Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry – Mickleham VICWho we areThe Plant Innovation Centre (PIC) is the department's dedicated Plant Biosecurity research, development, innovation and extension section based at the national Post Entry Quarantine (PEQ) facility at Mickleham in Victoria (35 minutes north from Melbourne's CBD). The facility is a state of the art, world-class plant and animal biosecurity centre and includes BC2 and BC3 research and diagnostic laboratories. We develop, optimise, validate, and implement innovative solutions to improve plant biosecurity outcomes with particular expertise and focus on molecular diagnostics and treatments. The PIC also supports Honours and higher-degree (MSc/PhD) students with scholarships, supervises students, and actively engages with universities and external scientific and research organisations.The key duties of the position include:The JobAs a Molecular Scientist with the PIC team, your duties will include, but are not limited to:working within a small team to develop and deliver applied and innovative plant biosecurity projects that address operational and policy challenges within the departmentassisting in developing proposals to trial innovative solutions and collaborations between potential project partnerscollaborating with internal and external stakeholders including sustaining synergistic partnerships with policy makers, industry, the biosecurity research community, and education sector communicating technical scientific research to internal and external stakeholders, through report writing, manuscripts, meetings, and workshopsproviding technical supervision to students and graduates within the laboratoryA merit pool will be established from this recruitment process which may be used to fill future ongoing vacancies.EligibilityWhat we are looking forKnowledge and experienceWe thrive when our teams are made up of people from different backgrounds, cultures, genders, education, training, and skills. The successful applicants will have the following knowledge, capabilities, and experience:knowledge and experience in molecular biology to develop, optimise and validate new and existing diagnostics and supportive tools, contributing to applicable research, innovation, extension and implementationknowledge and experience in plant biotechnology, plant pathology, botany or agricultural sciencesexperience and understanding of plant biosecurity, bioinformatics and aseptic technique (desirable)self-motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervisionfamiliar with supervising and mentoring undergraduate and post-graduate (Honours/MSc) students (desirable)
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