours degree, or equivalent, in a relevant discipline. Candidates whose first language is not English must meet the University's English language requirements.

Further details of Napier University can be found at http://www.napier.ac.uk/. Details of Green Biologics Ltd can be found at http://www.gbl.com/

An application form (FP1 form) and more general details on research can be found at http://www.napier.ac.uk/randkt/prospectiveresearchstudents/Pages/Applications%20and%20studentships.aspx

Please send all formal applications, a CV and a completed "Supplementary Personal Information Form" and "Tuition Fee Classification Questionnaire" by 11 August 2008 to:

Caroline Graham, The Graduate School, Merchiston Campus, Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Email: c.graham@napier.ac.uk

Phone: 0131 455 2305

Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Martin Tangney; Director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Napier University; m.tangney@napier.ac.uk

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UK : University of Sheffield PhD projects in computational systems biology

Chemical and Process Engineering

Systems Biology is an emerging discipline combining quantitative experimental techniques and mathematical modelling; it has been expanding at a tremendous pace over the last decade, with excellent opportunities both in academic and industrial research. Systems Biology is a key priority area for research at Sheffield. Drawing on the strength of Sheffield’s engineering and biology (both leaders nationally and internationally), a series of activities have been initiated recently including regular seminar and journal club series and Roberts training for young researchers.

A fully funded new route (4 year) PhD studentship is available starting in October 2008 as part of the ChELSI centre (http://www.shef.ac.uk/chelsi/). The project will be carried out under the supervision of Dr G Sanguinetti (co-supervisor Prof P.C. Wright) and will be mostly centred on mathematical modelling, but will involve some training in experimental techniques. The successful candidate will be expected to have a good first degree in a numerate subject (e.g. engineering, physics, mathematics, computer science) and an interest in biology and biotechnological applications. The student will be based in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, but it is anticipated that the student will interact substantially with staff at the Department of Computer Science, Automatic Control and Systems Engineering and Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. The following two projects are available; please state clearly in your application which project you are interested in.

Network based integration of high throughput biological data. Technological advances in molecular biology have led to the production of huge amounts of high-throughput data. These data sets describe the global behaviour of cellular products at various levels of organisation, genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic. While each of these reveal important characteristics of cellular processes at a specific level, it is not always clear how the information can be pieced together into a meaningful, systems level picture. Recently, we have proposed a probabilistic model which integrated
metabolic network information with high-throughput proteomic to identify pathways connected with hydrogen production in bacteria (Bioinformatics, 24(7): 1078-1085). In this project you will build on this approach to produce models capable of integrating data at various levels of organisation. This approach will be applied to the problem of hydrogen production in bacteria, with potential for important applications in synthetic biology and sustainable biofuels research. The mathematical tools required for the project will be centred on probability theory and statistical machine learning.

Control theory of bacterial metabolism. Bacterial responses to environmental changes often have important metabolic consequences. A case of particular interest involves the bacterial genus Nostoc which in certain conditions releases hydrogen which can then potentially be used as fuel. The dynamics of the response to changed conditions depends on proteins called transcription factors mediating the external signal and turning on and off enzymes that catalyse the metabolic reactions. Unfortunately, accurate measurement of these transcription factor activities is unfeasible. We recently have proposed models to perform statistical inference of transcription factors activity (Bioinformatics, 22(22), NIPS 19) . In this project you will turn these approaches into a control problem, where the goal is not only the inference of the transcription factor activities but how we can engineer the system to maximise the hydrogen yield. The mathematical tools involved in this prohect will be centred on ordinary differential equations, stochastic processes and control theory.

