Scientist Trait Testing

Agriculture plays a fundamental role in fulfilling many of humanity's basic needs: food, feed, energy. To support growers and those who take care of our environment, BASF develops innovative solutions for farming, pest control and landscape management - so that we can effectively contribute to improving people's lives and business' demands. Come join us on our journey to create solutions for sustainable agriculture at the Innovation Center of BASF Belgium Coordination Center CommV in Ghent, Belgium.

**RESPONSIBILITIES**
Trait Testing is embedded in Trait Research, a research department of BASF Agricultural Solutions that focuses on trait design, creation and testing, and supports the testing of genetically engineered, genome edited and mutagenesis-based traits.

Trait Testing consists of the Plant Cultivation group and the Plant Evaluation group. Plant Cultivation grows plants, produces quality seeds in greenhouses and growth chambers and ships these for further evaluation in greenhouse or field. Plant Evaluation uses digital platforms (sensors and cameras) to measure and translate plant characteristics into data to enable decision making in different research programs.

Trait Testing strives for state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure in its greenhouses and growth chambers and is highly experienced in workflow-based operational organization aimed at mínimal cost and timelines while ensuring required quality.

For Trait Testing in our R&D Innovation Center in Ghent (Belgium) we are looking for a proactive, enthusiastic and innovative Senior Scientist.

What you can expect:

- In this role you will be part of the leadership of Trait Testing.
- You will evaluate the innovation needs & potential in the area of plant cultivation and plant evaluation across assigned research programs.
- You will develop and implement research strategies and tactics, with associated internal and external activities, including management of external collaborations.
- You will actively scout for and drive development and implementation of state-of-the-art innovative plant evaluation assays, phenotyping technologies and plant cultivation system optimizations for our target crops.
- You will critically evaluate research plans and outcomes of experimental approaches.
- You will advise in the area of designing trait evaluation and phenotyping experiments, plant breeding, plant cultivation, plant pathology, agronomy, crop physiology and design of controlled environment facilities for research purposes.
- You will lead a functional team of technicians and researchers and will provide integrated synthesis of major conclusions of experimental approaches and future opportunities.
- You will proactively report on progress of assigned research programs, developments and new opportunities to Program Leaders, Trait Testing leadership team and other relevant stakeholders.
- You will represent the company in external seminars, publish scientific articles, play an active role in IP filing and build an internal and external network.
- You will organize learning activities in the field of plant cultivation and plant evaluation, lead others into proposing innovative workflow improvements and support the development of the innovative ability and competence of Trait Testing.
- You will act as a role model with respect to ensuring compliance with the relevant company standards (Quality, Health, Safety, Environment, Biosafety, Stewardship...).

**QUALIFICATIONS**
- You are a recognized scientific expert, with a PhD degree in agronomy/breeding/plant phenotyping (or equivalent through experience).
- You have a minimum of 3 years of experience in plant cultivation in controlled environment, greenhouse assay development, phenotyping.
- You have in-depth knowledge on designing and analyzing greenhouse experiments and optimization of crop growth under controlled environments.
- Experience with following crops is a plus: soybean, oilseed rape, cotton, wheat.
- You have expertise in disease, pest and weed management & research in these fields.
- You are experienced in designing and implementing novel plant cultivation system improvements and plant evaluation technology concepts that enable industrial utilization.
- You are able to build a culture of innovation: creating an environment that supports creativity and coaching, training and developing people to spark innovation.
- You are digital savvy and have experience with data analysis tools, incl. image
- and sensor-based analysis for digital phenotyping.
- You motivate others and act as a leader beyond allocated responsibility.
- You act with entrepreneurial drive, overcoming obstacles and driving change.
- You have cross-functional work experience and are able to work effectively in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environments.
- You have access to a broad network in agronomy and/or plant biology and strong networking skills
- You are a teamplayer who is able to interact and cooperate with stak