Tenure Track Full Professor Flyway Ecology, Scientific Director of BirdEyes, Centre for Global Ecological Change

We are searching for an Assistant, Associate or Full Professor, who can strengthen our position in the field of Flyway Ecology of migratory birds. The new staff member will be embedded in the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES) of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and is expected to lead the research centre BirdEyes, Centre for Global Ecological Change, as scientific director.

An important part of the position is leading BirdEyes as scientific director, therefore we are looking for an experienced candidate. We have a preference for candidates at the associate or full professor level, but we also invite more senior candidates at the assistant professor level to apply.

We encourage you to apply if you have:

• a PhD degree in Ecology or other relevant field
• at least two years of postdoctoral experience outside of the Netherlands, preferably in a different country than where you received your PhD (can be compensated for after the appointment via extended research visits abroad)
• a relevant international network
• excellent research qualities, as shown by a publication record in international peer-reviewed journals and proceedings of renowned conferences
• a good track record in teaching, particularly ecology courses, appropriate to your career stage
• strong track record with involvement in creative communication of scientific data and outputs
• demonstrable societal engagement of key stakeholders
• demonstrable organizational competences
• cross-cultural sensitivity
• excellent command of spoken and written English

As Associate/Full Professor level, you should also have:

• received substantial research grants from external sources
• experience in leading a research group, and have shown capabilities in stimulating junior researchers and providing adequate supervision of PhD students
• teaching and organizational experience appropriate to your career stage

And you are/have:

• a team player with good communication skills
• excellent research qualities, as shown by a publication record in international peer-reviewed journals and proceedings of renowned conferences
• demonstrable potential / experience in managing a research group
• eager to work with citizen scientists, and popularize research
• able to acquire substantial research grants from external sources
• willing to obtain a University Teaching Qualification (Dutch: BKO) within three years
• able to speak the Dutch language or motivated to learn it

As scientific director of BirdEyes, you are expected to ensure the continuation, sustainability, and excellence level of the existing transdisciplinary research portfolio, as well as further develop the scientific program of the centre aligned with the current long term ecological, evolutionary and societal research focus of BirdEyes and related projects. Within GELIFES you will connect with ongoing research and teach courses and supervise research projects at the BSc, MSc,PhD and postdoctoral level.

You will:

• develop and lead a strong research group that contributes to the profile of the research institute
• supervise BSc, MSc and PhD students
• acquire external funding
• promote the societal relevance of your research
• teach in and contribute to the development of the degree programmes, e.g., in Biology, Ecology & Evolution, Marine Biology and/or others
• contribute to university service, e.g., for participation in working groups and committees, in the domains of teaching, research and management.

At the stage of Assistant Professor with a research focus 60% of your time is for research, 30% for teaching activities and 10% for organizational tasks. At the stage of Associate / Full Professor with a research focus 40% of your time is for research, 40% for teaching activities and 20% for organizational tasks.

In addition, you will, in your role as scientific director of BirdEyes:

• lead the management team within the centre responsible for guiding the centre, and ensure the implementation of the vision and mission of the research centre
• provide scientific guidance to several research lines and groups operating within BirdEyes, across two faculties (see below)
• oversee the development and implementation of BirdEyes’ fundraising strategy
• coordinate and ensure the alignment of the ethical and scientific approach of the multiple projects in BirdEyes’ portfolio with the centre’s vision
• promote a transdisciplinary approach within BirdEyes by incentivising the close collaboration with the realm of the arts, and with stakeholders from nature conservation, policy, and local communities
• maintain close relationships with academic partners (e.g. NIOZ, UvA-IBED and the Fryske Akademy).

This position is opened by the Faculty of Science and Engineering in the context of their wish to make the interfaculty research centre BirdEyes-Centre for Global Ecological Change sustainable. The position falls within the attractive framework of ‘Career Paths in Science and Engineering’, which outlines the criteria and timeline for promotion. For more information about Career Paths in Science and Engineering, see: rug.nl/fse/cpse. Please consult the career path with a focus on research for the criteria for promotion.

The Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) is the largest faculty within the University. We offer first-rate education and research in a wide range of science and engineering disciplines, from classical disciplines such as mathematics, astronomy and mechanical engineering as well as interdisciplinary fields, such as artificial intelligence, pharmacy and evolutionary life sciences. Our community is open with an informal atmosphere among students and staff from around the world.

The Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES) fills a special niche in the life sciences with an overall aim to integrate research in evolution and ecology that are traditionally studied in isolation in order to improve our understanding of fundamental biological processes. GELIFES is coordinating Adaptive Life (AL); one (of four) FSE-wide strategic research themes. AL specifically addresses the growing realization that proximate and ultimate approaches are connected and thus both necessary to advance our understanding and ability to predict adaptation across a wide array of systems by integrating neurobiological, physiological, behavioural, ecological and evolutionary perspectives.

BirdEyes is the transdisciplinary Centre for Global Ecological Change, a collaboration between the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) and the Faculty Campus Fryslan (CF) of the University of Groningen, with FSE as “home faculty”. Due to the nature of its work and the strong connections to the region, BirdEyes has Leeuwarden in the province of Fryslan as its main location. BirdEyes started in 2022 with the intention to bridge three networks of scientific endeavour: (1) the Dutch institutions already collaborating tightly in the field of flyway ecology, especially with respect to meadow- and Wadden Sea birds (i.e. NIOZ, IBED-UvA and GELIFES-RUG), (2) the international networks of professional scientists and citizen scientists along the East Atlantic Flyway and other global flyways, and (3) the interdisciplinary connections between a variety of scientific institutions in Leeuwarden and the northern Netherlands (thus contributing within RUG to the Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development and the Universiteit van het Noorden more broadly). In order to achieve its aims, BirdEyes to a large extent relies on third party funding; regional, national and international. BirdEyes has 15-20 staff members.