Banana Genomics and Quantitative Genetics Breeder (Post-Doc)

The successful candidate will contribute to the accelerated breeding of cooking banana and plantain through conventional and modern breeding techniques by integrating functional genomics, quantitative genetics, phenomics and bioinformatics methods that provide dynamic and responsive support to breeding including marker-assisted breeding and genomic selection, data management, and computational tools and extracting data from the pangenome. Requirements The candidate should have a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, or a related field Core Competencies At least 5 years experience in banana improvement. Skilled in quantitative genetics and genomics including marker-assisted breeding, data management, and computational tools development. Statistical analysis of phenotypic and genotypic data in banana. Expertise in deg and executing breeding agendas by coordinating breeding activities, design and management of trials and experiments, modern data collection and curation techniques and tools use. Demonstrated banana breeding experience. Ability to work effectively with multicultural, multidisciplinary and multi-institutional teams. B4T AoW DESIGN Support the implementation of country improvement plans B4T AoW DEVELOP Contribute to the development of improved banana through conventional and modern breeding techniques Develop and apply quantitative genetics and genomics including marker-assisted breeding and genomic selection, data management, and computational tools development for banana breeding Develop and apply bioinformatic tools to extract data from the pangenome to accelerate banana breeding Design and execute breeding agendas by coordinating breeding activities, design optimization and management of trials and experiments, modern data collection and curation techniques and tools Develop reproducible data analysis pipelines for management and analysis of phenotypic and genotypic data of key aspects in banana Integrate functional genomics, quantitative genetics, phenomics and bioinformatics methods that provide dynamic and responsive support to breeding Design and implement genotyping strategies to support Molecular Trait Discovery in banana and plantain breeding Support parental improvement and product development in banana and plantain breeding Foster the use of molecular tools as part of selecting plants in the banana breeding program by the IITA banana and plantain breeding programs, and the partners. Establish and manage a quality phenotyping lab to foster trait discovery and early-stage evaluation of the quality traits in matooke parental improvement Build the platform for genomic prediction as part of recycling in banana and plantain parental improvement Support the NARS in the Musa breeding networks to apply molecular tools, including MAS and QA/QC B4T AoW SUPPORT (Breeding Resources) Interact with the B4T Breeding Resources team to accelerate the pace of the development and deployment of molecular tools in support of banana breeding Support sta