University of Copenhagen PhD Scholarship in Process and Production Mapping Within Biotechnology
Department of Food Science (FOOD), Faculty of Science at University of Copenhagen is offering a PhD scholarship commencing 1st August 2016 or soon thereafter. The application deadline is 19th May 2016.
Project description
The Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen seeks a PhD candidate to work on a PhD project titled “Process and production mapping within biotechnology”.
Mapping a process step and/or an entire production line is of key interest for the modern biotech company. Mapping a single process step such as a fermentation involves being able to measure inside the reactor/tank at multiple positions; this to be able to evaluate gradients, pockets, mixing phenomena etc. This means sampling from several places in a three dimensional space. How to do this for different reactor/tank sizes (scales) and from this to transfer knowledge between scales is one of two major parts of this PhD study. The other major part is related to the mapping of a complete production line from raw materials, pre-treatment of raw material (e.g. hydrolysis of proteins), feeding (fed batch), processing (e.g. fermentation) and different downstream steps (e.g. freezing, mixing). This requires a holistic understanding of the entire process. To be able to do so, comprehensive real-time monitoring systems are very often needed to provide fingerprints of individual process steps as well as to study interactions between process steps. The study of interactions between raw materials, fermentation parameters and downstream operations are far from simple and during this PhD project the student will elucidate how this can be done in a novel manner. This also includes performing microscale trials mimicking large scale production lines and trying to establish relationships between different scales to ease the understanding of the requirements when setting up a new production line.
The focus in this PhD will be two-fold: 1) mapping a fermentation tank at small and intermediate scale with comprehensive chromatography and real-time spectroscopic techniques to evaluate reproducibility between tanks, gradients in a tank, sampling considerations etc. and also to investigate how knowledge (and models) developed in small scale productions can be transferred to and exploited in larger scale productions; 2) mapping of samples from a complete production line where raw material characteristics, process parameters and different sensor technologies (e.g. NIR, IR, Raman and NMR) will be combined and evaluated together.
The project will be hosted by University of Copenhagen.
Principal supervisor
Associate Professor
Thomas Skov
thsk@food.ku.dk
+45 2128 9124
Department of Food Science
University of Copenhagen
Co-supervisor
Post Doc
Carl Emil Aae Eskildsen
carle@food.ku.dk
+45 5090 1306
Department of Food Science
University of Copenhagen
Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD fellow at SCIENCE are:
- Manage and carry through your experimentally based research project
- Take PhD courses
- Write scientific papers and your PhD thesis
- Participate in international congresses
- Teach and disseminate your research
Key criteria for the assessment of candidate:
- Master degree in food technology or science, chemical or biochemical engineering
- A strong commitment to research and performing experiments across scales (lab, pilot, full-scale
- Strong interest in (on-line) measurement principles and data analysis (experimental design, statistics, chemometrics)
- Experience with programming
- The grade point average achieved
- Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD programme
- Previous publications
- Relevant work experience
- Other professional activities
- Language skills
- Interpersonal skills
Formal requirements The position is available for a 3-year period for applicants holding a relevant master degree
The successful applicant of the PhD scholarship must pass an enrolment in the SCIENCE Graduate School before the Faculty can finish the letter of employment.
Graduate School of SCIENCE strives to give our students the best international career prospects within our main research areas.
Terms of employment
The position will be filled according to the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. The post is covered by the Protocol on Job Structure.
The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.
Questions
For specific information about the PhD scholarship, please contact the principal supervisor.
General information about PhD programmes is available at http://www.science.ku.dk/english/research/phd/
Application Procedure
Apply by clicking ‘Apply online’ below.
Applications – in English – must include:
- Cover Letter, stating which PhD project you are applying for and detailing your motivation and background for applying for the specific PhD project.
- CV
- Diploma and transcripts of records
- Other information for consideration, e.g. list of publications (if any), peer reviewed and other
- Personal Recommendations
- A maximum of 3 relevant scientific works which the applicant wishes to be included in the assessment.
- Applicants whose principal language of instruction during their BSc/MSc was not Scandinavian or English must enclose IELTS or TOEFL test scores.
The applicant will be assessed according to the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation Executive Order no 1039 of 27 August 2013.The application must be received no later than 19th May 2016. Applications received later than this date will not be considered
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://jobportal.ku.dk/phd/?show=823246