Research Fellow

The School of Biological Sciences and Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast is currently seeking to appoint an exceptional microbiologist with bioinformatics experience to the post of Research Fellow. The appointee will join the AMR & One Health Lab, a team of interdisciplinary researchers working in veterinary and human microbiology, animal science, and bioinformatics.

The successful candidate will primarily work within a multidisciplinary team undertaking research focused on unravelling the consequences of the withdrawal of prophylactic ZnO from pig diets on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) and the microbiome as part of a BBSRC funded project. The post holder will work with Dr. Linda Oyama, Prof Ilias Kyriazakis and Prof Chris Creevey and project partners based at The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) UK and ABNeo to identify differences in structural and functional microbial communities within the intestine associated with ZnO supplementation. Such understanding will lead to the development of strategies that manipulate intestinal microbial communities in at-risk piglets. Using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and novel cu lturomics approaches from a farm trial, the post holder will characterise the local microbiota and identify which consortia are associated with reduced PWD and better growth. The candidate will also provide in developing output related to assessing the impact of ZnO supplementation on the abundance, diversity and transmissible AMR genes in pig gut microbiome. Priority will be given to candidates with research interests and expertise in bioinformatics, microbiology and animal science.

About the person:

The successful candidate must have, and your application should clearly demonstrate that you meet the following criteria:

• Have or be about to obtain a PhD in a relevant area (biological sciences, microbiology, animal science veterinary science).
• Have significant demonstrable research experience in computational approaches for the analysis of highthroughput DNA sequencing data from microbial communities including shotgun metagenomic and 16S rDNA microbiome analysis.
• Have experience in antimicrobial resistance surveillance and quantification research using genomic data.
• Have demonstrable experience in the use of Linux command-line systems for bioinformatics analyses.
• Have experience of using programming skills in appropriate languages and software e.g. R.
• Have experience of peer-reviewed publication in a relevant area of research.
• Have experience of presenting to the scientific community i.e., conference talks.
• Have experience of working in a team.

To be successful at shortlisting stage, please ensure you clearly evidence in your application how you meet the essential and, where applicable, desirable criteria listed in the Candidate Information.

Fixed term contract posts are available for the stated period in the first instance but in particular circumstances may be renewed or made permanent subject to availability of funding.

What we offer:

Beyond a competitive salary, the University offers an attractive benefits package including a holiday entitlement of up to 8.4 weeks a year, pension schemes and development opportunities. We support staff wellbeing with flexible working options, work-life balance initiatives and support for physical and mental health. You can find more detail on all of this and more at http://go.qub.ac.uk/reward.

Queen's University is committed to promoting equality of opportunity to all. We subscribe to Equality Charter Marks such as the Diversity Charter Mark NI and Athena Swan and have established staff networks such as iRise (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and International Staff Network) and PRISM (LGBTQ+).

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