PhD fellowship in Food Microbiology

Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences (SUND), University of Copenhagen

We are offering a PhD fellowship in food microbiology commencing 1 October 2019 or as soon as possible hereafter.

Our group and research

Our group include currently one professor, one associate professor, one post-doctoral fellow and three PhD students. We focus on public veterinary health which include the issue of food control as well as various aspects of bacterial pathogenic and spoilage bacteria and their effects on food safety and quality.

Project description

The PhD student will work on an investigation of the usability of an objective chemical criteria aiming at reducing food waste due to microbial spoilage.

Microbial spoilage of meat and fish products is a result of unconstrained bacterial growth after slaughter/catch. Direct enumeration of bacteria is the only way that the industry can know if their product is of satisfactory microbial quality, however it is expensive, time consuming and ultimately imprecise. The sell-by date or best before date (coming before the use-by date) is usually estimated by inaccurate non-objective sensory analysis methods and/or based on a set number of days before the defined use-by date. These estimations are not fitted to the precise conditions of storage or treatment of the producer. In terms of alternative methods with clear future potential, production of biogenic amines by microorganisms in and on meat and fish might be successfully exploited as pronounced spoilage markers, since the concentration of these potentially correlate with the numbers of spoilage bacterial.

The specific aim of this project is to use the level of biogenic amines in different types of Chinese and Danish meat and fish products under various storage conditions as an objective chemical criterion. For the PhD project, three main activities are planned:

1. To unravel the similarities and differences in sensory characteristics and content of biogenic amines and bacteria producing those compounds in selected Danish and Chinese foods.
2. To conduct microbial and molecular - including metagenomic - characterization of the bacterial flora in the products examined in part 1 in order to characterize their spoilage potential and usability in terms of establishing a quality criteria based on biogenic amines.
3. Challenge experiments including selected Danish and Chinese food products to establish quality criteria and shelf-life based on content of biogenic amines. Usage of a prototype sensor for this purpose will also be examined.

The PhD study will potentially demonstrate a technology that will be more accurate, cheaper and far quicker than any of the current technologies to assess quality and shelf-life of Chinese and Danish food products. The safe extension of these dates will have direct and significant impact in waste reduction in production, retail and private households. The PhD student is expected to deliver 3-4 publications in high-ranking food and microbiologically oriented journals.

Principal supervisor is Associate professor, Jørgen Leisner PhD, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, E-mail: [email protected], Phone: +45 3533 2768, Mobile +45 6027 9174. Professor Derek Byrne at Department of Food Science, Aarhus University will be an additional supervisor.

Start: 1 October 2019

Duration: 3 years as a PhD student

Job description

Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carry through an independent research project under supervision
• Write scientific articles and the PhD thesis on the grounds of your project
• Complete PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approx. 30 ECTS points
• Participate in active research environments including a stay at another research team abroad
• Obtain experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Participate in the undergraduate teaching of students within the subject of food micriobiology

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants

Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project.

Other important criteria are:

• The grade point average achieved
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Previous publications
• Relevant work experience
• Other professional activities
• Curious mind-set with a strong interest in food safety and quality
• Language skills
• The successfull applicant is also required to be enterprising and to possess good interpersonal skills

Place of employment

The place of employment is for the main part at Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic and international research environment. Our research facilities include modern laboratories. The PhD student will spend one year in China at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Terms of employment

The employment as PhD fellow is full time and for 3 years.

It is conditioned upon the applicant’s success­ful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree. Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree­ment between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary begins around 26.755 DKK /approx. 3.567 EUR (April 2018-level) plus pension.

Questions

For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD study at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure

Your application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position

3. Master of Science diploma and transcript of records. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor will do

4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: 31st July, 2019, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process

After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

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

The applicant will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

Interviews are expected to be held in the period 12th – 16th August, 2019

The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences comprises approximately 7500 students, 1500 PhD students and 3200 employees. The Faculty advances the field of health sciences through its core activities: research, teaching, knowledge sharing and communication. With basic research fields ranging from molecular studies to studies of society, the Faculty contributes to a healthy future through its graduates, research findings and inventions benefitting patients and the community. The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply for the position.

Kilde: Jobnet.dk