Job Description
Position Responsibilities
The Plantain Pathologist will:
- In conjunction with banana breeding efforts in East Africa, organize and plan banana and plantain pathology activities in West Africa.
- Interact with banana pathology in East Africa by defining common SOPs and defining a common vision for Musa Breeding.
- Where available, apply precise high-throughput tools for early screening of breeding and prebreeding populations to BBTV, Sigatoka, Nematodes, and Weevils.
- Design and implement field, screen house, and laboratory experiments on plantain pests and diseases.
- Maintain cultures of pathogens and pests and produce inoculum for screening plantain breeding materials.
- Implement digital data capture, upload, and organize data onto MusaBase.
- Manage junior staff in all plant pathology activities and contribute to orient new staff.
- Maintain laboratory equipment, materials, and reagents and assist with procurement.
- Participate in workshops and present advances in plantain pathology to raise the visibility of the program.
- Write reports and peer-reviewed publications related to pathology activities.
- Manage linkages with various research development partners in Nigeria and West Africa.
- Perform any other job-related duties as assigned by the supervisor.
Educational Qualifications
- The candidate should have a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology or related fields.
- Experience in banana pathology is an advantage.
Core Competencies
- Pathology experience in plantain and/or banana breeding with at least three pathogens.
- Pathology experience in the field and with bioassays in the laboratory and/or screenhouse.
- Expertise in writing publications.
- Expertise in linking pathology to agronomy, soil health and/or farming systems, and exposure to other crops than bananas.
- Experience with molecular techniques in disease diagnostics.
- Work experience in a multidisciplinary and multicultural environment would be a great asset.