CIRAD, (Centre de coopération international en recherche agronomique pour le développement, France) invites applications for the position of Plant Geneticist, Marker- assisted breeding specialist.
This post-doctoral fellow position is open to plant geneticists who have a background in marker-assisted breeding theory, good skills in data analysis, experience in biostatistics/informatics, with an interest in international research for development and fieldwork in the tropics. Applicants should also be able to communicate in both French and English.
The successful candidate will be involved in a sorghum marker-assisted breeding research programme in Mali, and will contribute to a collaborative project (Improving sorghum productivity in semi-arid environments of Mali through integrated MARS). The MARS project is a joint initiative between the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) and L’Institut d'économie rurale (Mali), CIRAD (Montpellier) and Syngenta Seeds (Toulouse). The role includes definition and follow-up of phenotyping experiments as well as methodological developments for data analysis.
Deadline for applications: 15th October 2010
For further details on the position, organisation and on how to apply, please visit the CIRAD website.
The GCP 2009 Annual Report is now available in hard copy.
If you wish to receive a copy by post, please request one from Communications Assistant Gillian Summers, indicating your mailing address.
An electronic PDF version is online. To view other current GCP publications, please visit our publications page.
We would like to announce a staffing change in marker services and the Genotyping Support Service (GSS). Humberto Gomez Paniagua will be leaving GCP effective 30th September 2010. After that date, and in the interim period until a replacement is hired, Xavier Delannay (x.delannay@cgiar.org), Head of the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) Breeding Services will handle both the marker services and GSS dockets.
Humberto has been with GCP since 2006, during which time he initiated and managed GSS, as well as running IBP’s marker services from 2009.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Humberto for his significant contribution to GCP in general, and to the marker services and GSS in particular, where his enthusiasm and drive had the greatest effect.
Please join us in wishing him all the best in his future endeavours.
The GCP Challenge Initiative (CI) on sorghum (Improving drought tolerance in sorghum for Africa) was launched at a meeting from 14–15 May 2010 in Eldoret, Kenya. View meeting presentations and related materials.
The launch of the cassava CI (Improving cassava yield in Africa's drought-prone environments) took place in Accra, Ghana from 23–24 July 2010. View meeting presentations and related materials.
The wheat Challenge Initiative had been launched earlier in the year in February, while the CI on comparative genomics was also launched in May alongside the sorghum CI. The rice CI was launched in April.
We are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new in-house newsletter for the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) project.
IBP Buzz is the product of consultations within the GCP Management, Communications and IBP teams. We hope it will keep all collaborators on this complex project talking to each other and working together, a co-operative whole-hive effort that will keep the goodness flowing.
The scout issue describes changes to reinvigorate IBP Communications, offers an exposé on Electronic Fieldbooks and trait dictionaries, and takes an in-depth look at the 1st Annual Project Report. It includes a timely reminder on the Project Wiki, and a comprehensive description of our current thinking on the IBP Portal, the proposed gateway to the Platform when fully operational.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is requesting applications for the position of Post-Doctoral Bioinformatics Scientist, to work on a special project, funded by the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP), on NGS data analysis tools and pipeline.
This position is open only to Indian nationals who hold a Ph.D in Bioinformatics/ Life Sciences with specific practical knowledge of: optimization of tools and development of pipelines for analysis of next generation sequencing (NGS) data, perl scripting, development of bioinformatic tools/ databases for sequence and gene expression analysis. Knowledge in Java programming and database design is an added advantage.
This national position, based at ICRISAT headquarters in India, is for an inital period of one year, with possibility for renewal subject to performance and necessity.
Deadline for applications: August 25, 2010
For further details on the position, organisation and on how to apply, please download the Vacancy Announcement.
The Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Challenge Programme (CCAFS-CP) is a network of the world’s leading researchers in agricultural and Earth system sciences. This challenge programme works to overcome the threats posed to food security by climate change, to enhance livelihoods and to improve environmental management.
The objective of the programme’s research theme Adaptation pathways under progressive climate change is to achieve farming systems adapted to changing climatic conditions through the development of improved crops, livestock, farmed fish, and natural resources management. This will require the development of new technologies and testing of the same across a range of pilot sites, as well as modelling activities to out-scale the potential of individual adaptation options across a wide-range of geographies.
Towards this end, CCAFS is requesting the submission of project proposals for the development of an initial analogue methodology and proof of concept for identifying and mapping spatial and temporal analogue sites across the globe based on multiple climate projections.
Applicant consultants/research teams should have a strong modeling and computational background, and proven track record in development of similar tools/methodologies. Those with already advanced analogue methods will be given preference.
Deadline for submission of applications: 10th August 2010
For more information, download the full details of the call here.
July 2010 was ‘cassava month’ at GCP, with three key meetings.
Accra, Ghana, was the setting for all three events, kindly hosted by the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of Ghana’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The first two events ran simultaneously. The Cassava Data Management Workshop was from 19th to 21st July. Participants were instructed in the art of data management strategies for GCP’s cassava projects by Arllet Portugal; The 3rd annual meeting of the cassava breeders in Africa’s Community of Practice (CoP) was from 19th to 22nd July, and was opened by Dr Mrs RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah, Deputy Director General, CSIR.
