PhD Position in Plant Sciences

We are seeking four highly motivated PhD students to join our team as part of the interdisciplinary Oil-Clips program (OIL-CLiPS - WUR), funded by Wageningen UR and its partners. The Oil-Clips program aims at unraveling the causes of disease outbreaks in oil palm plantations, focusing on Basal Stem Rot in Indonesia and Bud Rot in Colombia and how these are affected by changes in climate and farmer practices. These disease outbreaks are seen as an interplay between host, pathogen, human action, and environment. The recruited PhD candidates will investigate these relations by applying concepts and methods from at least two disciplines.

PhD 2: Effects of climate extremes and bud rot incidence on oil palm performance: Implications for economic sustainability.

Colombian oil palm production is severely threatened by bud rot (BR), which can be significantly aggravated by the increased occurrence of weather extremes associated with climate change, such as periodic El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events that cause severe droughts or excess rainfall. Climate stress can have dual effects: 1) weakening the innate disease resistance of oil palms, and 2) favouring disease spread, through irrigation water or through other pathways. These combined effects may cause a strong increase in disease incidence in the future. Unmanaged bud rot often leads to palm death; curative control measures are available but lead to temporary loss of production potential, which affects the economic performance of the plantation. A novel, high-yielding bud rot resistant cultivar (E. oleifera x E. guineensis; ‘O×G’) was recently developed, and is currently planted in >15% of the Colombian oil palm area, but its climate resilience is unknown.

The design of effective strategies that combine bud rot management and climate change adaptation, and the quantification of the economic consequences of different scenarios, requires robust projections of the effects of weather extremes on yields and bud rot incidence for both BR-resistant and non-resistant oil palm cultivars. The crop growth model PALMSIM is able to predict potential and water-limited oil palm yields for E. guineensis but not yet for the O×G hybrid.

In this PhD project, the successful candidate will combine the analysis of historical data on climate, oil palm ecophysiology, growth, yield and BR incidence with in-field measurements to support the development of an improved PALMSIM-based model for both E. guineensis and the O×G hybrid, which includes effects of BR incidence and curative management on production potential (both bunch yield loss and reductions in bunch oil content). They will use the model to explore the effects of climate change, disease incidence and management scenarios on future oil palm yield. They will couple this to an economic model to explore the effects on grower income.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Centre for Crops Systems Analysis led by Prof. Niels Anten, and within Cenipalma in Colombia. Your supervisor from Cenipalma is Dr. Carlos Bojacá. Your co-promotors from Wageningen University & Research are Dr. Danae Rozendaal (Centre for Crop Systems Analysis) and Dr. Lotte Woittiez (Plant Production Systems Group).

Your qualities

You are a team player with good interpersonal skills, with interest and willingness to work with partners from different cultural backgrounds. You have a strong and demonstrable personal connection with Colombia or neighbouring countries, and you are fluent in Spanish (written and spoken). You are willing to travel; the successful candidate will be based in Colombia and will spend in total 18 months in Wageningen (travel costs for the candidate will be covered) during the PhD project. (Note: Candidates who are experienced with, and passionate about oil palm, but who do not meet some of the following requirements, are also invited to apply.)

You also possess:

• A succesfully completed Master degree in agronomy, plant sciences, crop ecology, disease ecology or a similar field
• Proven affinity with statistical analysis of large datasets and/or crop modelling; programming skills in R and/or Python are an advantage
• Skills and commitment to work in an interdisciplinary research programme and motivation to contribute to the overall programme
• Strong analytical skills and affinity with field work
• Fluency in Spanish (written and spoken) in addition to English (see below)

We offer you

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• Partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

Do you want more information?

For more information about this position, please contact Lotte Woittiez (Assistant Professor) by email (lotte.woittiez@wur.nl).

For more information about the procedure, please contact Noorien Abbas, corporate recruiter (noorien.abbas@wur.nl).

Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.

This vacancy will be listed up to and including 2 December 2024. We hope to schedule the first job interviews on 12, 13 and 16 December 2024.

Note: Your letter should be no longer than one page and your CV should be no longer than three pages (Calibri font size 11 or equivalent). Applications that exceed the allowed length may not be considered. Appendixes (lists of grades, letters by referees, etc.) are not needed at this stage.

Additional information form
For this position, you must fill in a mandatory form which will allow us to have a comprehensive view of your qualifications and better assess your fit for it. You can access the form using the link below:

https://forms.office.com/e/5rUyFgW1v3   

Your prompt response will ensure that your application continues to move forward in the evaluation process. We assure you that the information provided will be kept confidential and used solely for this application process.

Welcome, safe, and valued
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) highly values diversity and inclusion because we believe that different insights lead to innovative solutions. We create a work environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, and appreciated, regardless of background, identity, or experience. Together, we are building a culture where everyone's unique contribution adds to the success of our organization.