The WUR Animal Sciences Group focuses on finding answers to major societal challenges, including those related to animal welfare, human and animal health, food security, climate change and biodiversity.

ASG has launched the ambitious innovation program Next Level Animal Sciences aimed at developing innovative and less-invasive next-generation methodologies to address the next decade challenges in our domain.

Three methodologies are central to the innovation program Next Level Animal Sciences:

1.      Complex cell systems for integrated studies at the interface of cell, tissue and organism.

2.      Integrated and autonomous sensor platforms for ‘precision phenotyping’ in relation to

         environmental conditions.

3.      Unravelling mechanisms in complex animal systems from complex data analysis and mechanistic

         modelling, at all integration levels.

The current postdoc position is part of theme two: integrated and autonomous sensor platforms.

The postdoc will support the project that will focus on:

• The technical development of novel data processing and analytical platforms that allow the combination and integration of space/time information (track/trace), internal sensor data (e.g. blood hormone, heart rate or glucose levels) and external sensor data (e.g. temperature, acceleration, depth, and/or electric fields) or environmental (sound, chlorophyll, nutrients) sensor information of animals in their natural habitat and/or life stock. This makes use of existing tracking data and technology, as well as the sensors developed by the 3 other postdocs.
• These data will then be used to develop novel automated behavioural pattern recognition tools, in close cooperation with the Animal Science “complex data analyses” methodology-initiative. These efforts may focus on a range of taxa, ranging from insects to fish, birds and mammals.