Research Associate – Geneticist in EGENES

Research Associate – Geneticist in EGENES

Location: Edinburgh

Type: Full‑Time

Term: Fixed Term (4 years)

Reference: ACF/AGR/018/26

Edinburgh Genetic Evaluation Services (EGENES) is a discreet unit of 6 geneticists and programmers employed by SRUC and 8 geneticist, programmers and data technicians employed by AHDB that provides UK national genetic and genomic evaluations for farmed livestock on behalf of AHDB, individual breed societies and other commercial customers. It is tightly integrated with the Animal Breeding and Genomics Team to ensure that research results are rapidly implemented by farmers and breeding companies and good interaction between research and application.

Researchers also benefit from professional data handling expertise available in EGENES. The entire 3 teams constitute around 22.

This is an opportunity to take a leading role in a team leading development of genetic and genomic evaluations in the UK. You will work closely with the livestock industry to identify tools and technologies to extract phenotypes from new sources of data such as milk mid infrared (MIR) spectral data, abattoir data and digital images. The successful candidate will work within an integrated group of 20 programmers and geneticists, 6 of which work within EGENES so application of new developments has a very short route to application.

Genomic evaluations are widely adopted by the dairy sector, and developments are ongoing to implement improved methods to evaluate the ever increasing pool of data within, and across breeds (e.g. single-step across breeds gBLUP). The convergence of the beef and dairy industry in the UK is creating new and exciting avenues to utilise datasets together. Our work is varied and interesting, ranging from improving the extraction of existing phenotypes to researching new economically and societally important phenotypes such as feed efficiency and methane emissions predicted from multiple data sources.

EGENES is an active member of Interbull and Interbeef. Every day is different in Animal Breeding and Genomics.

We are seeking a geneticist based in Edinburgh who can play a major role in the Animal Breeding and Genomics Team working closely with the other SRUC geneticists (Professor Raph Mrode, Dr Samir , Professor Mike Coffey) to develop methodologies to evaluate animals better, quicker, more accurately and for a wider range of traits. The successful applicant will also work very closely with other members of the EGENES team employed by AHDB and managed by Marco Winters.

The connection between AHDB, EGENES and the Animal Breeding and Genomics Team is seamless.

A less experienced geneticist but with the right approach and attitude may be considered, as may be a more flexible working location. It is expected that the candidate will also undertake necessary research to underpin practical application of developments in genetic evaluation methodologies including imputation strategies with very large datasets. We work with dairy and beef cattle, sheep, alpacas and have worked with salmon, dairy goats and pigs.

We have over 1m genotypes and hundreds of millions of animal records in our evaluations currently.

The successful candidate will hold a post‑doctorate qualification in quantitative genetics with strong grounding in genomic methodologies. They will bring proven expertise in genetic and genomic evaluation, including estimating genetic parameters for quantitative traits, and possess excellent numerical and statistical capability. Strong experience in handling large datasets, along with programming skills and the ability to quickly learn new languages, is essential.

The role also requires strong communication skills, effective analytical and problem‑solving abilities, exceptional teamwork, and a high level of attention to detail. Desirable attributes include experience with SQL Server, FORTRAN, Python, and scripting, as well as familiarity with Docker, Windows and Linux operating systems, and project management.

Further details of the requirements of the role can be found in the Job Particulars document which you…