Job Description

Faculty of Science Maximum salary: € 4,166 gross/month Vacancy number: 62.97.18 Application deadline: 6 January 2019 Logo NWO Responsibilities As a postdoctoral researcher you will work on Responsible Research and Innovation in synthetic biology for the SafeChassis project – a collaboration with Wageningen University and Research (coordinator), Yale and MIT. SafeChassis is a project under NWO-TTW’s biosafety programme. You will act as an intermediary, participating in events and workshops to facilitate stakeholder involvement. Your task will be to disseminate the goals of our subproject to all involved, and initiate individual dialogues. Your reports in these will be the input for a research paper; you will be encouraged to author or co-author. Your position stimulates a responsive and responsible approach to Synthetic Biology in terms of a focus on the ‘soft impacts’ of techno-scientific research: the value of life, naturalness, perceptions of safety in bioengineering. The project considers the ‘genres of the imagination’ (creative research in bio-arts, literature, science fiction and cinema/television) as key material for diagnosing the zeitgeist of the present state of affairs in Synbio Research. SafeChassis searches for a common ground between laboratories (life science research), libraries (humanities research) and studios (artistic research). Work environment The Institute of Science in Society (ISiS) is part of Radboud University’s Faculty of Science. ISiS provides an open academic culture of collaboration and mutual learning in which staff members are offered opportunities to learn and develop themselves. We are collaborative and inspiring rather than hierarchical, and consider research and teaching to be teamwork and a matter of shared responsibility. 'SafeChassis' or in full 'Safeguards for Lifestyle Engineering' is an now-funded collaboration between four universities on the use of microbes in a number of industrial processes. The project is unique in that it engages with a broader-than-typical array of stakeholders at the front end, with workshops to inform the design of testing methods and assist in the development of risk assessment methods. What we expect from you you have relevant expertise in the 'creative' commons of techno-science, the arts and the humanities; between academia and societal stakeholders; a postdoctoral level, eagerness to publish critical academic material is preferred; you are familiar with a pragmatic hands-on 'action research' approach; knowledge of the RRI concept. What we have to offer employment: 0.5 - 0.8 FTE; a maximum gross monthly salary of € 4,166 based on a 38-hour working week (salary scale 10); in addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus; duration of the contract: until 1 September 2020, depending on part-time position ; classification in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO): Researcher, Level 4; you will be able to make use of our Dual Career Service where our Dual Career Officer will assist with family related support, such as child care, and help your partner prepare for the local labour market and with finding an occupation.

Job skills

you have relevant expertise in the 'creative' commons of techno-science, the arts and the humanities; between academia and societal stakeholders; a postdoctoral level, eagerness to publish critical academic material is preferred; you are familiar with a pragmatic hands-on 'action research' approach; knowledge of the RRI concept.