Jobs at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop protocols for trapping mosquitoes with the project team, putting into consideration factors that affect mosquito density such as land use/land cover, climatic factors and availability of hosts
• Maintain an inventory of traps, other sampling equipment, chemicals (such as attractants) and reagents that are required for mosquito sampling. The inventory will be needed to replenishments with time
• Deploy traps in selected sites within the project areas as per the field sampling protocols developed
• Harvest mosquito and other vectors trapped, characterize them by species based on morphological and molecular characteristics
• Process mosquitoes collected for laboratory analyses to determine their sources of blood meal and arbovirus infection levels
• Enter the various data collected in an on-line database that will be developed for storing data from the project
• Participate in the development of technical reports and manuscripts that will utilize the data generated from the vector surveys implemented
• Perform any other related duties as may be requiredPerform any other related duties as may be assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in science, Zoology, BSc Technology and Innovation or a related field
• Demonstrated experience of at least two years in field research, specifically on trapping mosquitoes, identifying them by species using morphological keys, analysing data collected and writing back to office reports
• Excellent communication and writing skills in English
• Good knowledge and experience on standard software for managing and analysing data including Microsoft Excel, STATA, R or Python among others
• Ability to manage their own workload, develop workplans and seek support when needed
• Excellent written and spoken English

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About the position

The role aims to generate robust, actionable evidence, translate it into compelling outputs for policy, investment and practice, and strengthen ILRI’s capacity in evidence-synthesis methodologies and data-driven decision-making. The position will focus particularly on climate change impacts on livestock and overall agrifood systems. This position will be a part of ILRI’s Livestock, Climate and Environment (LCE) Program.

Key Responsibilities

Research & Evidence Synthesis

• Design, conduct and oversee evidence syntheses (evidence gap maps, scoping reviews systematic reviews, meta-analyses,) on topics relevant to livestock systems, food systems, climate change, environmental or health impacts.
• Formulate research questions, develop protocols (e.g., adhering to PRISMA / ROSES/ other industry standards), carry out systematic literature searches, screen and extract data, assess risk of bias and methodological quality, synthesise results and interpret findings for stakeholders.
• Adapt or develop advanced synthesis methods (e.g., network meta-analysis, mixed methods synthesis, AI-assisted screening, living review frameworks) as relevant to complex interventions in agriculture, livestock/food systems.
• Contribute to or lead the development of new synthesis tools, workflows or software packages to increase efficiency and rigour of evidence synthesis.

Publication and Dissemination

• Lead the writing of high-impact journal manuscripts (first or co-first author) from synthesis projects and present findings at international conferences, workshops and stakeholder fora.
• Develop and disseminate research outputs beyond journals: policy briefs, research briefs, stakeholder summaries, infographics, data-visualisations, webinars.
• Work with ILRI’s communications, outreach and knowledge-management teams to ensure effective translation of evidence for non-academic audiences.

Collaboration, Project Management & Capacity-Building

• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams across ILRI’s programmes, and with external academic, policy and development partners.
• Manage synthesis projects: timelines, budgets, deliverables, data management, quality assurance and reporting.
• Mentor and train ILRI and CGIAR scientists, junior researchers and staff in evidence-synthesis methodologies, screening tools (e.g., Covidence, Rayyan, EPPI-Reviewer, SysRev, PROSPERO), meta-analysis software (e.g., RevMan, R, STATA), and best practices in systematic reviewing.
• Substantially contribute to identifying funding opportunities, preparing grant proposals and building partnerships to sustain future evidence-synthesis work.

Professional Development & Strategic Engagement

• Engage in relevant professional development: workshops, networks, methods training to deepen skills in evidence-synthesis innovation and research translation.
• Stay abreast of emerging methodologies, technologies (e.g., machine-learning assisted screening, natural-language-processing in reviews) and global trends in evidence synthesis, food systems research and livestock development.
• Contribute to institutional strategy on evidence-synthesis, data-driven communication and impact-oriented research uptake.

Requirements

• PhD in economics, epidemiology, public health, social sciences, agriculture, veterinary science, food systems with deep expertise in evidence-synthesis methodology or a related field.
• Demonstrated prior experience leading or substantially contributing to systematic reviews, meta-analyses (or scoping reviews, evidence gap maps), especially in the development domain (agri-food systems, livestock, public health, gender, environment).
• Strong publication record (ideally at least two first-author peer-reviewed publications on systematic reviews or meta-analysis) and familiarity with academic publishing processes.
• Proficiency in statistical analysis software and languages (e.g., R, STATA, SPSS, Python) including systematic review and meta-analysis packages and scripting.