Are you excited about biological research to improve technological design, and passionate about the opportunity to join our team of students and researchers as a technician who enables multidisciplinary high-impact research? Applicants are invited for a full-time position in the Biomimetics Group at the University of Groningen. We study how animals move, such as flying birds and swimming fish, and how organisms function in general as inspiration for finding new design solutions for societal challenges ranging from aerial and aquatic mobility to energy harvesting and sustainability. This approach is known as biomimetics (or bioinspired design, biomimicry, bionics) and brings biology and technology together. Hence our group consists of engineers, physicists and biologists who perform research with a team of BSc, MSc and PhD students and Postdocs together with multidisciplinary technicians enabling both research and teaching.
We seek candidates who are creative and passionate about supporting and participating in animal research, biomimetic design, and outstanding teaching and mentorship. We are a social and dynamic research community with a fully equipped animal and robotics research lab, aviaries, aquaria and makerspace for high-quality research. The research instrumentation is world-class and includes wind and water tunnels to study animal flight and swimming behavior. Animal welfare is central to our research, the technician will be responsible for co-designing animal housing, animal care, animal training and animal research protocol design. The ideal candidate is passionate about animals and enables our animal research approach based on stress minimization and positive reinforcement to facilitate natural and healthy animal behavior. In addition the technician will also continuously learn and master the measurement techniques we develop and assist the researchers and students in using them in their animal behavior studies. The technician is also responsible for lab and equipment management, lab and instrumentation safety, instruction and support of students. Student support includes data recording, processing, management and analysis. Based on the candidate’s career development interest, the technician will also support teaching labs for our courses. We also welcome an interest in helping us improve our research techniques.
The technician learning experience includes courses on basic and advanced animal training techniques, to continuously be up to date and well prepared for the animal groups we study. Soft skills include team-oriented, service-focussed, time management, independent work organization and clear communication.
Qualifications
MBO, HBO, Masters, or PhD degree.
- experience with animal handling and training, ideally with Article 9 or 13f.2 certification under Dutch Experiments on animals Act OR equivalent OR a MSc degree in biology that gives access to Article 9 certification
- English communication skills
- strong team player who also works efficiently independently
- passion for teaching students
- research experience is a pre
- experience with diverse animal groups is a pre
- the highest ethical standards including animal welfare
- the overall quality, motivation and social skill set of the candidate are more important than the specific technical fit.
Organisation
Founded in 1614, the University of Groningen enjoys an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative institution of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Flexible study programmes and academic career opportunities in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 36,000 students and researchers alike to develop their own individual talents. As one of the best research universities in Europe, the University of Groningen has joined forces with other top universities and networks worldwide to become a truly global centre of knowledge.
The Faculty of Science and Engineering is a highly collaborative research community that includes Engineers, Roboticists, Biomechanists and Organismal Biologists working together to achieve high-impact Biomimetics and Bioinspired Design research. The Biomimetics Group is part of the Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen in which we pursue basic biological research and translate our findings to engineering applications https://www.rug.nl/research/biomimetics/
Conditions of employment
The University of Groningen offers, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:
• a salary dependent on qualifications and work experience with a minimum of € 2,818 (salary scale 8) up to a maximum of € 4,257 gross per month (salary scale 9) for a full-time position
• a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income and an 8.3% year-end bonus.
The position is immediately available, the starting date is negotiable
Application
Please send your application to us, by submitting the following documents:
• a detailed letter of motivation
• a curriculum vitae (CV)
• contact details of one or two reference letter writers.
You can submit your application until 6 November 11:59pm / before 7 November 2022 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on “Apply” below on the advertisement on the university website).
We will start selecting applicants to fill this position based on applications submitted before the closing date.
The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/(…)rsity-and-inclusion/
Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/sollicitatiecode/
Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.
Information
For information you can contact:
- Prof. David Lentink, d.lentink@rug.nl
- Prof. Eize Stamhuis, e.j.stamhuis@rug.nl
Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.