Description

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) invites applications for the position of Full Professor and Chair of Global Nutrition. The Global Nutrition chair group is embedded within the Division of Human Nutrition and Health, an internationally renowned centre for research and education in nutrition and health, comprising five highly regarded chair groups.

The incoming chair will provide strategic and academic leadership to a vibrant, internationally oriented research group with a strong societal mission.

The mission of the Global Nutrition group is to generate the evidence base needed to eradicate all forms of malnutrition while simultaneously improving planetary health. Across low-, middle-, and high-income contexts, the group advances nutritional insights to address healthy and sustainable diets worldwide. Research ranges from individual (mal)nutrition to population diets, and from pregnancy to old age. Core areas include maternal and child nutrition, public health nutrition, and sustainable food systems, with strong expertise in dietary assessment, nutritional epidemiology, and data science.

As Chair of Global Nutrition, you will have the opportunity to further shape and expand the group’s research agenda in alignment with its mission, while developing your own scientific vision and leadership profile. Your responsibilities include:

• Setting, steering and contributing to the strategic research direction of the chair group; including acquiring funding and leading research activities on Global Nutrition topics.
• providing academic leadership and supportive mentorship to a team of scientists, lecturers, and professional staff; diverse in backgrounds and career stages strengthening the group’s national and international visibility and impact;
• contributing to high-quality research and education in nutrition at BSc, MSc, and PhD levels, and driving innovation in teaching and research;
• jointly managing, together with four other chair holders and an operational manager, the daily operations of the Division of Human Nutrition and Health, including strategy, finances and operational-aspects of personnel and strategic management.

The Global Nutrition group currently consists of one chair holder, three part-time professors, four associate professors, two assistant professors, two teachers, one researcher, four postdoctoral researchers, research dietitians, project managers, secretarial staff, and approximately 40 PhD candidates, many of whom are based abroad in so-called “sandwich PhD” trajectories.

The group collaborates extensively within the nutrition cluster and across all Science Groups within WUR, and maintains strong international partnerships. More information can be found on the group’s website: Global Nutrition | WUR

The Division of Human Nutrition and Health comprises approximately 240 staff members (full-time and part-time), including 125 PhD candidates and 20 postdoctoral researchers, supported by a shared team of professionals such as research dietitians, technicians, nurses, a data steward, and administrative staff and more information is available at the website (Human Nutrition and Health | WUR). The Division includes five chair groups:

• Global Nutrition
• Nutritional Biology
• Nutrition and Disease
• Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics
• Sensory Science and Eating Behaviour

The Division integrates nutrition research across cellular, individual, and population levels, supported by state-of-the-art facilities including a dedicated human metabolic research unit, a research kitchen, advanced dietary assessment technologies, and modern analytical and in vitro laboratories.

We Offer:

You will be working for an inspiring international organisation actively engaged in a large number of interdisciplinary projects all over the world. The scientific quality of Wageningen University & Research is affirmed by the prominent position we occupy in international rankings and citation indices.

We offer you a position as Full Professor and Chair of Global Nutrition. Besides a competitive salary (maximum gross salary for starting chair holders is scale H2 step 13 € 10.441,- per month), we offer a number of additional benefits, such as an end-of-year extra month’s salary, a holiday allowance and a pension plan with the Dutch pension fund for government and education. International candidates moving to the Netherlands may benefit from a special tax relief, by which a part of their salary is exempt from tax for several years. 

Working hours can be discussed to optimize the work-life balance (32-38 hours per week).

Requirements

You are an established academic and people-centered leader with a strong commitment to research excellence, education, and societal impact. You bring:

• a PhD degree and an internationally recognised scientific track record in (aspects of) global nutrition, demonstrating clear research impact. This can be, but is not limited to, nutritional epidemiology, dietary assessment, environmental impacts of food systems and /or any form of malnutrition
• substantial international research leadership experience across diverse populations and settings; experience in low- and middle-income countries is an advantage;
• a strong alignment with the mission and research focus of the Global Nutrition group (you can find it here Global Nutrition | WUR), combined with a clear vision for future directions and innovation;
• experience in developing and stimulating innovative, sometimes unconventional, approaches in research and education in the area of (global) nutrition;
• a proven ability to build and sustain broad (inter)national networks relevant for (global) nutrition across academia, policy, societal organisations, and/or private partners;
• a successful track record in securing competitive external funding and leading collaborative, interdisciplinary projects;
• extensive education experience, using diverse and innovative teaching methods, with demonstrated contributions to curriculum development and implementation at Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD levels;
• strong mentoring and empathetic leadership skills, with experience supporting academics and professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds and fostering a safe, inclusive, and collaborative team environment;
• excellent organisational and managerial skills, with a transparent, communicative, and inclusive approach to leadership and decision-making.