Research Associate - Food Technologist
Kigali
- Organization: CIP - International Potato Center
- Location: Kigali
- Grade: Administrative support - Administrative Services and Support - Generally no need for Higher Education
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Occupational Groups:
- Administrative support
- Nutrition
- Scientist and Researcher
- Food Security, Livestock and Livelihoods
- Food technology (Food tech)
- Closing Date: 2024-05-21
The International Potato Center (CIP) is seeking to recruit a Research Associate - Food Technologist to be based in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Position: The candidate will support the Market-driven, Resilient and Nutritious Agri-food Systems in the Humid zones of West and Central Africa (WCA) initiative. This initiative aims to build a more resilient, climate-smart, nutritious, gender equitable and viable food production system through development and scaling of novel and inclusive production and post-harvest technologies, participatory decision-making and planning, and informed governance systems. In Rwanda, previous research undertaken by the International Potato Center (CIP) demonstrated the potential for developing economically viable processed products using orange-fleshed sweetpotato puree as a key ingredient and other products (fried, juice) using sweetpotato roots.
The selected candidate will report to the Senior Research Associate for planning and implementation of the WCA activities and co-supervise by the Food Chemistry – Post Doc for technical evaluation and support.
Key Responsibilities:
- In collaboration with partners on the initiative, identify potential integration of other target crops into product development process.
- Assess interest and capacity of selected SMEs in Central Africa (technically and from a business standpoint) to engage in sweetpotato product value chains.
- Lead the procuring and testing of innovative equipment as it becomes available.
- Collaborate with private sector companies in developing viable sweetpotato product value chains.
- Conduct consumer preference surveys to gain insights into consumer preferences linked to selected sweetpotato products.
- Ensure collaborating partners are trained in food safety protocols.
- Collaborate with the Food Analysis and Nutrition Evaluation laboratory in assessing nutrient composition of products developed.
- Participate in regular team meetings, engaging in multi-sectoral planning and contributing to other activities upon supervisor’s request.
- Produce progress reports of the research on a timely basis.
- Prepare monthly stories from the field.
Requirements
Selection Criteria
- MSc degree in Food Technology or Food Science.
- Minimum 6 years of relevant work experience, having worked on projects that engaged with private sectors is a plus.
- Experience in product development is highly preferred.
- Proven ability in developing marketing strategies.
- Strong skills in nutrition and statistics.
- Excellent interpersonal relationships skills and teamwork orientation
- Excellent communication and writing skills in English.
- Knowledge of French.
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.