PhD position: Exploring management options to affect Basal Stem Rot in Oil Palm in Indonesia

Your job

We are seeking four highly motivated PhD students to join our team as part of the interdisciplinary Oil-Clips program (OIL-CLiPS - WUR), funded by Wageningen UR and its partners. The Oil-Clips program aims at unraveling the causes of disease outbreaks in oil palm plantations, focusing on Basal Stem Rot (BSR) in Indonesia and Bud Rot in Colombia and how these are affected by changes in climate and farmer practices. These disease outbreaks are seen as an interplay between host, pathogen, human action, and environment. The recruited PhD candidates will investigate these relations by applying concepts and methods from at least two disciplines.

Your contribution to this project will be to investigate the drivers of basal stem rot occurrence in oil palm, review current control strategies, and identify new control options for both large-scale and smallholder systems. Special attention will be paid to the potential role of cover crops in suppressing Ganoderma boninense, the causal agent of basal stem rot, and how they may support soil health and suppress disease through their influence on antagonistic microbes in the microbiomes. Diverse cover crops will be tested, and their compatibility with different farming systems will be assessed.

As PhD researcher you will particularly explore:

• the prevalence of G. boninense and BSR and the drivers of disease occurrence and outbreak;
• the relationship between BSR prevalence and yield; 
• review proven management options that exist during cultivation and replanting or can be developed to control BSR and explore the potential of cover cropping in controlling BSR

You will focus on Indonesia, but the work includes collaborative data collection efforts in Colombia, facilitating a comparative analysis of disease prevalence across continents. In Indonesia, you will collaborate with the university partner (UGM) and oil palm company partner (SD Guthrie Research Sdn Bhd). You will be working ca. half of the time in Southeast Asia.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• coordinating data collection on the prevalence of Ganoderma Boninense and BSR;
• designing, establishing, and monitoring data collection of field experiments on cover crops;
• supervision of master students supporting your study;
• analysing data and writing papers;
• interpretation of literature, existing and self-collected data towards understanding the mechanisms of disease suppression.         

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair group Plant Production Systems, which is led by Prof. Dr. Ir. KKE (Katrien) DeScheemaeker, and coordinating the OILCLIPS project led by dr.ir. Maja Slingerland . The candidate is supported by two other chair groups, the Centre for Crop Systems Analysis and the Laboratory of Phytopathology and will be co-supervised by Dr. Bob Douma and Dr. Desalegn Etalo from these chair groups respectively. Dr Siti Subandiyah will be your co-supervisor from the Department of Plant Protection of the University Gadjah Mada (UGM). You will work closely with SD Guthrie Research.

Your qualities

You are a team player with good interpersonal skills and an interest in and willingness to work with partners from different cultural backgrounds. You have a strong and demonstrable personal connection with Indonesia or Malaysia, and you are fluent in Bahasa Indonesia (written and spoken). We are looking for a candidate who is an analytical thinker with a problem-solving orientation and is able to adapt research to emerging findings and circumstances. Additionally, the candidate has an interest in sustainable oil palm production and interdisciplinary work.

Specially, the candidate:

• Holds a Master's degree in a relevant field such as Agronomy, Ecology, or a related discipline with preferably a specialization in plant pathology;
• Has demonstrated experience in conducting research related to plant pathology, controlled and/or observational studies, preferably in an agricultural setting;
• Is capable of working independently but are also keen to work in an interdisciplinary team;
• Has strong written and verbal communication skills, including presenting research findings effectively to both scientific and non-scientific audiences in English and Bahasa Indonesia;

For this position, your command of the English language is expected to be at C1 level. Sometimes, submitting an internationally recognised Certificate of Proficiency in the English Language is necessary. More information can be found here.

We offer you

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;
• the option to accrue additional compensation/ holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• 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 December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will receive a fully funded PhD position and be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team.

The gross salary for the first year is € 2.872,- per month, rising to € 3.670,-  in the fourth year, 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.

There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to (partly) work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 19th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.

Because we expect you to work and live in the Netherlands, our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.
Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well-informed. We can assist you with any additional advice and information about, for example, helping your partner to find a job, housing, or schooling. Finally, certain categories of international staff may be eligible for a tax exemption on a part of their salary during the first five years in the Netherlands.

Do you want more information?

For more information about this position, please contact Maja Slingerland, associate professor and OILCLIPS project lead, at +31 6 14324020, maja.slingerland@wur.nl

For more information about the procedure, please contact Noorien Abbas,  vacaturemeldingen.psg@wur.nl

Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website, which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.

Note: Your letter should be no longer than one page, and your CV should be no longer than three pages (Calibri font size 11 or equivalent). Applications that exceed the allowed length may not be considered . Appendixes (lists of grades, letters by referees, etc.) are not needed at this stage.

This vacancy will be listed up to and including 2 December 2024. We hope to schedule the first job interviews on 6 and 10 December 2024.

Additional information form
For this position, you must fill in a mandatory form, which will allow us to have a comprehensive view of your qualifications and better assess your fit for it. You can access the form using the link below:
https://forms.office.com/e/MZHWX4V7tT

Your prompt response will ensure that your application continues to move forward in the evaluation process. We assure you that the information provided will be kept confidential and used solely for this application process.

Welcome, safe, and valued
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) highly values diversity and inclusion because we believe that different insights lead to innovative solutions. We create a work environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, and appreciated, regardless of background, identity, or experience. Together, we are building a culture where everyone's unique contribution adds to the success of our organization.

We are

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!


We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.