International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Job Vacancy: Visiting Scientist – Maize

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is an international non-profit research-for-development (R4D) organization created in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Our R4D is anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa.


We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty by reducing producer and consumer risks, enhancing crop quality and productivity, and generating wealth from agriculture. We have more than 100 internationally recruited scientists from about 35 countries and 900 nationally recruited staff based in various stations across Africa.

Job Title: Visiting Scientist – Maize

Ref: (DDG-R4D/VSM/04/13)
Location: Ibadan

Job Description

• The successful candidate will be part of the Harvest Plus project team and assist in the development, testing and dissemination of maize germplasm with enhanced levels of pro-vitamin A and zinc to partners. In addition, she/he will help identify sources of novel alleles associated with enhanced concentrations of pro-vitamin A from adapted and introduced maize germplasm and utilize molecular markers to introduce the alleles into maize germplasm with different genetic backgrounds and adaptive traits.

Job Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of the Visiting Scientist will include:

• Apply molecular tools to identify and transfer favorable alleles associated with high pro-vitamin A content from introduced and existing germplasm into inbred lines with diverse genetic backgrounds and adaptive traits.
• Contribute to the development of new pro-vitamin A enriched maize varieties and hybrids with desirable adaptive traits for the lowlands.
• Assist in organizing and conducting pro-vitamin A enriched maize hybrid and variety trials in IITA's testing sites and in multiple locations in collaboration with partners.
• Lead production of seeds of parents of hybrids and synthetic varieties to supply to partners for further multiplication.
• Run analyses of data recorded in multiple locations using appropriate software package, prepare reports and draft manuscripts for publication in scientific journals.
• Assist in the preparation of project proposals for funding.
• Perform any other duties assigned by the supervisor as required.

Qualifications and Experience

• The candidate should have obtained a PhD in plant breeding with considerable field experience and working knowledge of molecular tools as well as analyses of QTL and association studies.

Core Competencies:

• Experience in planning and conducting field trials using appropriate designs as well as collecting and analyzing experimental data with relevant statistical software required.
• A proven track record in publishing research results in peer-reviewed journals.
• Fluency in English and knowledge of a second language such as French would be an advantage.
• Good inter-personal skills and ability to work with multi-disciplinary and multicultural teams.

Remuneration

• IITA offers a competitive remuneration package paid in US dollars.

Application Closing Date
The position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates forward their applications including covering letter, curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three referees should be addressed to the Human Resources Manager.

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