PhD position: Modelling Crop Growth and Resource Use

The greenhouse sector is changing rapidly. New cultivation systems, such as single-truss tomatoes, hybrid systems of greenhouses with vertical farms, and semi-closed greenhouses, have the potential to increase resource use efficiency. However, managing and optimizing these new cultivation systems requires crop models that can predict plant growth, crop yield and resource use under highly dynamic conditions.

As a PhD candidate, you will develop mechanistic crop models for innovative greenhouse production systems. You will model young plant production in vertical farms, source–sink relationships in single-truss tomato and integrate crop and greenhouse models to evaluate resource use. The models will be developed and validated using existing experimental datasets, complemented with targeted validation experiments where needed. You will work closely with other researchers collecting data on crop growth, development and carbon allocation.

This PhD project is part of the Greenhouses in Transition project, which brings together leading universities (e.g. University of Wyoming, Texas A&M, University of Kentucky, TU Delft, University of Twente) and industry partners (e.g. Ridder Group, AMS Institute, Crop King USA, Bosch growers, Addium) from the Netherlands and the United States to accelerate the transition towards sustainable and circular controlled environment agriculture. The research project comprises 8 PhD candidates, 7 postdoctoral researchers and 1 PDEng, allowing close collaboration across disciplines including plant physiology, crop modelling, greenhouse technology and systems engineering. As a PhD candidate, you will work closely with experimental researchers at Wageningen University while interacting with an international network of scientists and stakeholders, contributing to the development of innovative greenhouse systems that improve resource efficiency, reduce fossil energy use and strengthen the resilience of food production across diverse climates and production systems.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• developing and extending process-based crop models describing physiological processes (e.g. carbon partitioning, organ growth, reproductive development and harvest index) under dynamic environments;
• designing and conducting targeted climate chamber and greenhouse experiments to improve model parameterization and validate specific physiological mechanisms;
• integrate crop and greenhouse models to evaluate resource-use efficiency of innovative greenhouse production systems;
• collaborating with researchers, growers and industry partners within the Greenhouses in Transition consortium to translate scientific insights into practical greenhouse innovations.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Horticulture and Product Physiology which is led by Prof. Dr Leo Marcelis . You will be co-supervised by Dr. Ana Cristina Zepeda and Dr. Ep Heuvelink.

Requirements

You are enthusiastic about simulation and modelling of crops in greenhouses and are motivated to improve the sustainability of controlled environment agriculture. You are team player who likes to collaborate with researchers and industry partners in an international environment.

You also possess:

• a completed MSc degree in Plant Sciences, Biosystems Engineering, Computational Biology, or a related field;
• experience with process-based modelling, data analysis, programming (e.g. Python, MATLAB or R), or quantitative analysis of biological systems;
• an interest in crop physiology and translating physiological knowledge into mechanistic crop models;
• a collaborative attitude, curiosity, and the ability to work both independently and as part of an interdisciplinary team.

Excellent communication skills as well as good proficiency in English (both oral and written).

Contract terms

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment . A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• 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 receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team.
The gross salary for the first year is € 3,204.- per month rising to € 4,051.- in the fourth year in according to the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale P). This is based on a full-time working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.

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.