Meld u aan om toegang te krijgen tot alle onderdelen van onze service.
  • Vacatures zoeken
  • Favorieten
  • Maak een cv
    Nieuw
  • Salarissen
  • Inschrijvingen

Postdoc: Methods at the intersection of philosophy, artistic practice & microbes

€ 3.546 - € 5.538 per maand
Tijdelijk

Wageningen University & Research

Are you fascinated by philosophical issues related to novel developments in food technology? Do you wonder what the use of microbes in cellular agriculture means for the future of farming? Are you excited to collaborate with artists and engineers to explore philosophical questions and to reflect on how best to pursue such collaborations? Within our transdisciplinary team, you will have the opportunity to explore these questions in depth with other philosophers, through discussions with engineers and scientists, and via deep engagement with artistic practices.

Through this postdoc, we aim to create innovative approaches to research in the ethics and philosophy of technology by developing transdisciplinary collaborations between philosophers, scientists/engineers, and artists. This postdoc project will model the productive synergies that can be created between philosophy and art by close focus on the use of microbes in agriculture as a case study. Cellular agriculture technologies pose different levels of disruption, including the displacement of animal labor by microbes, and the replacement of farmers by lab workers.

Microbes pose additional philosophical challenges: how can we speak of their status from an ethical perspective, given they are often collectives rather than individuals but seem to exhibit agency? This case provides a rich basis for investigation of the intersections between environmental and technology ethics, and artistic and scientific practices. Thus this project will contribute to a growing body of literature about bio-art by systematically researching how art, scientific research and ethical reflection can mutually inform each other. Through collaborations with an artist (or via the artistic practices of the postdoc themselves) and STEM researchers in bioprocess engineering and food quality design, the postdoc project will explore the potential for artistic practices to inform ethical reflections on the use of microbes in cellular agriculture and more generally on disruptive technologies.

Your duties and responsibilities include:
  • developing and leading conceptual analysis and methodological research on the synergies between art, philosophy, and science, and synthesizing results to produce high-quality and impactful academic publications at this intersection;
  • engaging in artistic practices or working closely with an artist-collaborator, as well as collaborating with highly interdisciplinary colleagues in engineering, science and philosophy;
  • organization of academic and outward-facing artistic or design events;
  • coordination of the STEM research line within the ESDiT program; and
  • performing teaching duties in Philosophy (maximum of 10% of your time).
Your team
You will work with Zoë Robaey, Bernice Bovenkerk, and Ludger van Dijk, as well as an artist-in-residence (if required). You will also collaborate with other members of the ESDiT project, particularly via the STEM, Nature and Sustainability, and Art research lines.

You will work here
This postdoc position is located within the Philosophy Group , led by prof. dr. Rachel Anken y.

The position is funded by the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies (ESDiT) program, a ten-year international research initiative involving seven academic institutions in the Netherlands which commenced in 2020 and funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) as part of its Gravitation scheme. The program is structured around nine research lines and three synthesizing themes: for a complete overview, see . Please note that there are currently other vacancies in the ESDiT program at other participating universities. If several are of interest to you, we want to encourage you to apply to them simultaneously, as each position will be filled via the specific university in which it is located.

Requirements

You are fascinated by philosophy, art, and science and how they can partner to explore disruptive technologies in agriculture. You are a highly skilled postdoctoral researcher who is proactive and flexible, and who is both a team player and a connector who enjoys working in different environments. You also possess:
  • a successfully completed PhD degree in environmental philosophy or philosophy of technology, along with a track record of high-quality publications appropriate to your career stage;
  • experience in artistic practice at a high level, and/or deep engagement with research on artistic practices;
  • the ambition and organizational skills to lead novel philosophical research, coordinate research groups, and plan outward-facing events;
  • experience in using academic research to create societal impact and a desire to continue to build these skills;
  • excellent communication skills and experience working in team settings including in transdisciplinary collaborations with scientists; and
  • a track record of excellence in teaching and interest in further developing these skills.
In our international working environment, most communication is in English (equivalent to language level C1 for this position).

