R&D Research internship in Agricultural Sector Afstudeeropdracht Onderzoeksstage

Are you a student interested in working in a professional research environment? Are you passionate about sustainable innovation and do you want to have an impact on the protein transition in the agricultural sector? Apply now and join us at our laboratory and pilot research facility within the Agrifirm R&D centre!

🧑‍🌾About Royal Agrifirm

Agrifirm’s vision is to work every day on a responsible food chain for future generations. We want to ensure that we can continue to offer affordable, healthy and sustainable food to everyone. Agrifirm therefore supplies high-quality products such as animal feed, products for the cultivation of crops and professional advice.

🎆The Challenge

Our R&D team Biobased Technology is developing a new fermentation process to create a single cell protein (SCP) product. In the future, this ingredient could be used as a more sustainable alternative to soy-based proteins, which are today frequently used in the animal feed industry. Within this project, we are looking for 2 student interns to support the development of the SCP production process. We have projects available related to 1) strain evolution and assessing their improved performance during fermentation, and 2) optimizing fermentation medium to enhance overall efficiency and sustainability of the process. You will perform lab-based experiments, analyse data and support your findings with literature. Together with the team, you will translate your findings into an optimized production process of the novel feed ingredient.

Your responsibilities

• Design and perform your own lab-based fermentation experiments;
• Operate our lab scale bioreactors;
• Translate experimental results into optimization of large scale production;
• Analyze currently available literature and data;

❤️‍🔥 What’s on your CV?

• You follow a relevant study at BSc- or MSc-level, for example in the field of biotechnology, food or biochemistry, or microbiology;
• During your studies, you gained knowledge on (one of) the following items:
  • Chemical and nutritional composition of feed and food ingredients
  • Fermentation
  • Bioreactor/bioprocess design
  • Microbiology
• You have established lab experience in chemical and microbial experiments;
• You are fluent in English, understanding Dutch is beneficial;
• You are based in the Netherlands

❤️‍🔥 This is who you are!

• You have a passion for biotechnology, preferably microbial fermentation;
• You are a strong analytical thinker with an assertive mindset;
• You are pro-active and effectively organise your own work;
• You are available for 6 months from September 2023 onwards, although later starting dates are negotiable;

🧐 Our offer

By doing an internship with us, you will experience what it is like to work in a young and motivated R&D team within a global agricultural organization that passionately works on a more sustainable food chain. As an intern you will become acquainted with the working method of Royal Agrifirm Group, you will be intensively supervised, and you will have the opportunity to gain broad experience. In addition to pre-set guidelines and project tasks, you will be given the freedom to come up with your own hypotheses and experiments, to further develop your capacities as a researcher. Please specify in your application which theme (strain evolution and evaluation, or fermentation medium optimization) interests you the most.

We offer an internship allowance of € 400.00 gross per month based on 40 hours per week. You will join an enthusiastic and committed team where cooperation and results are central. The location is ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

For more information, please contact Amber Windt, Researcher Biotechnology through Fiks!

Why should you be interested in joining us:

At Royal Agrifirm Group, we are passionate about farming. We want to make the difference, care about the future and aim high. Together we can be the best, we can create relevant impact worldwide. Join us on our journey to create a responsible food chain for future generations.

Interesse in deze vacature? Solliciteer via de solliciteer button bij Fiks en je komt het snelste in contact met de juiste persoon van Agrifirm.