The ERA Chairs project "The Creation of the Department of Integrative Plant Biology” (BIO-TALENT), realized by the Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences from July 2014 to June 2019, is supported by the EU FP7 Programme.
The Director of the Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPG PAS), Poznan, POLAND – prof. Bogdan WOLKO announces an open competition for the full-time position for the junior postdoctoral researcher (R2) having strong interest in molecular and cellular aspects of plant development, willing to join the international team created at the Department of Integrative Plant Biology IPG PAS as a part of the FP7-ERA Chairs EU funded project (acronym: BIO-TALENT).
Poznan is a large plant research centre offering the vibrant scientific atmosphere and access to cutting edge research infrastructure. The BIO-TALENT project focuses on the exploration of plant developmental mechanisms for the engineering of new traits increasing tolerance to environmental, abiotic and biotic factors in economically important plants.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CANDIDATE:
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER (Code: R2_BIOMOL) – junior postdoctoral researcher (R2) in molecular and cellular aspects of plant development. 
The Candidate should have a good molecular biology skill and strong background in developmental biology of plants. Additional skill required is the knowledge on general techniques of microscopy including at least basic training on confocal microscope. Willingness to learn and use advance microscopy (including atomic force) and imaging techniques will be welcome. Selected person should be able to generate transgenic lines, perform gene cloning and quantitative expression studies. Successful candidate should be able to use epifluorescent or confocal microscope for imaging of gene activity or cellular events. Selected person will be responsible for plant phenotyping and measurements, will contribute to the interpretation of results, planning experiments and writing of research papers. 
The successful candidate should hold the PhD degree in Biology, Plant Sciences or Molecular Biology, preferably up to 5 years after PhD.
The successful candidate is expected to cooperate with other BIO-TALENT team members. The BIO-TALENT team will consist of 3 experienced researchers (including the ERA Chair holder) specializing in:
- molecular and cellular aspects of plant development [ERA Chair holder]
- phenomics and plant imaging specialist [SENIOR 1]
- large scale transcriptomics, reverse genetics and data analysis specialist [SENIOR 2]
The team will also consist of a junior and senior post doc, 2 PhD students and a broker of innovation. 
Due to the international character of the team a good English language skill is required and collaborative research at the Institute and international levels is expected.

Career Stage: Junior Postdoc (preferably up to 5 years after PhD)
Research Profile: Recognised Researcher (R2)

Gross monthly salary: 2 000 € (includes insurance costs paid by the employer)
Employment at the IPG PAS will be in the form of a full-time job contract in the period of the project (up to 50 months, May 2015 – June 2019, the exact start to be agreed). The payment will include insurance and health care, in agreement with the rules of Polish legislation.

Deadline for submission of the applications: 7 April 2015

Applications should be submitted by email (pdf format only, attachments up to 10 MB) and addressed to:biotalent@igr.poznan.pl Please include the relevant code of the job position (R2_BIOMOL).

Documents to be submitted
1) Cover letter
2) Detailed CV
3) Document confirming the status of PhD
4) Description of scientific career, documenting the fulfilment of job requirements
5) Two letters of support to be submitted separately by the referees to biotalent@igr.poznan.pl
6) List of all original publications, from the oldest to the most recent, each with the Impact factor and the number of citations (according to the Web of Knowledge/Web of Science) and Impact factor of the journal in the year of publication. The name of the candidate should be in bold type, and underlined if the candidate was a corresponding author.
7) Hirsch index and the overall list of citations (Web of Knowledge/Web of Science).
8) List of national and international projects: a) coordinated, b) participated, including the information on granted funds and project results, publications, commercialization of products or methodologies.
9) List of academic skills, including experience in teaching, research team leadership, administrative duties, PhD and MSc supervision/mentoring.
10) List of foreign fellowships, studies, sabbatical stays, practical and theoretical trainings in a foreign country (mobility).
11) Other skills, not listed above, but important for the project.

The application must contain the following statement:
"I hereby give consent for my personal data included in my offer to be processed for the purposes of recruitment, in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act dated August, 29, 1997 (consolidated text, Dz.U. [ Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland] of 2014, item 1182 with further amendments)".