The CoP meeting brought together a fine array of speakers from the cassava breeding world. This meeting included an in-depth analysis on the status of cassava breeding in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania. Three of these four countries rank among Africa’s top four cassava producers. More
The final event from 23rd to 24th July, was the Cassava Challenge Initiative (CI) Launch Meeting, officiated by Hon Sherry Ayitey, Ghana’s Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, who gave the keynote address and officially launched the CI, and by Dr Abdulai B Salifu, Director General, CSIR, who gave the welcome address. The opening session for the CI meeting was chaired by Dr Hans Adu-Dapaah, CRI Director. More
The cassava breeding community in Africa is indeed rising to the challenge to fortify ‘Mother Cassava’, the crop of hope.
A large number of the proposals for the 3rd GSS Call were of an exceedingly high quality and we sincerely thank the applicants for their enthusiastic and meticulous participation in this competition.
Unfortunately, a number of factors have delayed the publication of the results of the rigorous selection process. GCP is currently working expeditiously to resolve these issues, while at the same time ensuring we do not compromise the quality or integrity of the process.
We remain fully committed to GSS and we will publish the outcome of this call at the earliest opportunity.
The Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) is seeking a Data Manager/Training Specialist who will manage the crop registry of GCP, provide technical support and training to project investigators and users of the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP). She/he will maintain, update and curate the crop registry and provide support to the users in accessing it. She/he will work with the IBP Informatics Coordinator in handling training, writing training materials and providing technical support to the users of the IBP informatics tools.
The Data Manager will report to the Informatics Coordinator of the IBP and will interact with project investigators and users of the Informatics Breeding Platform to ensure that the data generated by the platform are well managed and technical support to the use cases are timely and properly done. This international position, based at GCP headquarters in Mexico, is for a fixed-term contract of three years, with possibility for renewal subject to performance and funding.
Deadline for applications: July 15, 2010
For further details on the position, organisation and on how to apply, please download the Vacancy Announcement.
The Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) is seeking a Services Manager who will manage the marker services and trait and metabolite services provided by the GCP as part of the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP). The marker services of the IBP currently consist of a combination of low-throughput SSR genotyping laboratories and high-throughput SNP genotyping services contracted to service the needs of molecular breeders and other scientists associated with the IBP and other GCP-supported projects.
The Services Manager will report administratively to the Platform Manager but will also work closely with the Integrated Breeding Leader for strategic issues. She/he will interact closely with the users of the IBP (primarily molecular breeders and traditional breeders integrating markers into their breeding programmes) and with services providers to ensure that the users’ needs are met and to assess future needs. This international position, based at GCP headquarters in Mexico, is for a fixed-term contract of three years, with possibility for renewal subject to performance and funding.
Deadline for applications: July 23, 2010
For further details on the position, organisation and on how to apply, please download the Vacancy Announcement.
In keeping with the rapid momentum of activities underway in GCP’s Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP), following both a recent re-branding as well as the appointment of key staff, the months of May and June 2010 proved to be equally fruitful for collaborators of this major GCP project, with selected participants joining forces in Zaragoza, Spain, for two workshops on data management and data analysis.
The first event, a Data Management Workshop for Plant Breeding, which was held from 31 May–4 June 2010, aimed to train the data managers from the IBP crop lead centres and the user cases on information management. It is foreseen that these data managers will be the future trainers of the informatics tools.
Activities carried out during the workshop included the completion of the ‘trait dictionary’ for each crop, the definition of the template for the Excel fieldbook, training the data managers in the management of pedigree data, and teaching them how to use the fieldbook, and how to transfer fieldbooks to hand-held computers and harvest data from these. Hands-on training was complemented by plenary presentations, including an introduction to ICIS, as well as addressing topics such as IRIS training materials and protocols for curating data.
A full set of workshop materials, including presentations, programme, list of participants, and more is available in the IBP website.
The second event, a Data Analysis Workshop for Plant Breeding, which took place from 7–11 June 2010, aimed to establish a statistical support network for the Integrated Breeding Platform, namely through the establishment of a core set of statistical procedures to support molecular breeding, as well as through reviewing analytical tools and training materials covering those procedures, setting out a workplan to plug any noteworthy gaps in methodology and training materials, and by establishing a timetable for future training of IBP users in these procedures and mechanisms.
Participants had been requested, before attending the meeting, to consult with breeders in a bid to understand their needs and thereby come to the workshop equipped with detailed information on current systems being used in their respective institutes and projects, ensuring workshop activities and discussions remained relevant to user demands throughout. In addition to this breeder feedback and practical training, participants benefitted from methodology and training material presentations on QTL, GxE, QTLxE and association analysis, amongst other lecture-type presentations and feedback reports from participants.
To access the presentations and other materials from this workshop, please visit the workshop homepage within the IBP website.
For materials from other past GCP workshops and events, please visit our Capacity-building corner.
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