"Postdoctoral Researcher: Developing and Testing Next-Generation Fish Detection Gear to Minimize the Climate and Ecological Impact of Flatfish Trawling"

Are you excited by out-of-the-box thinking and engineering challenges? Are you passionate about reducing the ecological, biodiversity, and climate impacts of commercial flatfish trawling? Do you enjoy synthesizing research insights to develop and test next-generation fish detection gear? If so, this postdoctoral position is the perfect opportunity for you!

Fisheries targeting flatfish such as sole and plaice typically use heavy tickler chains dragged through the sediment to startle and catch fish. This largely indiscriminate technique results in low catch selectivity and high bycatch, high fuel consumption due to increased drag, and considerable environmental impacts, including seabed disturbance, CO2 emissions, and the release of pollutants. As a result, there is an urgent need for more sustainable fishing techniques that eliminate the use of tickler chains. Wageningen University and Research and its partners are developing detection-based fishing techniques that mitigate the current negative impacts. The Postdoc will focus on advancing novel fish detection technologies to support fish monitoring and more selective and sustainable flatfish fishing.

This Postdoc project is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Safety and Nature of the Netherlands, Wageningen University, and Wageningen Marine Research. It aims to develop: (1) a validated prototype of an instrumented beam equipped with a multi-channel flatfish detection system, and (2) a validated prototype of a multi-channel detection system for fish entering the net. The focus will be on implementing fish detection by combining measurements of time- and position-dependent changes in electrical impedance with real-time high-speed distance measurements.

In a parallel project, another Postdoc will, partly based on two current ongoing PhD projects, design and test methods that selectively stimulate flatfish to emerge from the sediment, facilitating their capture in the net. Together, the two Postdocs will develop prototype fishing systems that integrate detection and startling mechanisms with minimal seabed disturbance. Construction and experimental testing will be supported by a team of electrical and mechanical technicians.

This position offers the opportunity to work within an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and technicians at the Experimental Zoology Group of Wageningen University, in close cooperation with Wageningen Marine Research and the Department of Maritime & Transport Technology at Delft University of Technology. Together, we aim to develop sustainable fishing techniques grounded in a deep understanding of flatfish escape behavior and swimming biomechanics, fluid dynamics, and state-of-the-art fish-detection techniques.

Your Duties and Responsibilities:

• Designing, constructing and testing prototypes of novel gear for the detection of flatfish.
• Publishing your findings in scientific journals, integrating research from (bio)mechanics, and fisheries perspectives.
• Communicating about the project with stakeholders and the general public through several channels (e.g., social media).

Requirements: You are a highly motivated individual with the following competencies and skills: Proficiency in electrical design, multi-model sensor technology, and experimental analysis. Strong communication skills and a genuine interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. A critical thinker, with the ability to express complex ideas clearly and scientifically. Excellent written and oral communication skills in English. You also have: A PhD degree in electrical engineering, sensor technology, control engineering, biophysics or a related field. Affinity for animal research. In our international working environment, there is an increasing amount of communication in English. For this position, language level C1 is required.

Conditions of employment: Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include: sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave; working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance; there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee; a fixed end-of-year bonus of 8.3%; excellent pension scheme. In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 3.546 and € 5.538 for a fulltime working week of 38 hours in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). We offer a temporary position for one year, based on 32 hours per week (0.84 fte). After one year, a performance review will determine whether the contract will be extended until the end of the project (maximally 1 September 2027), based on your achievements.