Professors in Food Science - Department of Food Science, Aarhus University

The Department of Food Science, Aarhus University (AU), Denmark, seeks internationally competitive, innovative and successful research leaders who want to work with highly engaged and motivated staff in a positive and dynamic international working environment.
The positions are available from 01. November, 2024. We are seeking two Professor positions.


The positions

We are looking to appoint at the Professor level, research leaders who see significant potential in food science to deliver sustainable, and healthy food solutions in line with the expected transformation of the food systems. We seek competitive individuals who want to deliver impact through establishing successful, interdisciplinary teams together with complementary research expertise and industrial partners to deliver both novel and innovative solutions and underpinning basic knowledge to the area.

We are specifically interested in individuals who can apply their expertise to both plant- and animal-based food products within:

1. Horticultural crop productions, with special emphasis on high value horticultural crops, specifically on the sustainable production of vegetable and legume crops to increase resilience and future proof production systems
2. Meat science, with special emphasis on production systems, sustainability,
   innovation, and quality

All new appointments include research, supervision and teaching at a Professor level. Professors are expected to have strong leadership qualities and to successfully lead and strengthen the research area through taking new strategic initiatives in collaboration with existing staff, and national and international networks. New research initiatives in innovative and differentiated solutions should complement existing Department activities in the plant, food and environment area, in delivering climate friendly foods, in achieving circularity in the food system and in delivering new, quality and sustainable healthy foods.


Areas of expertise

1. Professor in Horticultural Crop Production

It is expected that the successful candidate will have documented knowledge within innovative cropping systems of field vegetables including effects of agronomic factors such as species and cultivar choice, design of crop rotation and management factors on environmental and climate impact of production. Experience is expected in agroecological approaches by combining e.g. organic farming, intercropping, reduced tillage, legume and non-legume cover crops, plant-based fertilizers and composting to increase sustainability. Understanding of systems’ biology and chemical cycles by use of field and semi-field (controlled environment) methods with focus on plant growth, both above and below ground, and soil fertility, including plant nutrient uptake, soil nitrogen mineralisation and nitrate leaching. Furthermore, expertise is expected in impact of plant genotype and field management on crop yield and product quality (bioactive compounds, sensory properties).
 

1. Professor in Meat Science

It is expected that the successful candidate will have documented experience within
traditional and alternative meat production systems and impact on quality traits. Experience with the impact of feeding strategies and genotypes of beef, pork and chicken as well as organic production and furthermore knowledge within cultivated meat production is desired. The candidate is expected to hold expertise within basic muscle biochemistry, composition, postmortem processes and texture development, sensory evaluation and consumer preferences. Furthermore, expertise within meat production in a sustainable food chain perspective e.g. exploration of side streams, use of dual-purpose breeds, grass-based production and / or strategies for upscaling of cultivated meat production.


Successful candidates

You are expected to:

• • be responsible for the development of an internationally competitive and innovative research program
  • successfully establish interdisciplinary collaborations between your own research and complementary research teams to deliver on challenge-based mission programs
  • maintain a strong national and international network of contacts with leading research teams and industrial partnerships within the food industry
  • support the development of comprehensive research-based teaching activities and participate in assessments of students at Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD levels
  • be responsible for effective knowledge exchange with society, industry and to contribute within your area of expertise to research-based policy advice for the Danish Government
  • successfully attract external research grants from industry, national and international sources
  • develop and contribute to relevant educational courses at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level
  • participate in MSc, PhD and post-doctoral training and be responsible for the educational guidance of assistant professors /postdocs
  • show leadership by actively engaging in the administration and strategic development of the department and to establish interdisciplinary collaboration within your own and other relevant disciplines at Aarhus University

Qualifications

The following professional and personal qualifications are required:

• • PhD degree or equivalent qualifications within plant physiology, animal physiology, food science, biology, agronomy, biochemistry, engineering or related research fields
  • Documented experience as an international research leader in relation to food research
  • Documented original research of a high international standard
  • Documented research qualifications at professorship level in one of the above specified areas of expertise
  • Experience in communication of research in a wide context
  • Ability to strengthen national and international cooperation within the research area
  • Documented ability to attract research funding from both industrial and public sources
  • Documented experience with supervision of postdocs, PhD and MSc students
  • Documented teaching experience and a demonstrated ability to develop relevant educational material
  • Documented leadership skills in relation to international collaboration and development of interdisciplinary research teams

Who are we

The Department of Food Science is part of the Faculty of Technology, Aarhus
University and includes research across the food system within the areas of field based and protected plant production systems, biofunctional food, systems biology, food chemistry, food technology, food quality, food metabolomics and sensory science. The Department currently employs ca. 60 full-time scientific staff, plus ca. 80 PhD students and Postdocs. In addition to staff, the Department hosts ca. 60 Bachelor and Master thesis students and ca. 30 visiting staff and students each year, who contribute to an international research environment where English is the preferred language in the laboratory, at meetings and at seminars.

The Department works in teams and therefore self-leadership, clear and open communication, success in mentoring, supervising and teaching are important qualities needed to be successful in the Department. In addition, the Department has a strong culture that is based on openness, equality, consultation and inclusion, and contributing to the Department strategy and working environment is viewed as important.

Please refer to https://food.au.dk/ for further information about The Department of Food Science and to http://tech.au.dk/en/ and http://www.au.dk/en/ for information on Science and Technology and Aarhus University, respectively.


What do we offer

• • State-of-the-art research infrastructure, laboratories and access to shared equipment
  • an exciting interdisciplinary environment with many national, international and industrial collaborators
  • a workplace characterized by professionalism, equality and a focus on a healthy work-life balance.

Employment / Conditions of Appointment

The employer is Aarhus University, Denmark. The place of work is Department of Food Science, Agro Food Park #48, Aarhus N, Denmark.

Positions are open for appointment from 1. November 2024. Individual negotiations will take place based on acknowledgement that senior research leaders may have existing commitments and need to relocate to Denmark.

Aarhus University and external private Danish foundations offers competitive start-up packages - for example:

https://veluxfoundations.dk/en/call-next-villum-investigators, https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/grants/nnf-laureate-research-grant/, https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/grants/recruit-grants-for-international-recruitment- 2022/

For further information contact Head of Department Michelle Williams, phone: +45 25170049, e-mail: [email protected].
 


Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the assessment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. The selection is made on the basis of an assessment of who of the candidates are most relevant considering the requirements of the advertisement. All applicants will be notified within 6 weeks whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee and will receive his/her assessment. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.
 

Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.


Formalities and salary range

Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic
Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.


The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.


Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/