Assistant professor in plant-microbe interactions Full-time

Assistant Professor In Plant-Microbe Interactions

The Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, Denmark, is offering a position as Assistant professor focusing on interactions between the barley genome and root microbial assembly. The position will be available from 01-03-2027 or as soon as possible thereafter. The position will be available for a 3-year period.

You will be part of a research environment focusing on plant-microbe interactions and microbial ecology. You will be contributing to specifically the area of barley genomic effects on microbial composition and function of roots. And the main focus of your position will be to study barley drought resilience and how it arises from plant-microbe interactions at gene-for-gene level. You will integrate plant phenotypic data, large-scale root microbiome metabarcoding data with barley SNP and whole-genome data, as well as culturomics and microbial genomic data. You will design and conduct controlled experiments, including in-vitro assays and experiments using a high-throughput plant phenotyping platform. The project aims to elucidate plant genetic and microbial genomic interactions determining microbiome-mediated drought protection in barley.

We expect that you will be an important part of the research environment and that you will contribute positively to the social working environment. We also expect that you will take part in our teaching activities and that you will report research results in high-impact scientific journals.

Your Profile

We are searching for a highly motivated candidate who has:

• A PhD in plant-microbe interactions, plant microbial ecology or similar
• Collaborative skills and ability to participate actively in teams
• A genuine interest in classical as well as molecular microbiology
• Documented experience in scientific writing and publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals
• Teaching and supervision experience at BSc, MSc and PhD level
• Experience in writing research proposals for external funding
• Research experience in some of the areas of plant genomics and microbiome analysis.
• Networking experience

Additional Qualifications

Further, we will prefer candidates with some of the following qualifications:

• Experience in planning and conducting laboratory work with plants, soils and microbiomes. Experience in analysis of microbiome and genome data.
• Insight into plant and microbial genomics
• Experience with statistical methods, bioinformatics and reproducible computational workflows.

Living And Working In Denmark

• Subsidised childcare and free education from primary school through university.
• Universal healthcare for you and your family as residents.
• Five weeks of paid holiday per year.
• Generous parental leave – up to 52 weeks shared between parents, with full or partial salary.

Place Of Work

The place of work is Aarhus University, Campus Flakkebjerg (4200 Slagelse, Denmark). The affiliation will be with the Department of Agroecology.