Associate Professor of Environmental Chemometrics and Chromatographic Signal Processing
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Science
Faculty of Science
University of Copenhagen

The Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences invites applications for a position as Associate Professor of environmental chemometrics and chromatographic signal processing, starting from 1 March 2020 or as soon as possible thereafter. Place of employment will be at Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.

Job description

Signal processing of chromatographic data is essential to non-target analysis of environmental and biological samples. The main responsibility for the Associate Professor will be to strengthen the department’s research profile on developing algorithms and workflows for the signal processing and analysis of multidimensional chromatography data and to create GUIs for internal use as well as for industry partners. The associate professor will also contribute to the optimisation of analytical methods and to setting up sampling campaigns based design of experiment and sampling theory.

The research profile includes, but is not limited to, pre-processing of chromatographic data prior to multivariate data analysis, chemometric analysis of data from environmental studies (viz. air, water, soil, biota) and industrial processes. The group has a strong focus on developing new analytical platforms and techniques for which there is a lack of standard processing tools. These methods include ion-mobility spectrometry, two-dimensional liquid and gas chromatography with high resolution mass spectrometry detection, which generate higher-dimensional data (4th order tensors and above) that require specific and novel tools for signal processing analysis. The development of new workflows for such techniques, including annotation and chemical identification, will also be part of the associate professorship’s research.

The associate professor will also represent the group in several collaborations regarding environmental monitoring and research programmes, such as the Danish Natural Environmental Portal plan to collect and make environmental data available to the public, or the NORMAN network for monitoring emerging environmental substances, which are working on defining standards for workflows and data processing.

Duties include the associate professor’s own research, development of the field in collaboration with other research group members, assessment tasks, grant applications, and research management such as supervision and training of research fellows and other staff. The associate professor must also teach, supervise, prepare and participate in examinations, and fulfill other tasks requested by the Department. Teaching areas to be covered include, but are not limited to, sampling and sample preparation, signal processing of chromatography data, big data in biotechnology and scientific writing.

Required qualifications

The successful applicant should be able to document:

• A PhD in Chemometrics, Bioinformatics or equivalent.
• Strong research experience and publication record within the subject areas listed in the job description, to a level achievable in a position as assistant professor or equivalent.
• High level experience with chromatographic signal processing and data analysis workflows based on feature detection, curve resolution and pattern recognition
• Experience with tensor deconvolution methods
• Extensive programming experience in Matlab and R, including the implementation of complex GUI’s at a production level.
• University level, research-based teaching experience and ability to explain and reflect upon own teaching practice and portfolio. Formal pedagogical training or supervision equivalent to the University of Copenhagen teacher training programme for assistant professors is required.

Assessment of applicants will primarily consider their level of documented, original scientific production at an international level, including contributions to developments in their field, as well as their documented teaching qualifications. Managerial and out-reach qualifications of applicants including ability to attract external funding will also be considered.

Description of the scientific environment

The Section for Environmental Chemistry and Physics at Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences covers analytical chemistry and signal processing for suspect screening and non-targeted analysis, environmental chemistry of soils and water, ecotoxicology, and agrohydrology/modelling. The section has its expertises on non-target analysis of pollutants, pollutant fate, transport and effects in terrestrial and aquatic systems as affected by chemical, physical, and microbial processes in solution and at the solid-solution interface. Within the section, this associate professor position will be part of the Analytical Chemistry research group, which comprises a professorial chair, two assistant professors, up to five postdocs, two laboratory managers and a laboratory technician, two research coordinators and seven PhD students. The research fields in the Analytical Chemistry group includes fundamental chromatography, mass spectrometry and signal processing; contaminant fingerprinting, process analytical chemistry, green chemistry, and analysis of plant-microbe interactions.

Further information about the Department and the Section can be found at https://plen.ku.dk/english/ and https://plen.ku.dk/english/research/env_chem_phys/ respectively. Inquiries about the position can be made to the head of the Department for Plant and Environmental Sciences Svend Christensen, tel. (+45) 5148 9421, [email protected].

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 Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.

Commencing salary is currently up to DKK 473.749 including annual supplement (+ pension up to DKK 81.011).

Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.

The application including all attachments must be in English and submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.

Please include

• Curriculum vitae including information about external funding
• Diplomas (Master and PhD degree or equivalent)
• Research plan – description of current and future research plans (3 to 5 pages)
• Description and documentation of teaching experience and qualifications according to university guidelines
• Complete publication list
• Separate reprints of 5 particularly relevant papers

The deadline for applications is 25 August 2019, 23:59 GMT +2.

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/.

Interviews/trial lectures will be held on 6 January 2020.

Please refer to the following no. in future communication in this case: 211-0118/19-2E.

Kilde: Jobnet.dk