Full time position starting 1. September or as soon as possible thereafter.

PhD position (m/f/d) in Molecular Crop Nutrition

07.05.2025, Wissenschaftliches Personal

The Plant Micronutrient Physiology group led by Dr. Thomas Alcock is a new group starting in 2025 within the TUM School of Life Sciences. The group is committed to uncovering mechanisms by which crop plants can increase the uptake of micronutrients from the soil and transfer them to edible tissues. In doing so, we can boost the nutritional quality of crop outputs, even under suboptimal climatic conditions. As a PhD student in this group, you will directly contribute to these aims.

Your qualifications and skills

• Above average Master’s degree in plant biology, agriculture, or related field (or close to completion).
• Experience in plant phenotyping and molecular plant physiology.
• You have a strong desire to work on plant micronutrient uptake mechanisms of crop plants.
• You are a highly motivated scientist with the commitment to achieve scientific excellence.
• You have a strong team spirit and the ability to work independently, as well as a high degree of self-initiative and responsibility to succeed in your tasks.
• Excellent spoken and written English.

Your tasks

• Running maize phenotyping experiments in the glasshouse and controlled environment chambers.
• Dissecting root systems to identify trait patterns contributing to Fe, Zn and Se uptake resilience.
• Sectioning plant roots and analyzing them by conventional and confocal microscopy.
• Assessment of cellular lignin and suberin deposition patterns.
• Assessment of transcriptomic responses to water and nutrient limitation.
• Element spatial distribution analysis with collaborators at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.
• Data analysis and manuscript preparation.
• Presenting results at international conferences.
• Training Master’s and Bachelor's project students.

Our offer

• Salary according to the collective agreement for the public service (65%, TV-L E13, limited to three years).
• The opportunity to contribute to a newly starting group, with a pleasant and enthusiastic working atmosphere.
• An interesting, exciting, and varied position in an international university environment in Freising.

Your application

Please send your application or questions to thomas.alcock@tum.de by 8th June at the latest. The application should contain a cover letter, a detailed CV, a description of your research experience and interests (max. 1 page), Bachelor’s and Master’s certificates (if available) and two employment references or contact details of two referees.

Contact details

Technical University of Munich

TUM School of Life Sciences

Dr. Thomas D. Alcock

Alte Akademie 12, 85354 Freising, Germany

E-mail: thomas.alcock@tum.de         Telephone: +49 8161 71-5324

Additional information

Individuals with severe disabilities are given preference if they have the same aptitude and qualifications. The TUM seeks to increase the proportion of women in those areas where they are underrepresented, therefore applications from women are explicitly encouraged.

Data protection

As part of your application for a position at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), you are submitting personal data. Please note our privacy policy in accordance with Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) regarding the collection and processing of personal data as part of your application: https://portal.mytum.de/kompass/datenschutz/Bewerbung/. By submitting your application, you confirm that you have read and understood TUM's privacy policy.

Kontakt: thomas.alcock@tum.de