ILRI-DAAD PhD Scholarship Mitigation of Greenhouse gas Emissions-Kenya

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to enhance the roles livestock play in pathways out of poverty in developing countries. ILRI is a member of the CGIAR Consortium, a global research partnership of 15 centres working with many partners for a food-secure future. ILRI has two main campuses in East Africa and other hubs in East, West and southern Africa and South, Southeast and East Asia. www.ilri.org. CGIAR is a global agricultural research partnership for a food-secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research centres that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. www.cgiar.org.

DAAD is a German Academic Exchange service which is a publicly funded, self-governing organization of the institutions of higher education in Germany. DAAD promotes international academic exchange as well as educational co-operation with developing countries through a variety of funding and scholarship programs.

ILRI Research Project:  Mitigation of Greenhouse gas Emissions

The project aims to generate a comprehensive baseline data for greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions from agricultural systems in East Africa region. It also works to systematically characterize major farming systems for GHG emissions. Because most sub-Saharan African countries have agricultural dependent economies (estimates above 30% GDP), development plans must consider the environmental impact of different intensification pathways  in terms of GHG emissions but also with regard to water supply and water quality or biodiversity – that are designed to achieve food security in the region.

Graduate Fellowship Project Title:  Developing locally validated emission factors for a set of typical African smallholder livestock systems

The position

The output of the PhD project will provide accurate emission factors for at least 3-4 different African cattle feeding practices using local feed resources. This will also provide important insights into dietary and animal factors that may be employed in improving animal productivity as well as developing new mitigation options in the African smallholder context.

 Responsibilities

• Characterize smallholder livestock productions systems within sub-Saharan countries using new data to be generated in this project.
• Formulate diets that typify feeding practices and feed composition in the identified systems.
• Design in consultation with ILRI supervisor animal feeding trials, and implement them.
• Samples collection and analysis.
• Data collection and processing.
• Writing of thesis and drafting of articles for publication in peer-reviewed journals

Essential Skills and Qualifications will include:

• A minimum of MSc from. From a recognized university in ruminant nutrition or any animal production.
• Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science or Veterinary Science (minimum B- average)
• At least one year experience of livestock handling and husbandry in an intensive research setting
• Demonstrated solid understanding of research design and statistical analytical principles.

Terms of appointment: ILRI will offer a competitive stipend to cover living expenses in the project location(s). The successful candidate will be supervised jointly by an ILRI scientist and the university/academic supervisor.

How to apply:

Interested applicants should submit the following documents;

• A cover letter explaining your interest in the position, what you can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about your professional qualifications and work experience.  The position title and reference number: PHDKBJGA/DAAD/05/2015should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the cover letter.

• Curriculum Vitae without photograph; please use the europass CV template athttp://europass.cedefop.europa.eu.
• Certified copies of all university degree certificates.
• Certified copies of all university transcripts.
• At least temporary University admission letter including fee structure of respective course (original or certified copy only), or an official letter assuring admission. If this is not available by the closing date for application; please include with the application a commitment letter that you will have obtained this by 1st September 2015 as this is a mandatory requirement before commencing the fellowship program.
• PhD research proposal and a detailed work plan (10 to 15 pages); plagiarism will be checked! The proposal has to be in line with the above outlined ILRI’s research project.
• Abstract of the proposal on one page (please include name and title of proposal).
• Where applicable a recommendation letter by head of department indicating that you are a present or prospective member of staff and how you will be integrated into the staff development agenda of the university (original only).
• Confirmation of study leave from your university (if applicable).
• Confirmation of teaching release (university staff members only).

Applications: All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com by the deadline of 10th June 2015

The scholarships are only awarded to citizens of Sub-Saharan African countries (SSA)

To find out more about ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/ilricrowd/

Suitably qualified women and citizens of developing countries, with experience of working internationally, are particularly encouraged to apply.