Principal Scientist – II – Global Head of Breeding

ICRISAT seeks applications from highly motivated and qualified professionals for the global position of Principal Scientist – II-Global Head of Breeding to support Crop Breeding under the Global Research Program Accelerated Crop Improvement. The position can be based in Hyderabad, India or and also in East and South Africa (Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi) and West and Central Africa (Mali and Niger) with the expectation that the Head of Breeding will be willing to travel as needed to other countries and sites. The position will report to the Global Programme Director for Accelerated Crop Improvement and will act as Line manager for the breeders in India and Africa.

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi- arid or dryland tropics has over 2 billion people and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT and its partners help empower these disadvantaged populations to overcome poverty, hunger and a degraded environment through better agricultural production systems.

ICRISAT is headquartered at Patancheru near Hyderabad, India, with two regional hubs and eight country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT envisions prosperous, food-secure and resilient dryland tropics. Its mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics. ICRISAT conducts research on its mandated crops of chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet in the arid and semi-arid tropics. The Institute focuses its work on drylands and on protecting the environment. Tropical dryland areas are usually seen as resource-poor and perennially beset by shocks such as drought, thereby trapping dryland communities in poverty and hunger and making them dependent on external aid. Please visit – www.icrisat.org

For the position:

We are currently looking for a dynamic and experienced international breeder to take the role of Head of Global Breeding for the breeding programmes at ICRISAT.

ICRISAT is one of the 15 One CGIAR research centers around the world and works with colleagues from other institutions in the current CGIAR Initiatives and will also contribute to the Scientific Programmes for 2025-2030, to achieve the shared vision of reducing poverty and the other disadvantages of small farmers around the world. Given the impact climate change is now having in many regions of the world – and especially in the drylands, which are particularly fragile – the Head of Global Breeding will lead a key component of ICRISAT’s contribution to achieving this goal.

Candidates should have a strong background in quantitative genetics, with recent practical breeding experience (preferably in one or more of the mandate crops). They should be experienced in running breeding programmes, preferably with experience of using Genomic Prediction of Breeding Values in breeding pipelines. They should also have extended experience of securing funding for research and breeding.

Responsibilities:

• Will be expected to lead and guide the international breeding group, which currently has six breeders in India and six breeders in sub-Saharan Africa across the six mandate crops (sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, groundnut, pigeonpea, chickpea) with activities starting in minor millets (proso, kodo, foxtail, little and barnyard) and collaborative work in sesame. The number of breeders globally will increase in the coming years and the successful candidate will be involved in deciding locations and relevant crops.

• Will lead the current International Breeding Teams (one per crop) which include multidisciplinary expertise (from socioeconomics, gene bank, cell biology and transformation, crop modeling and physiology, genomics, pre-breeding, bioinformatics, pathology and entomology to seed systems, in addition to the breeders and statistical support) to deliver breeding products according to the agreed Targeted Product Profiles (TPP) in coordination with CGIAR

• Will lead the development of the Breeding Strategy for ICRISAT for the next decade, particularly on how to increase genetic gains in farmer’s fields. It is anticipated that implementing genomic prediction methods will be a key part of this and the Head of Breeding will lead this effort across the institution and will be supported both locally and through CGIAR Science Programs.

• Will work as part of a team with the Global Programme Director ACI, Head of Prebreeding (to be recruited) and Head of Seed Systems and the relevant CGIAR Science Programmes to optimise the process of designing, developing and delivering customer-demanded varieties and hybrids.

• Will lead on the development of proposals for funding to both traditional and novel funders, including multidisciplinary expertise to focus on outputs and delivery.

• Will be involved in co-leading institute-wide proposals and research linkage across all three of the research programmes at ICRISAT (Accelerated Crop Improvement, Resilient Farms and Farm Systems, Enabling System Change)

• Will collaborate and coordinate efforts across CGIAR, National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) and industry to inculcate best practice at ICRISAT and make our breeding programmes and their outputs and impacts among the best in CGIAR and globally.

• Will be involved in efforts to transfer research activity and delivery responsibility to NARES and other national and regional organisations, where appropriate, and support the co-development of capacity and skills to allow this transfer

• Will be involved in explaining and presenting ICRISAT’s work, through seminars, talks, conferences and discussions with potential donors

Qualifications:

Required:

• PhD in a subject related to Breeding or Quantitative genetics with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in Crop breeding or PhD in application of Quantitative methods in plant breeding with a minimum 10 years’ experience in breeding both inbreeding and hybrid crops

• A strong publication record, as evidenced by research papers in refereed journals.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural team and in working with a wide range of stakeholders and interest to work in interdisciplinary team
• Ability and willingness to participate in field work and travel extensively in across Africa and Asia

• Should have the aptitude to work collegially and collaboratively in diverse, multicultural environments

• Fluency in spoken and written English is essential; understanding of local language is desirable

• Strong statistical knowledge of computer applications and software for data management and analysis.

• Ability to work independently with minimal daily supervision and proactively

Preferred:

• BSc/MSc in crop genetics and breeding

General:

This is a contractual position for a period of 36 months.

How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 10 November 2024 with their latest Resume, and the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable about their professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged; however, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

ICRISAT is an equal opportunity employer