Please address enquiries to Mrs A Fidler:
Email: a.fidler@sheffield.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)114 2227557

Applications in writing to Mrs A Fidler (details above)

Closing date for applications: 8th August 2008

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Italy: Scholarships for the PhD Program in Business Administration, University of Bologna

The PhD program in Business Administration of the University of Bologna trains brilliant researchers in the fields of management, by offering courses in several areas such as organization theory, business strategy, marketing, technology and innovation management, research methods, statistics, econometrics. In addition to the courses, PhD students have the opportunity to attend seminars held by internationally renowned scholars, present their work at conferences, spend a research period of at least 6 months in international academic institutions. The courses are held in English. The PhD in Business Administration (3-year program) is organized by the Department of Management of the University of Bologna (www.sa.unibo.it), in cooperation with the University LUISS Guido Carli of Rome and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

In order to apply, a Master degree (laurea specialistica/magistrale) is required. The 2009 edition of the PhD in Business Administration (24th cycle) will start in January 2009. 10 students will be admitted to the program and 5 scholarships will be offered. The number of scholarship-assisted places may increase thanks to the financial support of public or private institutions. The net amount of the scholarship is around 1000 Euro per month, for a 3-year period. The amount of the scholarship can be increased during the research period spent abroad (+50%) and through assistantships in teaching or contract research activities. Applications from foreign students are encouraged.

For further details on the PhD program in Business Administration, the admission requirements and the selection procedures, please visit the website.

or contact the PhD Coordinator, Professor Federico Munari (federico.munari[ at ]unibo.it).

The call for application will be published at the beginning of August 2008 on this website.
The deadline to submit all the application documents (approx. 10th September 2008) will be specified in the call.

The Netherlands : PhD student in Ecology

University of Amsterdam Faculty of Science

Amsterdam, 1098 SM (Noord-Holland), 38 hours per week

Job description
Within the ERGO program of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), we are looking for an enthusiastic PhD student in ecology to work on the project "Potential ecosystem effects of future GM crop introductions through establishment of crop/wild hybrids or feral populations".
One aspect of Environmental Risk Assessments (ERA) of transgenic crops involves the introduction of the transgene in natural environments through outcrossing with a wild relative or through the establishment of feral populations. In the current project the likelihood of an expansion of hybrid/feral plants as well as the associated and potentially adverse effects on the ecosystem will be studied. The experimental systems are (i) hybrids between crop and wild lettuce (Lactuca sativa and L. serriola, resp.) as a model for crop/wild hybridisation, and (ii) Brassica napus as a model feral system. We specifically focus on abiotic stress related to salinity and drought.

The project focuses on experiments using different types of manipulations: changes to the local densities of plants, establishing new populations within and outside the current ecological range, and creating experimental populations in ‘oases' where they are not exposed to the stress of the surrounding environment (no transgenic plants will be introduced to the field). The work involves designing experiments, selecting and creating experimental plots, collecting data, specifically on the impact of the experiment on other species (pollinators, herbivores) and statistical analyses of the results. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals.

Requirements
Required education/skills:University Graduate

• Master in biology, with emphasis on ecology, evolutionary biology or plant physiology
• Good training in the planning, execution and statistical analysis of (field) experiments
• Ability to work together in a research team
  

Job type: Research / Advising
Workfield(s):
- Research trainees, non-tenured lecturers, researchers(Scientific discipline: Natural Sciences)

Organization
University of Amsterdam
Faculty of Science
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is a university with an internationally acclaimed profile, located at the heart of the Dutch capital. As well as a world center for business and research, Amsterdam is a hub of cultural and media activities. The University of Amsterdam is a member of the League of European Research Universities.

The Faculty of Science at the UvA is one of Europe's foremost institutions of higher education and research in its chosen fields of specialization. It plays an active role in international science networks and collaborates with universities and industry. The Faculty has approximately 2,000 students and 1,500 staff members spread over four departments and ten research institutes. Each institute has its own research programme, a substantial part of which is externally funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), the Dutch government, the EU and various private enterprises.

The Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) is one of the ten research institutes of the Faculty of Science. IBED covers a wide range of subjects, in both fundamental and applied research. Our scientific studies aim at a better understanding of the dynamics of ecosystems at all relevant levels, from genes to climate change, using a truly multidisciplinary approach.

