Assistant or Associate Professor in Radiation Sciences

Particle Therapy Research Center

Working Environment

Within the “PARticle Therapy REsearch Center (PARTREC)” imbedded in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Sciences and Technology of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), we have an immediate opening for an Assistant Professor or Associate Professor, commensurate with experience, in Radiation Science. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary team of 35 physicists, engineers and technicians embedded in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Sciences and Technology at UMCG. He/she will lead and manage the activities related to the pre-clinical studies at PARTREC, in particular the utilization of the newly funded KWF state of the art IMPACT small animal irradiation room, will acquire research funding and lead the pre-clinical research, and will supervise graduate and postgraduate students.
At present, the UMCG is one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands and the largest employer in the Northern Netherlands with more than 13,000 employees and takes care of an adherence region of over 2.5 million inhabitants in the north of the Netherlands. The UMCG is ISO-certified for patient care, teaching, training and research. The University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, RUG) is a top 100 university in international rankings. UMCG foresees an important role for particle therapy in general and proton therapy in particular, both for patient care and for research. Therefore, UMCG further intensified the particle therapy research by establishing the PARTREC facility in 2019. PARTREC is a dedicated research center embedded in the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Sciences and Technology, and works in synergy with the existing clinical proton facility, the Groningen Proton Therapy Center (GPTC), which is part of the Department of Radiation Oncology of UMCG. Our strategic research priorities are related to the physics and biology of particle irradiation, with a special focus on proton therapy. This focus fits completely with the UMCG strengths (state-of-the-art infrastructure) and priorities (focus on healthy aging and on complex pathology). UMCG PARTREC operates a large superconducting cyclotron for experimental research (former KVI-CART), mainly in radiation physics and biology, to support further development of radiotherapy with ion beams. For this research program the cyclotron delivers beams of various ions ranging from protons to oxygen with energies up to 190 MeV for protons and 90 MeV per nucleon for ions of helium to oxygen. The accelerator is furthermore used for research in nuclear physics by faculty of the University of Groningen and for commercial radiation hardness testing. Over 20 FTEs of technical staff operate the accelerator facility and provide support to design and build experimental apparatus. In addition, it has recently commissioned a novel small animal irradiation platform IMPACT, based on SARRP system by XStrahl. This platform is foreseen to be used for the image guided preclinical irradiations, closely replicating the clinical workflow of imaging and irradiation. At this new infrastructure novel irradiation modalities such as ultra-high dose radiotherapy (FLASH) and Spatially Fractionated Radiotherapy (SFRT) with proton and helium beams will be available for worldwide users. UMCG PARTREC has the ability to uniquely combine technology development, preclinical and patient studies with an R&D program to demonstrate clinical and economic benefits and to continuously improve proton therapy technology and the treatment itself, while assessing the feasibility of other particles for high precision radiotherapy. UMCG PARTREC promotes multidisciplinary research in which radiation physics and biology, imaging, big-data analysis, and clinical research come together to improve the quality of proton therapy treatment and explore potential benefits of other particles for cancer treatment. Over 30 PhD students and post graduate students are currently dedicated to particle therapy research.

Job description

The University Medical Center Groningen seeks to appoint an Assistant Professor or Associate Professor, commensurate with experience, to lead the research in the IMPACT irradiation room. The appointee will conduct internationally leading research on the development and application of techniques and instruments for improving particle therapy and imaging, and engage with the existing radiobiology and translational research program of the Department of Radiation Oncology and GPTC. The appointee will develop an excellent national and international research program in radiation sciences with a strong focus on advancing particle therapy and contribute to relevant educational programs in the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Engineering. She/he will also, in close collaboration with the physics and biology investigators, take the lead in further developing the capabilities of the IMPACT irradiation room (FLASH, Microbeam, etc) for preclinical radiation biology research, maintain and grow EU project participation. The candidate should have an internationally strong publication record and reputation in radiation physics, interest in radiation biology, the ability to secure competitive research funds, lead and advance the existing faculty, strong interdisciplinary communication skills and contribute to the management of the facility and have the ability to connect with internal and external users.

Requirements

- A PhD in physics, applied physics, radiation biology or in a related discipline.
- Expertise in radiation physics including simulations, radiation dosimetry, radiation physics and biology experiments at accelerator facilities and an interest in accelerator physics.
- Expertise in particle therapy or radiation biology related research, with the proven ability to initiate and coordinate research in the field. This implies output, networking and fund raising.
- A leader with strong communication skills with the ability able to lead, coordinate, connect, motivate, stimulate, and further develop the existing research program.
- Proven track record in high quality publications and obtaining funding.
- A vision on the field of particle therapy and related research and the ability to translate this into results.
- Expertise in supervising and teaching PhD students and postdocs, and possible involvement with teaching activities at Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
- Fluent English speaker.

Conditions of employment

Salary and contract duration (either permanent or temporary with perspective on a permanent position after a positive evaluation) will be commensurate with qualifications and relevant experience and expertise for the academic appointment level, based on a full-time appointment. In addition, the UMCG will offer you 8% holiday pay and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC).

More information
For further information, please contact:
- prof. dr. Stefan Both, PARTREC Scientific Leader , Head of Medical Physics and Instrumentation, Department of Radiation Oncology, e-mail: [email protected] (for inquiries or questions about the position only, please do not use for applications), telephone number: +31 (0)50 361 3674;
- prof. dr. Alexander Gerbershagen, Team Leader for Accelerator and Radiation Physics, Department of Radiation Oncology, e-mail: [email protected] (for inquiries or questions about the position only, please do not use for applications), telephone number: +31 (0)6 25 65 1434.

Link
https://umcgresearch.org/w/partrec

Additional information

Please use the the digital application form at the bottom of this page - only these will be processed. You can apply until 18 May 2025. Within half an hour after sending the digital application form you will receive an email- confirmation with further information.

Digital application form