Advertiser's description (via KU Leuven):
In the Science, Engineering and Technology Group of KU Leuven, there is a full-time academic vacancy in the area of Food Microbiology in Leuven (campus Arenberg). We are looking for internationally oriented candidates with an excellent research record and with educational competence within the field of food microbiology. The new colleague will be hosted in the Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems (M²S), Centre of Food and Microbial Technology (CFMT), and in the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (FBSE). CFMT is active on four campuses and has about 145 collaborators in seven research groups, led by 13 professors. Research at CFMT focuses on raw materials and their constituents, microorganisms and processes that are relevant to various bio-industries and to the food industry in particular.
The different groups generate and disseminate scientific knowledge and apply it in food process innovations with a focus on chemical and microbiological safety, organoleptic properties, shelf life, and nutritional and health aspects. The research activities span the continuum from raw materials over production of foods and ingredients to consumption and digestion and adopt a multidisciplinary and integrated approach at molecular scale, mesoscale and macroscopic scale. CFMT research groups have a solid, up-to-date research infrastructure, an extensive national and international network, both in the academic and industrial world, a stable supply of highly talented MSc. students and represent a supportive work environment. FBSE organises Dutch and English language study programmes at bachelor, master, honours, postgraduate and PhD-level in Bioscience Engineering at large and in Food Science in particular. To date, about 2300 students are enrolled in the faculty’s programmes.
Research
Microorganisms are omnipresent throughout the food production chain and have a significant impact on food safety and quality. Some cause food deterioration or foodborne illness and need to be controlled by proper design of foods and food production processes. Others are used for the production of a wide range of food ingredients and flavorful, nutritious, and safe fermented foods. There is an urgent need to transform food production to curb its large climate change footprint and its role in the epidemic of noncommunicable diet-related diseases, and microbes have a large untapped potential to address this dual challenge.
We welcome applications from candidates who have the potential to set up an innovative and internationally oriented research program aimed at elucidating the role and directing the use of microbes in the food chain. Possible uses include the production of fermented foods, microbes as foods, food enzymes and food ingredients, the bioconversion of side streams into valuable foods or food ingredients, the creation of flavor and other quality attributes, nutrient enhancement and gut health, and the biocontrol of pathogens and spoilage organisms. Research programs integrating a fundamental and an applied component are particularly encouraged. As such, the programs will address scientific questions related to the microbial ecology of the food production chain and the genetic, physiological and metabolic properties of specific members of food microbial ecosystems, and it will envisage the engineering of microorganisms for improved or novel functional properties and the analysis of these properties in model or real food systems.
Additionally, we expect the following from successful candidates:
- You strengthen the existing research lines and provide additional expertise. Research must be complementary to existing expertise, yet at the same time tie in with the ongoing research at CFMT.
- You strive for excellence in research, publish at the domain-specific highest scientific level, while also considering opportunities for research valorisation in collaboration with industry.
- You set up collaborations with colleagues of CFMT, the Department M²S and in the national and international scientific community.
- You acquire competitive research funding (regional, national and European) for fundamental and applied research.
- You supervise PhD-projects of an international level.
Teaching
You ensure high-quality education within the area of food science and technology, in particular in the fields of food microbiology, microbial fermentation and/or food safety and quality systems. You also contribute to the pedagogic project of the faculty/university through the supervision of master theses and as a promoter of PhD students. Your teaching task is determined in consultation and based on your specific profile. The scope of this is limited in the first years of your appointment. In your further career, the faculty safeguards the proper balance between research and teaching time. You develop your teaching in accordance with KU Leuven’s vision on activating and researched-based education and make use of the possibilities for the educationalist professionalization offered by the faculty and the university.
