Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Soil Science

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

The Role
This an exciting opportunity for an ambitious emerging (for Lecturer) or experienced (for Senior Lecturer) soil scientist to join our well established agricultural and environmental science research and teaching community. You will be expected to conduct research into soil science that addresses the major challenges facing the future sustainability of agricultural production and its impact on biodiversity and to deliver research-led teaching in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences (SNES).

While we welcome applications from any areas of soil science, we are particularly interested in an academic who can work alongside our existing strengths in industry-facing sustainable agriculture, utilising our University farms as a research and demonstration facility. We are therefore particularly interested in candidates who are under-taking world-leading research at either the fundamental or applied level that relate to practical challenges in soil science related to agriculture. As such candidates that bring molecular, microbiological or physical science skills to studying soil health, nutrient use efficiency, crop disease in arable or pasture systems are particularly encouraged to apply.

The successful applicant will benefit from access to the wide-ranging resources and facilities provided through NU-Farms, Newcastle University's 800ha mixed farming operation (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/nu-smart-farms/). Spread across three sites in Northumberland, NU-Farms hosts a variety of new and established soil-focused experimental platforms, complemented by state-of-the-art commercial operations that drive production practices with an emphasis on ‘soil-health'.

Notable field-scale platforms include the Palace Leas Hay Meadow Plots (established in 1896), our Hydrologically Isolated Plots, and the Nafferton Factorial Experiment (established in 2002 and updated in 2020 to embed tillage approaches across a range of production practices). Further experimental platforms, recently established with industry and government partners, are exploring agroforestry, enhanced rock weathering, mob grazing, diversified pasture, livestock outwintering and biomass crops, with opportunities to collaborate with active and engaged researchers to examine soils across these sites.

NU-Farms itself transitioned to minimum tillage in 2019, is a pilot for the new SFI soils standard, has recently become a LEAF Innovation Centre, and is host to the Crop Health and Protection Centre's ‘Regen Ag' asset base. Field-based resources are supported by accompanying historic/baseline data, and numerous on-farm teaching, laboratory, meeting and conferencing facilities, with the latter used to deliver a calendar of on-farm events targeted to our established networks in the farming sector.

Alongside your research you will be expected to contribute to our Agricultural and Environmental Sciences undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes. We are a world class research-led teaching university and are particularly keen to appoint candidates with modern and innovative teaching approaches, which will inspire, engage and equip our students to tackle the grand challenges our planet faces.

For informal queries please contact Dr Dave George david.george1@newcastle.ac.uk or Professor Yit Arn Teh yitarn.teh@newcastle.ac.uk.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent research experience in a relevant discipline.

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