Scientist – Edible Insect Farming for Livestock Feed Production and Use at icipe - International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology

This position will deliver innovative research that addresses a wide range of unique and critical issues associated with insect welfare, diversification of insect choices, safe processing into suitable ingredients for animal feed, and environmental health in the context of ONE HEALTH. Within the scope of the above and overall objectives of the INSEFF program, icipe is seeking applications from highly motivated candidates for the position of Scientist – Edible Insect farming for livestock feed production and use. The ideal candidate will support research activities in the Insects for Food, Feed and Other Uses programme within the icipe’s Environmental Health Theme.

The overall purpose of the job is to:

• Spearhead the research on organic waste mapping and nutrient characterization, and their use to suit the current production requirements under smallholder farming and commercial production.
• Manage on-farm and on-station experiments that compare the performance of different insect meal inclusion levels of full-fatted and defatted black soldier fly larvae meal in livestock and fish production in different countries.
• Manage farmer-participatory insect-based feeding trials that aim to tackle bottlenecks facing smallholder farmers through participatory technology development and transfer.
• Establish the ecological significance of black soldier fly and other saprophytic insects and assess their potential as high value products to contribute significantly to organic recycling and feed insecurity.
• Establish a cross-thematic research programme on effective harnessing of insect-based feed technological services for improved livestock and fish farming, with focus on a broad range of insect-based feed recipe formulations and their applications.

Specific Duties

The successful candidate is expected to:

• Coordinate activities related to production and utilisation of black soldier fly larvae in animal feed formulation.
• Conduct in-depth research on the impact of defatted black soldier fly larvae meal on livestock and fish production under different farming systems in target countries.
• Conduct novel research on the development of new products (oils from black soldier fly larvae and other insects and chitosan from pupal exuviae) when raised on diverse waste streams, enhance animal immunity using feed fortification technologies and explore the possibility of using antimicrobial peptides for disease control.
• Expand the knowledge on other soldier fly species co-existing with H. illucens, with focus on improving their production technologies in East Africa.
• Provide cutting-edge scientific research to develop, adapt, and optimise strategies to harness the nutritional profiling and bioactive properties in livestock and fish production.
• Contribute to various INSEFF project management, linkage with partners (universities and national research organisations), and preparation of semi-annual and annual technical reports.
• Be responsible for data collection, management and analysis related to insect-based feed production and usage as well as support other research activities related to insect frass fertilizer.
• Undertake supervision of research assistants, technicians, field assistants, interns, MSc and PhD students.
• Publish research outputs in high-impact peer-reviewed journals in areas related to INSEFF activities
• Raise funds through research grant writing for continuation of INSEFF or implementation of similar projects.

Requirements/Qualifications

• PhD in Entomology with at least 3 years’ postgraduate experience in organic waste bioconversion using insect into nutrient-rich biomass for feed formulation and production.
• Good number of publications on rearing, processing, and preparation of insect-based diets for feeding regimes on livestock production in peer-reviewed journals.
• Should be at most 38 years at the time of application for this position
• Skills in biostatistics, especially for robust analyses on experimental feeding regimes set up and database development, are essential.
• Additional skills in bioecological landscape assessments of BSF production and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) would be an advantage.
• Must have an excellent publication track record.
• Additional knowledge on soil and gut microbiome would be an advantage