Postdoctoral Fellow Metaplantcode

Job Information

Organisation/Company: Naturalis
Research Field: Physics
Medical sciences
Researcher Profile: Recognised Researcher (R2)
Country: Netherlands
Application Deadline: 29 Feb 2024 - 22:59 (UTC)
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Not Applicable
Hours Per Week: 36.0
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?: Not funded by an EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?: No

Offer Description

Currently, two out of five plant species are threatened with extinction, which affects many other organisms. Plant metabarcoding, including analyzing environmental DNA, is currently not standardized, preventing high-throughput large-scale analyses. METAPLANTCODE will harmonize best practices for metabarcoding of plants collected across Europe to accelerate species monitoring and integrate biodiversity data. Existing pipelines for species identification are standardized and linked to reference databases. Best practices on FAIR data publishing will be incorporated in the GBIF and INSDC websites. ELIXIR-compatible DL-models will be implemented in novel tools.

We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to take part in METAPLANTCODE and lead processing of plant DNA sequence data. The aim is to standardize species identification through links with (inter)national checklists, red lists, floras, and the Catalogue of Life. Literature will be semantically enriched with new entity recognition modules. A newly built interface will link taxonomic names and facilitate conversion. Knowledge transfer to species organizations will occur in workshops.

Requirements

Specific Requirements

PhD qualification in plant biology or a related discipline;
Strong scientific track record;
Proficient in coding;
Proven experience with bio-informatic scripts for analysis of DNA-data;
Expertise in plant identification and species delimitation;
You have strong communication and presentation skills;
You have excellent collaboration and networking skills;
You are highly motivated, think creatively and are eager to give direction to your innovative ideas;
You have an excellent level of written and oral English.

Additional Information

Benefits

A contract for a period of one year, to be extended with 22 months after a successful evaluation and a monthly salary between € 3,468.- and € 4,506.- gross per month (depending on relevant experience) based on a fulltime (36-hour) working week. Starting date is the first of June at the latest. Other benefits include an allowance for travel expenses, holiday allowance (8%) and year-end bonus (3.4%) - as according to the Dutch Museum CLA. The successful candidate will be employed by Naturalis in Leiden. We provide a vibrant and inspiring working environment with ample support to our scientific staff by our Research Coordination Office and access to state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, ICT infrastructure, and 43 million natural history objects. At Naturalis, you will get the opportunity to further develop your research career and work together with inspiring colleagues.

Selection process

Naturalis endorses the Cultural Diversity Code, promotes gender equality and wants to enhance the diversity of staff members. In the case of equal suitability, preference is given to the candidate who reinforces diversity within the team.

Applicants are invited to submit their application (in one PDF) before 1 March 2024 (CET). This application should include:

A personal motivation letter (max. 1 page)
CV (max. 3 pages)
Names and contact details of two referees

Additional comments

Please feel free to contact Barbara Gravendeel (barbara.gravendeel@naturalis.nl) with questions about the position. For questions about the procedure of the application, please contact our colleagues from Human Resources (sollicitaties@naturalis.nl).