Assistant Professor of Environmental Toxicology

The Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PLEN) is offering a 4-year assistant professorship from 1st December 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Research and teaching at PLEN covers topics within Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology. The vision of PLEN is to contribute to a green transition of agriculture and to provide solutions for future challenges such as feeding an increasing human population while climate change and pollution threaten to reduce the available land. The department is organised in nine research sections dealing with a wide range of subjects. Focus is environment, plants, animals, soil, water and microorganisms – from molecules and organisms to populations and anthropogenic ecosystems. The department hosts state-of-the art infrastructure, unique field research facilities and many opportunities for collaboration within the department.

There is rapidly growing scientific evidence that unexpected, unmonitored, and unregulated contaminants are present in the environment. The fluorinated compounds, commonly known as PFAS, is a recent example of unregulated but highly toxic compounds found in the environment, but it is only one of many groups of chemicals. Jointly it is estimated that 1/3 of all chemicals registered for use in Europe is not monitored, toxicity is unknown, and the compounds are therefore effectively not regulated. We believe the way forward is to combine non-target fingerprinting of chemicals in environmental samples with biological assays that can detect bioactive molecules as a tool to identify chemicals of environmental concern. At the Section of Environmental Chemistry and Physics we currently test the concepts on wastewater effluents in our project Vandalf, and we are part of larger projects and networks working with Effect Directed Analysis (EDA) at an international level in the NORMAN network and PARC network. To integrate the chemical fingerprints with biological effects in an efficient way, we recently achieved a grant to build a Contaminomics platform investing in state of the art analytical instruments. Building this high-throughput in vivo toxicity-test platform supplement the in vitro platforms of our collaborators, and support data analysis, data storing and developments of in silico tools to correlate the chemical fingerprints with the bioassay results.

Your responsibilities:

The assistant professor in Environmental Toxicology will be responsible for building the high throughput in vivo toxicology platform, using whole cell and organism growth, mortality and reproduction as broad-spectrum bioactivity endpoints. You will work on bacteria, fungi, algae, and small invertebrates as test organisms, and we will invest in equipment for fast and semi-automated screening of relevant endpoints. You will be part of deciding which tools to invest in, setting up the different bioassays, checking data quality, and developing appropriate data treatment. Apart from our ecotoxicology lab, with many different invertebrate species at-hand, we have access to a clean-lab used for culturing and testing on human cells as well. The work on the bioassay-development will be conducted in close collaboration with the analytical chemists responsible for chemical fingerprinting and our data-analysts combining the chemical and toxicological fingerprints. In addition, we have a close collaboration with the in vitro toxicology lab at SLU led by Johan Lundqvist. You are expected to develop your own research profile within the topic of Effect Directed Analysis and biological effect of chemicals of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products or biological materials (UVCB’s), or similar topics within this new frontier of chemical regulation. This includes developing tools to prioritise chemicals found through fingerprint analysis based on bioactivity and structural characteristics. This latter will be done in the context of the project AQUAPLEXUS and in collaboration with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

The employment as an assistant professor includes obligations with regards to publication/scientific communication and research-based teaching and examination obligations within Environmental Toxicology. The candidate is expected to have an interest in further developing his/her teaching qualifications and contribute to teaching activities at PLEN. It is expected that the assistant professor will contribute to teaching in existing courses, and supervision of students doing BSc projects and MSc thesis in this scientific field.

Your qualifications:

• A PhD degree in Environmental Toxicology (and a minimum of three years postdoc experience within environmental toxicology or a similar field)
• Experience with conducting in vitro and/or in vivo toxicity tests
• Experience with data treatment of toxicity data
• Knowledge of effect-directed analysis, high throughput toxicity tests and use of toxicological databases is an advantage
• Knowledge of and interest in sampling, sample preparations, analytical techniques and chemometric data analysis is an advantage
• Knowledge of risk assessment and regulation of chemicals with a focus on UVCB’s (Unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products or biological materials) is an advantage
• Teaching experience and enthusiasm preferred
• Experience in research management or other managerial functions
• Fluency in English. The Faculty of Sciences generally require employees who do not speak Danish to acquire a working knowledge of the language within a few years
• The successful applicant is expected to be enterprising and possess the cooperative and managerial skills necessary for projects and teaching activities

Assessment of applicants will primarily consider their level of documented, internationally competitive research. The ability to attract external funding will be considered together with outreach qualifications. Teaching qualifications are not mandatory but documented teaching qualifications and teaching experience will be considered positively.

Applicants who have not conducted a formal education for teaching at the University level are expected to finalize this within the first year of their employment.

Six overall criteria apply for assistant professor appointments at the University of Copenhagen. The six criteria (research, teaching, societal impact, organisational contribution, external funding and leadership) are considered a framework for the overall assessment of candidates. Furthermore, each candidate must be assessed according to the specific requirements stated in the job advertisement. Please read more at https://jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabelige-stillinger/kriterier-for-videnskabelige-stillinger/dokumenter-til-meritering/5a_Criteria_for_recognising_merit_-Assistant_professors.pdf .

Further information of the Department is linked at http://www.science.ku.dk/english/about-the-faculty/organisation/. Inquiries about the position can be made to Head of Department Svend Christensen, [email protected] of Head of Research Group Nina Cedergreen, [email protected].

The position is open from 1st December 2023or as soon as possible thereafter.

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

Terms of employment
The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff.

Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.

Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.

The application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.

Please include

• Curriculum vitae
• Diplomas (Master and PhD degree or equivalent)
• Research plan – description of current and future research plans
• If available, description and documentation of teaching and supervision experience and qualifications - please describe and document:
  • Experience with supervision of BSc and MSc students
  • Teaching experience
  • Formal pedagogical training
  
  
• Complete publication list
• Separate reprints of 5 particularly relevant papers

The deadline for applications is 29th October 2023, 23:59 GMT +1.

After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Interview Committee.

You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.

Please refer to the following no. in future communication in this case: 211-0373/23-2A

Kilde: Jobnet.dk