Job advertisements. IITA/UGA/2022/02
Position Title: Research Associate – ABBB.
Duty Station: Sendusu- Namulonge Station
Category – NRS
Status: Local position
Project: Accelerated Breeding of Better Bananas – ABBB (BBN)
Reports to/Supervisor: Molecular Breeder
Job description: Pre-Breeding Research Associate
• Coordinate banana pre-breeding activities
• Design and manage trials and experiments
• Work with the Pathology team to phenotype the pre-breeding populations for pests and diseases
• Supervise field and laboratory operations, data collection and analysis, synthesis, and writing of reports
• Work with the data technician to clean the data, format them and work with the Musabase curator to upload the data to Musabase
• Coordinate and supervise field and lab research assistants, research technicians, casuals, interns, and trainees
• Liaise with the lab/field technicians from other stations for the easy flow of communication
• Supervise the writing and validation of Pre-Breeding SOPs
• Contribute to internal monthly IITA Hub reporting, monthly/ quarterly/ annual donor technical and financial reports, and trip reporting from all field activities
• Other duties assigned by supervisor.

Required qualifications and skills Required:
• M.Sc. degree in Crop Science or related field, with a specialization in Plant/Molecular breeding.
• Field and laboratory research experience in plant breeding
• Knowledge of experimental designs and statistical methods
• Experience working with molecular markers in research and/or application
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Computer proficiency including MS Office (Word/ PowerPoint, excel) and at least one statistical software
• Ability to complete multiple tasks under pressure and work in a multi-cultural team environment
• Experience working with banana research is an advantage