Senior Research Associate in Phylogenomics

The role

This is a full time Senior Research Associate position based in the Donoghue Lab of the Palaeobiology research group in the School of Earth Sciences, located in the Life Sciences Building; the research is co-led by James Clark (University of Bath) with whom you will also work closely. The role is funded through the BBSRC sLoLa project grant ‘Reappraising the role of whole genome duplication and rediploidization in eukaryotic evolution’, involving partners in Barcelona, Bath, Dublin, Edinburgh, Kew, Okinawa, Oxford, Wageningen. The overall project aims to establish the prevalence, nature and impact of whole genome duplication in eukaryote evolution, focussing especially on the process of rediploidization. Your role within this project will be principal researcher responsible for the phylogenetic analyses, characterising the temporal process of rediploidization within genomes, as well as establishing its functional implications and phenotypic consequences through analyses of gene ontology and phenotypic disparity in land plants and vertebrates. 

What will you be doing?

You will be responsible for the dataset assembly and curation, its phylogenetic analysis, divergence time estimation to determine the temporal spectrum of rediploidization, functional interpretation based on gene ontology, and inference of phenotypic consequences based on morphological disparity. In addition to this computational work, you will be responsible for the preparation and delivery of presentations, preparation of manuscripts describing research outcomes, participation in research group meetings, conference presentations, as well as assisting in project website maintenance, workshop organisation and participation in public outreach activities.

You should apply if

You should have a PhD in molecular phylogenetics, phylogenomics or bioinformatics, extensive experience in Bash scripting, molecular phylogenetics, computational data mining skills and a good academic publication track record relative to your career stage. You should have experience of writing publication quality technical reports, preparing and delivering research quality presentations, excellent communication skills, both written and oral, as well as good organisational ability.

Additional information

Contract type: Open ended with fixed funding until 31/01/2029

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on 11/03/2025

For informal queries, please contact:

Philip Donoghue, +44(0)117 3941209, phil.donoghue@bristol.ac.uk

Our strategy and mission

Advert information