ILRI vacancy: Post-Doctoral Fellow – Animal Biosciences

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a Post-Doctoral fellow to Plan and execute research in order to develop a live vaccine and diagnostics for livestock diseases with focus on Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP)

ILRI works with partners worldwide to enhance the roles that livestock play in food security and poverty alleviation, principally in Africa and Asia. The outcomes of these research partnerships help people in developing countries keep their farm animals’ alive and productive, increase and sustain their livestock and farm productivity, find profitable markets for their animal products, and reduce the risk of livestock-related diseases. www.ilri.org

A member of the CGIAR Consortium working for a food-secure future, ILRI has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, a principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and offices in other countries in East, West and Southern Africa and in South, Southeast and East Asia. www.cgiar.org

Key Responsibilities

• Mutagenize a field isolate of Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae together with scientists from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
• Development a robust and reproducible challenge model for CCPP.
• Plan and execute experimental vaccine trails to test vaccine candidates.
• Contribute to the identification of correlates of immunity in CCPP.
• Contribute to efforts to develop an improved diagnostic test for CCPP.
• Assist in managing and developing research projects.

Requirements

• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.
• A PhD degree obtained no more than 5 years ago in the field of microbiology, immunology or molecular biology or a strong scientific track record within the field of Mycoplasmology.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to perform in multidisciplinary and multicultural research environment.
• A minimum of two research papers in peer-reviewed journals.
• Candidate should be fluent in written and spoken English.
• Willingness and ability to travel to partners in and outside Africa.

Post location: The position is based at ILRI’s Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, potentially with time spent with scientists from the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Duration: 2 years fixed term.

Position level: This is job is a Post-doctoral Scientist level.

Benefits: ILRI offers a competitive international and salary and benefits package which includes Medical insurance, Life insurance and allowances for: Education, Housing, Home leave, Annual holiday entitlement of 30 days + public holidays.

*Benefits are tax free subject to compliance with tax regulations of country of citizenship.

Applications: Applicants should provide a cover letter and curriculum vitae: a list of publications and names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience should be included in the curriculum vitae. The position title and reference number: PD /AB/06/15 should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter. All applications should be submitted through our online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com by 12 July 2015

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/ilricrowd/