Funded PhD Position within Food Science and Microbiology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway
Are you concerned about increasing sustainability in the food chain by reducing food waste? The Norwegian University of Life Sciences is accepting applications from PhD candidate within food science and microbiology to investigate the effect of processing on product quality and spoilage bacteria.
Application deadline: 27.04.2022
The Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science (KBM) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has a vacant 3-year PhD position within food science and microbiology. The vacant position will be a part of the “SciFood: Food quality and Sustainability” research group.
The sustainable development goal target 12.3 aims at halving the capita global food waste along the entire food chain by 2030. Along the dairy value chain, the presence of spoilage bacteria in raw milk and dairy products is a known problem for increasing the risk of food waste and for reducing product quality.
Increased knowledge on the effect of technological processes on spoilage presence and composition is needed and is of fundamental importance in reducing food waste.
The PhD candidate will be involved in ongoing projects on how existing and novel technological processes impact the composition of spoilage bacteria (e.g, psychrotrophs, spore formers, and biofilm-forming bacteria) as well as the appearance of quality defects.
Main tasks
Major tasks include:
- To investigate the composition and diversity of spoilage bacteria along the dairy production chain
- To study how different technological processes impact the milk microbiota with focus on spoilage bacteria
- To study how the presence of spoilage bacteria impacts on the quality of dairy products
Eligibility Criteria
Required qualifications
- Completed master’s degree in food science, food engineer or biotechnology
- Experience with food microbiology and general microbiology through course studies
- (Master’s degree GPA: B or better; Master’s thesis B or better)
Desired experiences
- Relevant experience with dairy science and processing
- Experimental work in molecular microbiology
- Experience in food analysis
- Good academic writing skills
We are looking for a candidate who is ambitious, curious, and motivated to work in a strong research environment. The ideal candidates will combine the following personal qualities:
- Curious and genuinely interested in scientific research.
- Independent and hard-working
- Creative and ambitious
- Accurate with good practical skills
- Good social and collaborative skills
We expect that the candidate will successfully publish research findings in high-impact peer reviewed journals. Applicants must be proficient in both written and spoken English Scandinavian language abilities are also preferred.
Application deadline: 27.04.2022
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