Conditions of employment
Estimated maximum salary per month: eur 2000 - 2500
Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: see below
Maximum hours per week: 38
Additional conditions of employment:
The appointment will be on a temporary basis for a maximum period of four years (18 months plus a further 30 months after a positive evaluation) and should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis).

An educational plan will be drafted that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. PhD students are also expected to assist in teaching undergraduates. The salary is in accordance with the university regulations for academic personnel (Collective Labour Agreement) and will range from € 2,000.- (first year) up to a maximum of € 2,558.- (last year) gross per month (scale P).

Additional Information
Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:

Dr. ir. Danny Hooftman
Telephone number: 31 20 5257817
E-mail address: d.a.p.hooftman@uva.nl

Or Prof. dr. Peter van Tienderen
Telephone number: 31 20 5257896
E-mail address: p.h.vantienderen@uva.nl

Or additional information can be obtained through one of the following links:

• About the organization (http://www.uva.nl/start.cfm/la=en/th=main)
• About the department (http://www.science.uva.nl/english/home.cfm)
• About the function (http://www.uva.nl/vacatures/vacatures.cfm/31A40D40-1321-B0BE-A481923B9A6DD606)
• Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (http://www.science.uva.nl/ibed/home.cfm)

Application
You can apply for this job before 25-08-2008 (dd-mm-yyyy) by sending your application to:

Universiteit van Amsterdam, Faculty of Science - dept. PZ
S.H.M. Jongerius
Kruislaan 404
1098 SM Amsterdam

E-mail: application-science@uva.nl

When applying for this job always mention the vacancynumber AT 08-1036.

Further Details

The Netherlands : PhD Systematic design of automated sustainable horticultural production systems

Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture

Wageningen, (Gelderland), 36 hours per week

Job description

• With an average of 27%, labour costs ranks number 1 on the list of production costs in Dutch greenhouse crop production. Improving labour efficiency will be one of the critical success factors in the Netherlands as well as in Western-Europe the next decades. Besides the absolute costs, following trends emphasize focus on labour issues: Increasing size of production facilities, Increasing labour costs, Increasing problems with the availability of skilled and motivated labour, Specialisation of crop production and individualisation of plant treatment, Health problems of the workers, Product quality, food safety, Growing competition on the national and international market.
• The objective of this research is to develop systematic, preferably quantitative methods to analyse, design, simulate and optimize greenhouse crop production systems focused on company layout, scheduling in place and time of human labour as well as (potential) mechanization taking into account product and information flows at company level.
• Analysis of traditional stationary production systems and analysis of mobile production systems of two example crops. The analysis will include a time analysis of existing production systems and quantification of most important system measures. Choice of a suitable simulation platform will be part of this project. Verification and validation of the model with real data.
• Based on the new model a (re-)design of alternative production systems will be carried out based on the guidelines of systems engineering, business process re-engineering or other methodical design procedures. Definition of requirements, systems analysis and definition of required functions, derivation of alternative working principles for each function, concept derivation, concept evaluation and concept implementation will usual process steps in these methodologies to come to new automated sustainable horticultural production systems.

Requirements
Required education/skills:University Graduate

• MSc graduate in systems engineering, industrial engineering, agricultural engineering, operations research or other relevant study;
• High-quality knowledge in the field of systems analysis, modelling, simulation and optimization of discrete event systems;
• Experience with Arena, Enterprise Dynamics or other relevant simulation tools is an advantage;
• Affinity with greenhouse technology, interested in challenges of the horticultural sector;
• An autonomously working creative, young researcher with good communicative skills who is open-minded and sociable.

Job type: Research / Advising
Workfield(s):
- Teaching & Research(Scientific discipline: Agriculture)

Organization
Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture
Wageningen University and Research Centre
Wageningen University and Research Centre (Wageningen UR) provides education and generates knowledge in the field of life sciences and natural resources. Wageningen UR aims to make a real contribution to our quality of life. To us, quality of life means both an adequate supply of safe and healthy food and drink, on the one hand, and the chance to live, work and play in a balanced ecosystem with a large variety of plants and animals.

Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture
The business unit Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture within PSG has about 100 employees and four research teams:

• Crop Protection
• Crop Management, Physiology and Modelling
• Greenhouse Technology
• Farm and Crop Systems

Customers are growers, horticultural industry, ministries, public authorities and other horticultural organisations.

Team Greenhouse Technology
The team has about. 20 employees with expertises in the fields of greenhouse energy management, greenhouse climate, physical modelling, sensor- and control technology, material technology, light, computer vision, industrial production and robotics. The activities aim at the integral design of new concepts or components of sustainable horticultural production systems.

Wageningen University - Farm Technology Group
The Farm Technology Group provides education and generates knowledge in the field of bio-systems engineering. Our mission is to fulfill the needs of both mankind and nature in a sustainable way by exploiting the potential of technology. Systems engineering is one of the instruments we use. Emphasis lies on high-tech solutions using advanced sensing systems, systems optimization and control, mechanization and robotics.

Conditions of employment
Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: 4 years.
Maximum hours per week: 36
Additional conditions of employment:
Duration: 4 years, 36 hours per week.
Gross salary: € 2001,- a month in the first year rising up to € 2560,- a month in the fourth year (based on a fulltime employment)

Additional Information
Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:

Dr. S. Hemming, Team leader Greenhouse Technology
Telephone number: 31 317 486921
E-mail address: silke.hemming@wur.nl

Or Prof. E.J. van Henten
Telephone number: 31 317 483328
E-mail address: eldert.vanhenten@wur.nl

Application
You can apply for this job before 20-08-2008 (dd-mm-yyyy) by sending your application to:

Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture
HRM Department Plant Sciences Group
N.G. Wondergem-Bakker
P.O. Box 16
6700 AA Wageningen
The Netherlands
E-mail: vacaturemeldingen.psg@wur.nl

When applying for this job always mention the vacancynumber AT: 08.Glas.06.

Further Details

The Netherlands : PhD position in Design of Genetical Genomics Experiments

University of Groningen

(1,0 fte)
(Groningen), 38 hours per week

Job description
Function title: PhD position in Design of Genetical Genomics Experiments
at the Groningen Bioinformatics Centre. The goal of genetical genomics is to infer the causal relationships between DNA, transcripts, proteins, metabolites and other individual components of a biological system. You will be responsible for developing and applying novel methods for design of effective and cost-efficient ‘genetical genomics’ experiments which may include environmental perturbations or host-pathogen interactions. You will develop and apply quantitative modelling approaches for simulating genetical genomics experiments.

Requirements
Required education/skills:University Graduate

• excellent grades for MSc in statistical genetics, quantitative genetics, bioinformatics, computer science or a related field
• pro-active, ambitious and collaborative attitude
• excellent communication and reporting skills.

Job type: Research / Advising
Workfield(s):
- Teaching & Research(Scientific discipline: Natural Sciences)

Organization
University of Groningen
Founded in 1614. One of the best universities in Europe and the world. A wide variety of disciplines. Internationally oriented. Rooted in the North of the Netherlands. Socially active. Our researchers and lecturers are inspired academics. Ambitious students. We respect the differences in talent, ambitions and performance of the 25.000 students and members of staff.

The university provides a career advisory service for partners of new staff who move to Groningen.

The university is an equal opportunities employer. Because women are still underrepresented in a number of fields, they are particularly encouraged to apply.

Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Groningen Bioinformatics Centre is expanding its activities in Systems Genetics, Systems Biology, Computational Biology and Biosoftware development and is looking for a new enthusiastic team member.

Conditions of employment
Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: Four years
Maximum hours per week: 38
Additional conditions of employment:
The University of Groningen offers a salary of € 2000 gross per month in the first year up to a maximum of € 2558 gross per month in the final year. Objective of the temporary 4-year position is the production of a number of research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, which together will form the basis of a thesis leading to a PhD degree (dr.) at the University of Groningen. After the first year, there will be an evaluation as to the feasibility of successful completion of the PhD thesis within the next three years.

