EiA – Post Doctoral Fellow, Soil Health at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

IITA through the Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) Initiative invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow position in soil health with a focus on soil microbiology. The postdoctoral fellow will work in close collaboration with colleagues from EiA across 10 CGIAR centers and more specifically the Soil Health working group and long-term trials team. A key task of this postdoctoral position will focus on research towards microbial indicators for soil health assessment.

Position Responsibilities

• Contribute towards the development of a framework to define indicators of soil health and multifunctionality in addition to the EiA’s KPIs for soil health and in general for Agronomic Gain.
• Propose standardized methods of selected microbial measures as novel indicators to assess the impact of agronomic interventions on soil health.
• Supervise and coordinate field technicians on trial management and data collection.
• Supervise and mentor postgraduate students.
• Coordinate data collection and analysis.
• Work closely with project monitoring and evaluation team and contribute to periodic monitoring and evaluation reports.
• Provide support to activities within the soil health working group of EiA.
• Write reports and make presentations on research accomplishments through appropriate for a such as international conferences and workshops.
• Publish research findings in high-impact peer-reviewed journals.
• Actively engage in resource mobilization for the development and support of ongoing and new activities.

Educational Qualifications

• The candidate should have a Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences, Agronomy, Soil Microbiology, or any closely related field with at least two years of prior research work experience.

Core Competencies

• Knowledge and skill in crop production, management, and cropping systems.
• Knowledge of soil plant-microbe interactions.
• Knowledge of modern molecular techniques.
• Demonstrated ability to write and publish journal articles.
• Excellent spoken and written English, knowledge of Swahili is an added advantage.
• Working knowledge of Sub-Saharan Africa, especially East Africa.
• Able to work as part of an interdisciplinary and diverse team.