Senior Scientist-Biochemistry & Grain Food Quality-Senior Scientist

Key skills

biochemsitry

grain quality

functional nutrition

Additional/Preferred Skills

multi-tasking

data analysis

Preferred Qualifications

PhD in Natural Scien

PhD in Biochemistry

Senior Scientist - Biochemistry & Grain Food Quality

ICRISAT seeks applications from dynamic Indian nationals as Senior Scientist ? Biochemistry & Grain Food Quality. The position is a part of the Global Research Program ? Enabling Systems Transformation and is based at ICRISAT Headquarters, Patancheru, Telangana, India.

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 a 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 mandate crops of chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet in the arid and semi-arid tropics. The Institute focuses its work on the drylands and in 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

Responsibilities:

• Leading new frontier areas of grain quality research and development in biochemistry and bioanalytical method conceptualization, validation and implementation

• Specifically, development and validation of bio-analytical methods and protocols for isolation, fractionation, and characterization of biochemical attributes in cereals, legumes etc

• Developing, and optimizing methods for determining in-vitro digestibility and digestibility kinetics, antioxidant activities, enzyme-based protocols to determine anti-nutrients and key biochemical components in cereals and legumes and health-claim validation protocols for endproducts formulated using millets and pulses

• Standardization of isolation, purification and characterization protocols of plant-based proteins and other functional ingredients and establish their structure-function relationship, using globally approved and novel validation assays and statistical methods

• Critical analysis of experimental data towards development of predictive models linking nutritional and functional and physiological traits in cereals and legumes

• Contribute to food product development and handholding of laboratory personnel towards building capacity for carrying out the bio-analytical analysis towards investigating and identifying principal biochemical components linked to physiological traits in cereals and legumes

• Preparation of scientific reports and manuscripts towards publications in peer reviewed journals

• Led project proposal development / resource mobilization efforts on functional analysis of gran quality and related projects in collaboration with Scientists from other programs

• Training and mentoring of laboratory personnel in different bioanalytical methods and techniques

• Any other responsibilities to the Supervisor and CEO of the Agribusiness Innovation platform

Requirement:

• PhD with a minimum of 7 years of postdoc experience in Natural sciences, Biochemistry, Food Science, in research institutions (international and national), reputed food processing industry and involved in grain quality research and related R&D

• Strong scientific analytical research background at the international level in the areas of biochemistry, food science and technology

• Experience in working in both not-for profit and for-profit settings

• Strong proven track record of resource mobilization especially with international donors

• Experience with leading product development R&D teams, for product development using dryland crops to address the ?Triple burden of malnutrition?, ensuring food quality and implementing food safety management systems

• Experience of having worked with tribal and rural communities in establishing local nutri-sensitive food-systems to foster local ?production-processing consumption?, involving climate resilient crop value chains and engaging with local women and youth

• Experience with working in and/or managing R&D in food industry and/or Agribusiness Incubator settings, in order to understand the nutritional and health benefiting potential of climate resilient crops leading to creation of ?sustainable business enterprises? and ?demand pull? for the dryland crops from the industry and the consumer

• Proven leadership ability, including ability to manage diverse research as well as management teams and processes, under pressure and strict timelines

• Demonstrated and proven analytical abilities, and problem-solving skills

General:

This is a contractual role for a period of 36 months (3 years).

How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 16 May 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