Research Officer

  • Bendigo
  • La Trobe University
Full-timeFixed Term – 2 yearsBased at La Trobe University’s Melbourne (Bundoora) campusWork with inspiring people who are driven to make a difference! About the positionThis position falls within the Barley Net Blotch Consortium (BNBC) funded by the Grains Research Development Corporation as part of Program 3 led by La Trobe University - Micro-phenotyping: Digital phenotyping for enhanced disease resistance outcomes. The BNBC is a partnership between University of Queensland, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEEC), Queensland Department of Agriculture and Food, SARDI and La Trobe University.We focus on barley disease resistance genetics and the development of digital fungal disease phenotyping research and innovation mainly in genetics, crop immunity, microscopy and mode of action studies. Our vision is to facilitate development of sustainable agri-food systems powered by durable disease resistance mechanisms to enhance grain production and reduce the reliance on fungicides and increase resilience to new emerging virulent strains of the fungus.This position will work as part of a collaborative team to develop improved genetic resistance to fungal foliar pathogens in cereal grain crops. Skills and Experience Completion of a PhD in plant pathology, plant microbe interactions, digital agriculture, plant disease phenomics or closely related field.Experience working with fungal plant pathogen interactions.Experience and skills in statistical genetics, bioinformatics or image analysis.Experience and skills in microscopy (e.g. fluorescence), command-line coding and/or image analysis (i.e. RGB camera).An interest in the technical development and troubleshooting in phenomics equipment.