The desired starting date of this project is September 1, 2026. We invite a diversity of applicants to apply, especially related to gender and ethnic diversity.

We ask that you briefly address each of the required qualities above explicitly in your cover/motivation letter.

Contract terms

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment . A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:
  • sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
  • working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
  • there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
  • a fixed year-end bonus of 8.3%;
  • excellent pension scheme.
In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 3.546,- and € 5.538,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). As for your contract, we initially offer a one-year contract that can be extended on good performance, for the duration of the project (2.5 years).

We encourage development and internal mobility within our organisation. Our recruitment and selection policy sets out the conditions that apply specifically to you as a (former) employee. If you have any questions, we are happy to help.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment.

Vacature geplaatst op 4 dagen geleden
Soortgelijke banen die u mogelijk interesserenOp basis van de vacature Postdoc: Methods at the intersection of philosophy, artistic practice & microbes in Wageningen
  • € 3.546 - € 5.538 per maand

     ...generate large-scale, multi-temporal image data at single-plant resolution, capturing subtle...  ...aspires to develop next-generation AI methods for plant phenotyping. The project...  ...curation and model development to validation in practical breeding applications. Your duties and... 
    PostDoc
    Met contract
    Fulltime

    Wageningen University & Research

    Wageningen
    maand geleden
  • € 3.059 - € 3.881 per maand

     ...understanding how environmental changes, particularly artificial light at night (ALAN) and temperature, reshapes ecological interactions...  ...and work in close collaboration with other PhD candidates and postdocs within the NIOO. Besides that NIOO offers various training... 
    PostDoc
    Met contract
    Stage
    Fulltime
    Thuiswerk
    Nachtdienst

    Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)

    Wageningen
    13 dagen geleden
  • € 3.059 - € 3.881 per maand

     ...research findings in peer-reviewed journals and presenting results at national and international conferences. You will work here...  ...healthy ageing and lifestyle interventions. You enjoy combining practical research with data analysis and are motivated to work in an interdisciplinary... 
    PostDoc
    Met contract
    Fulltime

    Wageningen University & Research

    Wageningen
    1 dag deleden
  • € 3.546 - € 5.538 per maand

     ...understood how they affect soil community composition and functioning. We now have the unique opportunity to utilise a long-term experiment at the Veluwe (the Netherlands), which is part of the global Nutrient Network ( to study impacts of nutrient addition and grazing on... 
    PostDoc
    Met contract
    Stage
    Fulltime
    Thuiswerk

    Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)

    Wageningen
    14 dagen geleden
  • € 4.728 - € 7.297 per maand

     ...are BSc and MSc students in the Nutrition and Health programme at Wageningen University – both with stable and relatively large student...  ...teacher, 2 assistant professors, 3 associate professors, 3 postdoc researchers, 1 special chair professor, 2 full-time professors and... 
    PostDoc
    Met contract
    Stage
    Fulltime

    Wageningen University & Research

    Wageningen
    14 dagen geleden
  •  ...gecombineerd tot één werkende oplossing. Dit roept belangrijke vragen op: wat verstaan we precies onder ‘emotie’ in deze context? Welke methoden zijn het meest geschikt om emoties in tekst en spraak te herkennen? En vooral: hoe gebruik je die informatie om de interactie met... 
    Stage
    Opdracht
    Fysiekwerk

    Info Support

    Veenendaal
    24 dagen geleden
  • De volgende stap in de ontwikkeling van social companions ligt in visuele emotieherkenning. Door gezichtsuitdrukkingen te analyseren met AI-modellen onderzoek je hoe een systeem zijn gedrag realtime kan aanpassen aan de gemoedstoestand van de gebruiker. Het resultaat...
    Stage
    Opdracht

    Info Support

    Veenendaal
    2 maanden geleden

Wilt u meer vacatures ontvangen?

Abonneer u om vacatures voor Postdoc: Methods at the intersection of philosophy, artistic practice & microbes te ontvangen. Solliciteer als eerste!