Wageningen University and Research

Would you like to work at a top class university, ranking among the world’s leading institutions in the food, agri- and environmental domains? Are you an ambitious and enthusiastic communication scholar?

Then come and join our Strategic Communication group as Assistant Professor/Associate Professor in a tenure track position!

Within this position, you are responsible for the organisation, implementation and coordination of new research activities as well as building up a leading international position. We expect from you to generate external financial support for an innovative research agenda. We also challenge you to motivate and teach students and develop new courses. A significant part of the teaching duties includes acquainting students from various programmes with different forms of communication research, and assisting them in developing executing coherent research projects. We provide training and coaching is for you in order to accomplish all this.

You prefer inter- or transdisciplinary approaches and an international orientation. To address current problems and solutions, societal engagement (e.g. between governments, societal actors and researchers) are both a topic for analysis, as well as an approach to work with society in teaching and research projects. As our new colleague you will critically explore and contribute to debates on topics such as:

- the role of digital communication and new media in processes of change, for instance in relation to sustainable production and consumption;

• persuasive communication strategies in the public sphere and everyday interaction, for instance around environmental issues, (public) health, and consumption;
• questions around dialogue, citizen engagement and ‘new democratic spaces’, for instance regarding urbanization, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• interaction around knowledges and knowledge production in these and other contexts, as introduced above.

We ask

You are an ambitious and hardworking scientist and a standout colleague, dedicated to research and education within our broad field of expertise.

You:

• hold a PhD in a relevant social science field- or discipline (e.g. communication science, innovation studies, psychology, science and technology studies, sociology, public administration, anthropology, environmental policy, development studies etc.);
• are an inspiring teacher and student supervisor with enthusiasm for teaching and working with students in an international setting;
• have the ability to teach diverse communication theories and research methods (both qualitative and quantitative);
• have a strong affinity with life sciences;
• have a proven international and interdisciplinary orientation;
• have an excellent publication record relative to your stage of career;
• possess the capacity or potential of acquiring, leading and managing externally-funded research projects;
• are committed to achieve societal impact in relation to global challenges;
• enjoy a collaborative orientation and possess good management skills.

This position requires an excellent English language proficiency (a minimum of CEFR C2 level). For more information about this proficiency level, please visit our special language page

We offer

We offer you a challenging and meaningful career trajectory called Tenure Track within the COM group. This challenging career path starts at the level of assistant professor, from which you can grow into an associate professor and obtain ius promovendi and furthermore grow to personal professor position. Depending on your experience and track record, you can enter at various levels.

You will receive training and mentorship and interdisciplinary (international) cooperation is stimulated. As we will only be selecting excellent talent to take part in Tenure Track, this will be a good stepping stone to a further career within our organization or elsewhere.

We offer a temporary contract for 7 years followed by a permanent position, after good evaluations. The salary will depend on expertise and experience and the maximum gross salary for Assistant Professors is €5,656 per month and for Associate Professors the salary can grow up to €6,738 per month. Both based on a full working week of 38 hours in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement Dutch Universities. In addition, we offer:

• 8% holiday allowance;
• a structural year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent training opportunities and secondary employment conditions;
• flexible working hours and holidays can possibly be determined in consultation so that an optimal balance between work and private life is possible;
• excellent pension plan through ABP;
• 232 vacation hours, the option to purchase extra and good supplementary leave schemes;
• a flexible working time: the possibility to work a maximum of 2 hours per week extra and thereby to build up extra leave;
• a choice model to put together part of your employment conditions yourself, such as a bicycle plan;
• a lively workplace where you can easily make contacts and where many activities take place on the Wageningen Campus. A place where education, research and business are represented;
• use the sports facilities on campus
• Wageningen University & Research stimulates internal career opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are ample opportunities for own initiative in a learning environment.

We offer a versatile job in an international environment with varied activities in a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

More information

We would like to receive your online application with motivation letter and curriculum vitae before October 1st, 2019. The first round of interviews will be held on October 7 or 8, 2019. Additional information: Prof. Dr. ir. L. Klerkx, (laurens.klerkx@wur.nl or tel. 0317-484694) or Dr. M. Poortvliet (marijn.poortvliet@wur.nl or tel. 0317-484004).

Please find additional information about the research programme Communication and change in pluralist contexts’ look at https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Chair-groups/Social-Sciences/Strategic-Communication-Group/Research.htm

You can read more about Tenure Track within Wageningen UR on https://www.wur.nl/en/Jobs/Why-choose-Wageningen-University-Research/Your-development-in-focus/Tenure-Track.htm.

We are

About the group Strategic Communication

Our group’s research and teaching is connected to life science issues of global importance, such as food production, sustainable consumption, climate change, nature conservation, land use planning, and health. Collaboration with social and natural scientists is a defining element of the group’s research and education portfolio. In education, the group contributes to various programmes, most prominently the bachelor programme “Communicatie en Life Sciences” and the master programme “Communication, Health and Life Sciences”. The central aim of our group is to understand the role of communication in planned and unplanned change in life sciences domains. Hereto, communication is studied at micro level (e.g., conversations and dialogue) and macro level (e.g., public debates), and includes mediated (e.g., social media and blogs) and non-mediated (e.g., expert-lay interactions) forms of communication. Communication themes such as:

• the mobilization of actors around issues e.g. through persuasive strategies,
• implications of digital communication for engagement with life science issues in the public sphere
• questions around construction and communication of knowledge in a ‘post-truth’ society could be of interest.

The organization

Wageningen University and Research Centre Delivering a substantial contribution to the quality of life. That's our focus – each and every day. Within our domain, healthy food and living environment, we search for answers to issues affecting society – such as sustainable food production, climate change and alternative energy. Of course, we don’t do this alone. Every day, 6,500 people work on ‘the quality of life’, turning ideas into reality, on a global scale. For further information about working at Wageningen UR, take a look at www.jobsat.wur.nl. The organization Wageningen University and Research Centre Delivering a substantial contribution to the quality of life. That's our focus – each and every day. Within our domain, healthy food and living environment, we search for answers to issues affecting society – such as sustainable food production, climate change and alternative energy. Of course, we don’t do this alone. Every day, 6,500 people work on ‘the quality of life’, turning ideas into reality, on a global scale. For further information about working at Wageningen UR, take a look at http://www.jobsat.wur.nl.