ARISTO: The European Industry – Academia Network for RevIsing and Advancing the Assessment of the Soil Microbial TOxicity of Pesticides To date biopesticides including microbe-based pesticides and natural products (or botanicals) are gaining interest in the pesticide market. They are considered environmentally safe although solid evidence for their reduced off-target toxicity are still lacking. The project will (i) examine the hypothesis that bio-pesticides are non-toxic, or less toxic than synthetic pesticides, to soil microorganisms and (ii) assess the overall soil microbial toxicity of bio-pesticides on functional microbial endpoints. In this frame lab microcosm and field tests will be undertaken to examine the toxicity of a range of biopesticides (vs synthetic pesticides) on the overall soil microbial diversity and on functional microbial diversity (e.g. ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) using a range of molecular tools (amplicon sequencing, metagenomics, q-PCR), microscopy and advanced analytical methods. The experimental process will involve collaboration with other fellows’ projects providing a holistic assessment of the soil microbial toxicity.  ARISTO is an EU project funded under the MSCA-ITN-EID-H2020 funding scheme   Job description The position is available from September 2021 or as soon as possible until the end of the project (30 November 2024). The key tasks of the project manager and administrator will be:

• To communicate with REA, the beneficiaries and the partners for all administrative matters of the project (funding, administration etc),
• To organize and keep notes, minutes etc of the meetings of the Supervisory Board and the Technical Committee of the project
• To prepare and submit reports for the progress of the project
• To support the daily administration of the project and to work together and support the coordinator in the coordination of the project
• To promptly collect, organize and submit the financial statements and reports of the project and to inform the beneficiary and partners for administrative issues
• To cooperate and assist the beneficiaries and partners on the organization and management of dissemination and communication activities and also of training activities
• To communicate and resolve administrative issues associated with the work and the contracts of PhD students

For specific information about the position, please contact the coordinator Prof. Dimitrios Karpouzas (dkarpouzas@uth.gr Tel. +302410565294) Learn more about the available position here.