PRR Project

Summary

RATIONALE FOR THE NEED TO HIRE THIS CHAIRMicrobiomes are fundamental for ecosystem homeostasis and carry out key functions that support planetary health, including nutrient cycling, climate regulation, food security, and waste treatment. Climate change and global warming can disrupt microbial community diversity and structure, perturb the production of greenhouse gases and increase the prevalence of plant, animal and human pathogens. Fortunately, microorganisms can help ameliorate the warming trajectory and cascading effects of climate change. Thus, contributing to achieve a diversity of Sustainable Development Goals. Specific actions to tackle climate change can result from the understanding and engineering of the environmental microbiome. More resilient, sustainable, and productive agrifood systems can be developed through environmental microbiome engineering, where microbial inocula are introduced to natural microbial communities to tune activities and microbial interactions that regulate the long-term stabilization of carbon in the soil. Specific microorganisms and their metabolites can play positive roles in nutrient absorption and biostimulation of plant growth while avoiding the use of agrochemicals for soil fertility. Additionally, environmental microorganisms can play a significant role in carbon sequestration and waste treatment, which has long been recognized. However, metabolic diverse microorganisms are needed to treat the emerging contaminants that reach the wastewater treatment plants due to climate change. In fact, the environmental microbiome has a decisive role in the One Water concept and can serve as a prospective indicator to aid water quality surveillance and management.CEB proposes this Assistant researcher position to tackle the challenges of climate change. The role will involve implementing transformative scientific research on the potential of environmental microbiomes to reconcile the demand for sustainable and microbiological secure resources in the face of global warming and climate change.SCIENTIFIC PROFILE REQUIREDThe ideal candidate should have a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering or Biotechnology, with a background in applied and environmental microbiology, namely in environmental microbiome engineering to tackle and regulate specific ecosystem functions and cope with climate change mitigation. A strong proven track record, demonstrating high quality research in this field will be valued. Experience in doctoral supervision, involvement in research projects, and participation in outreach events will also be valued.TASKS TO BE ASSIGNED TO THE PROSPECTIVE RESEARCHERThe candidate to be recruited will be required to conduct original research focused on the potential of environmental microbiomes to reconcile the demand for sustainable and microbiological secure resources in the context of limitations imposed by climate change, through the use of cutting-edge multi-omics approaches to characterize and engineer microbiomes and exploit their potentialities. It is expected a solid contribution to the body of knowledge in this field, as demonstrated through scientific publications and/or patents. The selected candidate will also be required to be actively involved in grant proposal development, by participating in the submission of large R&D projects and also to secure his/her research projects, as principal investigator. As such, project management will be a pivotal duty of this Chair. Recruiting undergraduate students will also be pivotal for the successful development of this Chair. As such, formal supervision duties, for both MSc and PhD students, will be required. The selected researcher will also be encouraged to establish and develop new collaborative networks with both national and international researchers, that can complement the ongoing efforts related to the role of environmental microbiome engineering for climate change mitigation. In line with this duty, it is expected that the candidate participates in international events. The chosen candidate will also be required to participate in CEB outreach events and will be given the liberty to propose and organize novel outreach events. The candidate will also be stimulated to participate in the governance of CEB, as an active member of the scientific council, and will be encouraged to engage in specialized governing committees.