The application should contain the full set of documents, which should be sent by email tobiotalent@igr.poznan.pl by 7 April 2015

All applications will be acknowledged. In the case of any problems or lack of acknowledgement do not hesitate to contact the Administrative Manager (asta@igr.poznan.pl) or the ERA Chair holder (rmal@igr.poznan.pl).

Selection procedure
IPG PAS has been awarded the logo of ‘HR Excellence in Research’, thus the provisions of the Charter and Code will be respected in the selection procedure.
The recruitment process will be carried out in a five-step selection procedure:
Step 1:the pre-selection of a few top candidates by the team composed of the ERA Chair holder, the Project Coordinator and the Deputy Director for Research at IPG PAS 
The evaluation procedure will take into account the candidate's overall research activity and research results as well as particular skills related to job post. Another important factor will be the experience in teaching and outreach activities. Due to the international character of the project the mobility of the candidate will be taken into account during selection procedure.
All candidates will be informed about the results of this pre-selection step by 10 April 2015. 
Step 2: The on-line interview of shortlisted candidates by the above mentioned team members 
We will discuss the candidate skills and qualifications, vision of the cooperation with IPG PAS research teams and expectations for work in the Department of Integrative Plant Biology.
Step 3: the evaluation by the Committee for the Development of Researchers appointed by the Scientific Board of the Institute*

• in the case of failure in undertaking the position in agreed time the Committee reserves the right to choose another Candidate from the shortlist
  Step 4: the opinion of the Scientific Board of IPG PAS;
  Step 5: decision of the Director; the date of the announcement of the final result: 24 April 2015.

General information
The city of Poznan has 550 thous. inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities in Poland, with a large academic centre with numerous universities and research institutes. It is located 300 km westwards from Warszawa (Warsaw), the capital of Poland, and 300 km eastwards from Berlin, the capital of Germany. The city is visited by many foreigners participating in numerous fairs organized at the Poznan International Fair Grounds, as well as students, researchers, businessmen, and tourists. The city is friendly and safe. A great number of students (over 100 thous.) makes it lively and full of various events. The city is convenient to work in and to spend leisure time, due to its beautiful surroundings (Wielkopolski National Park with its forests and lakes). Poznan is the capital of a large agricultural plain.

Poznan is one of the largest plant science centres in Poland with two Universities and numerous scientific institutes and research centres hosting annually over 130 thous. students. The Institute of Plant Genetics in Poznan has a strong tradition of research on theoretical and applied aspects of plant biology. Our scientific activity encompasses wide array of scientific disciplines like cytogenetics, metabolomics, molecular biology and bioinformatics. We are in the process of the formation of interdisciplinary research group specialized in integrative plant biology. The main focus of the team is to exploit knowledge from fundamental research in plant biology for development of innovative tools and new strategies in sustainable crop production and protection. The newly created BIO-TALENT team will explore the applicatory value of modification of basic developmental and physiological mechanisms in order to obtain new useful agronomical traits including increased plant tolerance to stress or suitable growth patterns and overall yield increase. The future work of the team will also include modification of plant architecture and plant and organ size and shape for increase in biomass production or improvement of agro-technical methods.
Location of the Institute
The Institute of Plant Genetics PAS is located at Strzeszynska 34, Poznan, POLAND. To learn more about the Institute and its departments please watch our promotion film
http://tv.pionier.net.pl/Default.aspx?id=3012
and visit the website of the Institute www.igr.poznan.pl/en/home 
To read basic information on the rules and composition of the BIO-TALENT project please visit the websitehttp://www.igr.poznan.pl/en/bio-talent, which contains information on objectives, strategy, work packages, contacts and links to information about the project, announced in the mass media.

Contact addresses:
General address – biotalent@igr.poznan.pl
Robert Malinowski– the ERA Chair holder rmal@igr.poznan.pl
Malgorzata Jedryczka– the Project Coordinator mjed@igr.poznan.pl
Anna Stachowiak-Szrejbrowska– the Administrative Manager asta@igr.poznan.pl

Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Strzeszynska 34
60-479 Poznan
POLAND
Phone: +48-61-6550248 (Project Coordinator)
Fax: +48-61-6550301
Email: office@igr.poznan.pl