Leiden University PhD candidate Steering soil microbiomes for better crop quality: The holy grail to improve human health
Vacancy number 13965
Job type Academic staff, PhD positions
Hours (in fte)0,8-1,0External/
internal External
Location Leiden
Note: this is an advertisement for one PhD student that will work at the Institute of Environmental Sciences in close collaborations with another PhD student advertised by the Institute of Biology . Students will be working together on a larger project on ‘Steering soil microbiomes for better crop quality: The holy grail to improve human health’
Project:
Are you a motivated researcher who is excited to implement novel methods and work in an interdisciplinary consortium with experts in human health, governance and biology? Do you have a MSc degree in soil science, ecology, microbial ecology or a related field? And do you like variation in your activities with laboratory, field, and analytical work? Then this could be the ideal PhD position for you!
We are hiring two PhD students who will work on a project that is an interdisciplinary collaboration between several institutes within Leiden University, University of Groningen, NIOO-KNAW, LUMC, van Hall Larenstein and Maastricht University. The PhDs, one of which will be situated at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) and the other one at the Institute of Biology (IBL), will work at the interface of soil microbiomes and soil ecology, plant health, and in collaboration with LUMC.
The major overarching goals of the project are to 1) identify ways to manage and steer soil biodiversity to create high quality crops with diverse microbiomes while sustaining soil health and fertility within the limits of environmental boundaries and 2) to decipher how crop quality and plant-associated microbiomes impact the human gut microbiome, gut health and human health. This will be achieved by working in the field, with farmers, growing crops experimentally and by analysing microbiomes and plant metabolomes in the lab.
The appointed student at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (this position) will focus on major questions related to soil and food production and will work in close collaboration with researchers at NIOO-KNAW. In this part of the project the relationship between agricultural practices and soil microbial diversity and function will be studied. The candidate will explore the possibilities to steer soil microbiomes to improve plant quality and the environmental and climate performance of agriculture. Further experiments on microbiome transfer between soils and plants will be performed to gain mechanistic understanding of the system. For this PhD project knowledge on soil ecology and microbiomes and associated molecular methods is an advantage.
The appointed student located at the Institute of Biology will focus on major questions related to plant quality, plant microbiomes and how they are affected by soil microbiomes and management. This PhD will also link to research on human health as the plants will be consumed by humans to understand how qualitative differences in vegetable crops affect human gut health and functioning (together with LUMC). Further, together with the other PhD they will focus on steering quality and crop taste. For this PhD project knowledge on plant metabolomics (chemical profiling of plant metabolites), microbiome analysis and quality assessment is an advantage.
Both PhDs will collaborate closely with each other and with other project partners. They will also gain skills and knowledge on all aspects of the larger project.
Preferred starting date is December 1st 2023.
Selection criteria
- a team player with a collaborative attitude and ability to work within a multidisciplinary team;
- a completed (or about to be completed) MSc degree in soil science, plant sciences, ecology, microbial ecology or a related field;
- hands-on experience in, or strong affinity with, at least two of following topics: field experiments, laboratory (manipulative) experiments, molecular laboratory analyses (including molecular analyses, 13C tracing techniques), plant quality analyses, (multivariate) statistical analyses;
- excellent English language proficiency;
- we value experience with scientific writing.
Terms of employment
We offer a 1-year position with the possibility of extension to 4 years based on performance and following the pay scale P in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities. Salary ranges from € 2.514.- gross per month in the first year to € 3.247 gross per month in the fourth year based on a full-time position.
Leiden University, Leiden University
