Research Fellow (Geneticist)

Job Description

Title: Research Fellow (Geneticist)Type: Full-Time, Fixed-Term (2.5 years)Salary: £37,877 - £41,631 per annum (under review)Location: EdinburghREF: ACF/VAS/050/22Closing Date: 4 December 2022SRUC is unique in Scotland and one of the largest organisations of its kind in Europe. Our ambitious and exciting vision is to work at local, national and international levels, leading innovation and sustainable development in agriculture and rural sectors.This is an opportunity to be a major contributor in the animal breeding and genetics unit in a team working on reducing feed costs and GHG emission in smallholder dairy cattle in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The work will involve researching new phenotypespredicted from milk mid infra-red spectra (MIR), methane measurements and various production and conformation traits in small holder dairy systems in East Africa.The position is based with SRUC Edinburgh, but it will involve working in close collaboration with the Africa Dairy Genetics Team of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. The successful candidate will be expected to travel to EastAfrica and be involved in the set-up of the MIR pipeline using principles from the well-established MIR pipeline in EGENES unit of SRUC that processes billions of spectral records. In addition, the candidate should be well versed in genomic prediction methodsand analyses of genomic data.We investigate hardware acceleration of compute intensive processes on GPUs and FPGAs and are constantly investigating new and better ways of doing things including the application of machine learning to agricultural data. Every day is different in AnimalBreeding and Genomics and the team is highly focused on delivering on time every time providing a very supportive and team-based work environment. We have an institutional relationship with NVIDIA to use machine learning and accelerated computing through GPUs.We use an NVIDIA DGX station with 4 GPUs with over 20,000 cores that processes 33 billion spectral data points.The ideal candidate should hold a post doctorate qualification in quantitative genetics or animal breeding.In August 2022, all academic roles were assimilated to a new job families structure. Details are contained within the Job Particulars document.Further details on the requirements of this role can be found in the Job Particulars document which you must read before applying for this role. This is downloadable when you click the APPLY link.Closing date: 4 December 2022Benefits / What you will get in return: Enhanced holidays (minimum 33 days per year) Enhanced pension contributions (5% employee and 10% employer opposed to 5% employee and 3% employer) Cycle to work scheme RAC Membership Enhanced family leave Flexible working patterns Hybrid working solutions (in some areas) Tailored investment in and individuals learning and developmentSRUC Leading the way in Agricultural and Rural Research, Education & Consultancy.SRUC is committed to valuing Diversity, advancing Equality and respecting Human Rights throughout the organisation and encouraging applications from disabled people using the "Disability Confident Employer" symbol. SRUC is a member of the Athena SWAN charter.SRUC. A Charitable company limited by guarantee, SC003712. Registered in Scotland No SC103046Further informationPlease read the Job Particulars Document before proceeding with your application.ApplyTo apply for this role, please use the SRUC online application system. CVs will not be accepted without a completed application form.