The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) is seeking two highly motivated Postdoctoral Researchers to join our team within the Genomics for Animal and Plant Disease Consortium (GAP-DC2), co-led at RVC by Prof. Oliver Pybus FRS, Dr. Sarah Hill, and Dr. Jayna Raghwani. These positions offer an exciting opportunity to develop and influence how pathogen genomic surveillance of animals, plants and their ecosystems is conducted and used to identify and respond to emerging threats (including zoonotic viruses). You will work at the intersection of genomics and infectious disease epidemiology.

We aim to recruit two outstanding candidates, each of whom will lead work within one of the following Research Areas.

1. Postdoctoral Researcher in Phylodynamics: In this role, you will lead efforts to understand the introduction, emergence and spread of viral diseases in UK farmed and wild animal populations. By applying advanced phylodynamic and related computational techniques, you will analyse virus genomic datasets to reveal and explain disease dynamics. We are particularly interested in candidates passionate about developing innovative methods for rapid data analysis and effective communication of findings to stakeholders in government and industry.

2. Postdoctoral Researcher in Metaviromics: In this role, you will improve detection and response to emerging virus threats in wildlife and their environment using virus genomics and metagenomics. You will play a pivotal role in selecting sentinel populations for genomic surveillance, designing and optimising workflows for metaviromic and pathogen-targeted approaches for wildlife and environmental samples, and analysing the data. Individuals with specialist expertise in bioinformatics, laboratory-based molecular biology, or in both are encouraged to apply.

Environment and team

We will provide a vibrant and supportive environment in which you can continue to develop your career. GAP-DC2 partners include organisations responsible for disease surveillance in farmed and wild terrestrial animals (the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Pirbright Institute), aquatic species (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science), plants (Fera, Forest Research), and scientists at the governmental Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). We will financially support you to represent the group at international and national conferences. We will encourage you to collaborate with internationally-leading research groups in the UK and abroad, and will help you publish your research in high-impact journals (please see Google Scholar profiles of RVC co-leads Prof. Pybus, Dr. Hill and Dr. Raghwani for examples of our previous publications).

The RVC offers excellent opportunities for you to build a strong career profile, including offering internally-funded research and travel grants to Postdoctoral Researchers (e.g., to gain demonstrable experience winning funding or to begin to develop your own independent ideas that can extend GAP-DC2’s already broad and flexible remit). We will support you to gain experience in co-supervising undergraduate and graduate students.

You will have access to newly renovated office spaces at the Hawkshead Campus, specialised sequencing laboratories (where appropriate for your research) and a centralized high-performance computing cluster to tackle large-scale data analysis.

The RVC offers a generous reward package including an excellent annual leave allowance, pension scheme, and free membership of the onsite Fitness and Wellbeing Centre.

How to apply

Please visit the RVC website for more information and to apply: https://jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=PPS-0357-24. When applying, please upload a CV. No cover letter is required, but please ensure that you provide sufficient detail when completing the “Application Questions” to allow us to understand your motivation and how your experience matches the criteria in the Person Specification document. Please note that, as we seek two candidates, we expect you to have specialist skills in one, but not both, of the Research Areas defined above. We encourage interested candidates to contact Dr. Sarah Hill (sahill@rvc.ac.uk), who would be pleased to informally answer any questions about the role.

Each post is expected to be available for two years in the first instance with a flexible start date in early 2025. The posts are open to international candidates.

The posts are based at the RVC’s Hawkshead Campus, which can be accessed easily from both the countryside and central London. We are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements that could promote a better work-life balance, including hybrid working within the UK and preferences for part-time roles.