Phd Position

The heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture is nowadays still crucial for the food supply. However, this practice leads to significant environmental and health issues, including poisoning, environmental degradation, and the development of insecticide resistance. EU policies and the UN Sustainable Development Goals advocate for safer, more sustainable alternatives like biopesticides. The Marie-Sklodowska-Curie doctoral network BIOMAC-BP (Bio-Stabilized Multi-Phase Materials as Carriers for Biopesticides) sets out to address the issue of synthetic pesticide use by developing sustainable biopesticide formulations, bringing together experts from soft-matter physics, physical chemistry, chemical engineering, microbiology, biophysics and agricultural science, and combining industrial and academic perspectives. The project's main objective is to develop and optimize novel bio-sourced materials to incorporate bacteria capable of producing biopesticides, enhancing the benefits and sustainability of the formulations. This effort aims to reduce synthetic pesticide emissions, improve agricultural practices, and support a greener future for the chemical industry. One of the doctoral projects within the BIOMAC-BP programme will be carried out at the Institute of Biomacromolecular Systems and Processes (IBI-4).

**Your Job**:
It is of outmost importance to understand the structure and dynamics formulations and their constituents in the proximity of solid surfaces since they are forced through narrow pipes and nozzles during spray deposition. To this end, you will
- experimentally characterize formulations at rest and under shear, by means of scattering techniques with standard and with evanescent illumination and with confocal laser scanning microscopy
- measure the static interaction potentials between formulation constituents with solid surfaces using total internal reflection microscopy
analyze and interpret your experimental results and publish them in international peer reviewed journals and on conferences

The outcome of your work will be combined with the results of your peers in the doctoral network to improve the performance of bio-pesticide formulations.

**Your Profile**:

- Ideally you hold a M.Sc. degree for not longer than three years in physics, physical chemistry, chemical engineering or a related field with a specialization in soft matter science
- You do not hold a doctoral degree
- You have some experience in scientific programming. Experimental experience with light scattering and/or microscopy is not mandatory, but would be very helpful.
- You speak and write proficiently in English, are communicative, enjoy working in a team and like to travel.
- You have good organizational skills and the ability to work independently
- According to the mobility regulations of Marie-Sklodowska-Curie actions you must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Germany for more than 12 months during the last three years.

**Our Offer**:
Being part of the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie doctoral network BIOMAC-BP, you will benefit from
- Work in an interdisciplinary and international team of 14 peers and their supervisors
- Interdisciplinary scientific training in all fields relevant to the network’s scope
- Continuous scientific cross-disciplinary supervision by two scientific supervisors
- A broad variety of transferable skills training
- A four to six weeks secondment to an industrial BIOMAC-BP partner
- Excellent scientific networking opportunities
Attendance at national and international conferences and workshops

Additionally, Forschungszentrum Juelich offers to all its PhD students:

- A vibrant international work environment on an attractive research campus, ideally situated between the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Aachen
- Exceptional research infrastructure
- Flexible working hours
- Extensive company health management
- Ideal conditions for balancing work and private life, as well as a family-friendly corporate policy

Targeted services for international employees, e.g. through our International Advisory Service