WU Call One Health

Call for three PhD or postdoc pre-proposals within the PE&RC focal area One Health

Strategic funds have been allocated by Wageningen University to the Graduate School to initiate and stimulate collaborative research on the cutting edge of science and relevant to the mission and focal areas of the research school.

PE&RC has decided that there will be three subsequent calls for PhD/postdoc positions within each of the three focal areas of PE&RC. The first call for three positions will be within the focal area One health*.

The funds will be allocated to support PhD candidates and postdocs within projects that are exemplary for the focal area. Projects are meant to stimulate internal coherence (between PE&RC chair groups and/or research institutes but with clear added value for each partner) and provide opportunities for acquisition of new activities in the specific field. Writing of a proposal for a personal fellowship can be part of the output of a project.

We recommend that applicants contact the PE&RC office for advice on whether or not a certain subject fits into the focal area of interest.

The applicants are asked to motivate whether it should be a PhD or a postdoc project. We strive towards funding of at least one postdoc project.

Besides the mentioned aspects, the specific proposals will be assessed based on:

• The scientific quality of the PhD or postdoc project proposal
• The feasibility of the project
• Relevance for the PE&RC focal area and (inter)national embedding

Only one proposal per regular chair as leading applicant is allowed for each round.

The funding involves personnel costs including indirect costs (2017: 34.8% in addition to personnel costs) for four-year PhD-positions (according to a central payment schedule for employed PhD candidates) or 2.5-year postdoc positions (based on real salary costs, at maximum scale 11.5). Funding for organizing workshops and inviting visiting scientists can be part of the project budget. Other research-related costs should be covered by the participating groups.

*The theme overlaps with the Wageningen University & Research investment theme ‘Global One Health’, that reflects the interconnectedness and global nature of health care for humans, animals, plants and the environment.

Pre-proposal

The pre-proposal should involve:

• A description of the PhD/postdoc proposal (max. 750 words, scope, problem definition, methodology, outputs).
• The added value for each partner involved (max 250 words).
• The relevance for the PE&RC focal area and (inter)national embedding (max 250 words).
• A motivation for a postdoc or PhD employment (max 100 words).

Proposal

After selection a limited number of applicants will be asked to elaborate a full proposal (about 50% success rate). The full proposal should involve:

• The relevance to the PE&RC focal area (elaborate relevance of contents to focal area, internal collaboration, activities to which other parties are invited, leveraging opportunities).
• A description of the research with objectives and envisaged results.
• A work plan with a time table (Gantt Chart or similar).
• A full project budget and funding requested from PE&RC. Note that besides personnel costs (PhD/postdoc), costs for workshops and invitation of visiting scientists will be considered for funding.
• National and international contacts in this field.
• Signature by the chair of the applying PE&RC research group.

The PhD candidate or postdoc will be employed at Wageningen University and the PhD candidate has to obtain his/her PhD degree at Wageningen University. This is irrespective of the location where research is performed.

The Board of PE&RC invites applicants to send pre-proposals to theo.jetten@wur.nl before April 10, 2017 (9.00 a.m.)  using this form.

More information about this call can be obtained from PE&RC office.

Focal areas PE&RC

1. Learning from nature
   The central issue is how to foster ecology-based sustainability and management of ecosystems. The objective is to understand the functioning of ecosystems to design and enable the development of multifunctional, high-yield and resource-efficient production and land use systems that optimally provide and utilize natural ecosystem services.
2. Global change, food and the environment
   The various global crises such as those on food security, water, climate, and biodiversity show the urgency of addressing these problems using an integral approach that involves social, economic and environmental sustainability and considers systems as networks in which the various parts are connected to each other. The objective of this theme is to contribute to the development of novel adaptive strategies that increase the resilience of both managed and natural systems to global change.
3. One health
   Humans, crops, livestock, and wild animals and plants are constantly being challenged by pests and (new) diseases. The objective of this theme is to generate more understanding of:
   • The ecological processes behind the epidemiology of diseases and the outbreak of pests and their adjustment to new environmental and biological conditions;
   • The role of biodiversity in regulating disease spread;
   • The genetics of parasites and pathogens, hosts and vectors as related to the risks of disease incidence, development of resistance to control measures, and development of new disease control strategies;
   • integrative ecological-social-economic approaches to disease control.

Note: in this system candidates cannot be employed at a non-WU partner participating in PE&RC (Wageningen Research, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, NIOO, UU, UVA or VU) and in case of a PhD position the PhD graduation has to be at WU. However a collaborating partner in PE&RC can be the second partner in a project (with a leading applicant from WU). They can only be the leading party if they are willing to cover the salary costs when the PhD candidate/postdoc is employed at their institute.