Research Fellow - School of Biosciences

School of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,942 to £40,322 with potential progression once in post to £42,792

Grade 7

Full Time/Fixed Term Contract for 3 years

Closing date: 3rd August 2020

Applications are invited for a full-time Postdoctoral Research Fellow position (start date August 2020) to work at the School of Biosciences and Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, University of Birmingham. The successful candidate will work on a 3-year project, funded by BBSRC, aimed at studying how new strains of pathogens emerge and evolve on potential hosts using Pseudomonas syringae as a model bacterial pathogen.

The successful candidate will work closely with researchers at NIAB to understand factors contributing to host range of P. syringae by exploring whether epiphytic populations of P. syringae contain effectors that regulate their ability to persist on cultivated and wild cherry. The candidate will also study the mechanisms of host range expansion through a range of directed evolutionary experiments to determine whether Pseudomonas epiphytic lineages have pathogenic potential.

The candidate will be expected to design, execute and analyse field and laboratory experiments; have expertise in experimental design and statistical analyses; isolate epiphytic and pathogenic bacteria from trees, both culturable and non-culturable for further analysis; carry out genetic analysis; work with and manipulate bacteriophage; use plants and trees for pathogenicity tests and host resistance assays; prepare the results for and contribute to high quality academic publications, to present at national and international academic conferences, and engage in public engagement activities. Furthermore, the candidate will be expected to play a central role in working with other research group members.

Role Summary

• Work within specified research project
• Design and carry out experiments in experimental evolution and genetic analysis
• Analyse and interpret research findings and results by using a range of statistical software packages for the analysis of data
• Contribute to broader areas of project management, help with writing of research project applications, and supervision of students in related research activities

Main Duties

• Contribute to design of experiments
• Develop research objectives and proposals
• Analyse and interpret data
• An ability to work independently and deal with problems that may affect the attainment of research objectives and deadlines
• An ability to demonstrate good teamwork skills working with others on the project
• Assist in supervision of students on their research work
• Provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Disseminate research findings for publication and research seminars
• Contribute to writing research funding
• Participate and contribute to lab meetings and seminars
• Present research outputs, for example at seminars and as posters, talks at conferences
• Undertake management and administration duties arising from the research

Person Specification

Essential:

• A PhD degree in a relevant subject
• Experience in microbiology, molecular biology and plant pathology
• Strong knowledge of ecology and evolution of microbial and pathogenic systems
• Experience with community analysis, statistical analysis, and genome sequencing
• Experience of working with trees and pathogenic bacteria
• Experience of working with bacteriophage
• Experience of fieldwork and sampling
• Ability to conduct and manage own and original research
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Excellent academic writing skills for publication of research articles in high impact journals
• Excellent academic presentations skills
• Excellent organisation and time-management skills

Desirable:

• Supervision experience (BA, masters, research assistants)
• Demonstrate a commitment to excellence in academic practice (e.g. be Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy or alike)
• Significant contribution to the management of research activities
• Success in attracting grant funding

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