Additional Information
Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:

Prof.dr. R.C. Jansen
E-mail address: r.c.jansen@rug.nl

Or Dr. R. Breitling
E-mail address: r.breitling@rug.nl

Or additional information can be obtained through one of the following links:

• About the organization (http://www.rug.nl)
• Groningen Bioinformatics Centre (http://www.rug.nl/gbic)

Application
You can apply for this job before 03-09-2008 (dd-mm-yyyy) by sending your application to:

University of Groningen
Personnel and Organization Office

P.O. Box 72
9700 AB Groningen
The Netherlands
E-mail: vmp@rug.nl

When applying for this job always mention the vacancynumber AT208206.

Further Details

The Netherlands : PhD Development of vegetable preferences in infants

Agrotechnology & Food Sciences Group

Wageningen, 6708 PD (Gelderland), 38 hours per week

Job description
Within the Division of Human Nutrition research is carried out in the field of sensory science and eating behaviour. Most human food preferences are learned through imitation, mere exposure, and conditioning principles. The dislike for vegetables is probably due to the low energy content of vegetables, but may also be related to specific sensory attributes. Due to their low energy content, vegetables do not lead to satiety or satisfaction, so there is no chance for development of energy-conditioned taste preferences. Furthermore, preferences learned early in life are relatively stable and may track into adulthood. However, it is unclear how vegetable preferences develop at early age: from infancy until young childhood. In order to influence vegetable consumption, it is essential to study the opportunities to develop a preference for vegetable products.
The specific research questions in this project are: how do vegetable preferences develop over time from infancy to young childhood; which sensory properties of vegetables are liked or disliked by infants and young children; which facial expressions and body movements are indicative for liking or disliking in young children; is it easier to like new-starch based vegetable products compared to traditional 100 % vegetables?
The project starts with the design of a long term prospective study to investigate the stability of vegetable preferences in infants. This includes measures of facial expression and body gestures to indicate liking. Subsequent studies will focus on the liking of new starch based vegetable products by children. The final step is a behavioural intervention study, to study the learning process of liking for the new starch based vegetable products or 100% vegetable purees.
The project is closely linked to a neighbouring project which focuses on the technological development of new starch-based vegetable products and deals with the processing, structure and physical properties of vegetable matrices.

Requirements
Required education/skills:University Graduate
We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD candidate with strong interest in sensory sciences, a good planner and organizer

• MSc in Nutrition and Health, Psychology, or Health Sciences
• Clear interest in the development of sensory preferences
• Like to work with infants, young children
• Experience in conducting experimental behavioural studies
• Excellent social and communication skills
• Team player, but also able to work independent
• Proficiency in English (both oral and written)

Job type: Research / Advising
Workfield(s):
- Research trainees, non-tenured lecturers, researchers(Scientific discipline: Food)

Organization
Agrotechnology & Food Sciences Group
AFSG is the organisation for development and transfer of knowledge in the field of sustainable applications of agro-components for safe and healthy food and non-food products.

Conditions of employment
Estimated maximum salary per month: eur 2500 - 3000
Salary: scale 10.
Maximum salary amount in Euro's a month 2558
Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: 1,5 2,5 years
Maximum hours per week: 38
Additional conditions of employment:
Temporary contract for 18 months for 38 hours per week. Salary: from € 2000 in the first year to € 2558 in the forth year, based on full time employment. After a positive evaluation of the first 18 months, contract will be extended fort the remaining 30 months.
Hay-profile: Promovendus

Additional Information
Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:

prof.dr. Kees de Graaf
Telephone number: 0317-482589
E-mail address: kees.degraaf@wur.nl

Application
You can apply for this job before 25-08-2008 (dd-mm-yyyy) by sending your application to:

Wageningen UR - AFSG
bode 118
K. den Ridder
P.O. Box 17
6700 AA Wageningen
Netherlands
E-mail: afsg-vacatures@wur.nl

When applying for this job always mention the vacancynumber AFSG 08.082.

Further Details