Research Assistant – AgriFuTech (Model Development), 1 FTE, School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, 011982

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time fixed-term position as a Research Assistant on the AgriFuTech (Model Development) project in the research group of Dr. Peter McKeown within AgriBiosciences, Food Security & Climate Change Research Group, Agriculture, Good Systems & Bioeconomy Research Centre, Ryan Institute & School of Biological & Chemical Sciences,

College of Science & Engineering at the University of Galway, Ireland.

This position is funded by Research Ireland’s ARC Hub for ICT, based at TU Dublin and is available immediately to 31st October 2027.

Overview of the Project: The AgriFuTech project aims to cut crop breeding timelines and costs by developing a unified AI-Driven Genomic Prediction Engine for High-Dimensional Biological Data that works across crops, traits, and species. Current genomic prediction tools struggle with scale, noise, and generalisation, driving up costs, lengthening breeding cycles, and leaving available data under-utilised. Unlike existing pipelines that rely on extensive feature engineering, marker and species-specific tuning, AgriFuTech learns directly from high-dimensional, noisy data and maintains performance across traits, species, and environments. This reduces dependence on specialist bioinformatics teams, lowers deployment friction, and opens the door to rapid reuse across crops and a compelling case for commercial seed companies, public breeding programmes, and specialty crop developers. See: https://ict.archub.ie/

Salary: Research Assistant salary scale €34,129- €44,311 per annum, (subject to the project’s funding limitations), and pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 17:00 (Irish Time) on 28th of October 2026. It will not be possible to consider applications received after the closing date.

Research Assistant – AgriFuTech (Model Development), Agriculture & Bioeconomy Research Centre, Ryan Institute & School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, University of Galway Ref. No. 011982 JOB ADVERTISEMENT Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time fixed-term position as a Research Assistant on the AgriFuTech (Model Development) project in the research group of Dr. Peter McKeown within AgriBiosciences, Food Security & Climate Change Research Group, Agriculture, Good Systems & Bioeconomy Research Centre, Ryan Institute & School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, College of Science & Engineering at the University of Galway, Ireland.

This position is funded by Research Ireland’s ARC Hub for ICT, based at TU Dublin and is available immediately to 31st October 2027.

Overview of the Project: The AgriFuTech project aims to cut crop breeding timelines and costs by developing a unified AI-Driven Genomic Prediction Engine for High -Dimensional Biological Data that works across crops, traits, and species. Current genomic prediction tools struggle with scale, noise, and generalisation, driving up costs, lengthening breeding cycles, and leaving available data under-utilised. Unlike existing pipelines that rely on extensive feature engineering, marker and species -specific tuning, AgriFuTech learns directly from high - dimensional, noisy data and maintains performance across traits, species, and environments. This reduces dependence on specialist bioinformatics teams, lowers deployment friction, and opens the door to rapid reuse across crops and a compelling case for commercial seed companies, public breeding programmes, and specialty crop developers. See: https://ict.archub.ie/

Salary: Research Assistant salary scale €34,129- €44,311 per annum, (subject to the project’s funding limitations), and pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts. The default position for all new public sector appointments is the 1st point of the salary scale. This may be reviewed, and consideration afforded to appointment at a higher point on the payscale (subject to the project’s funding limitations), where evidence of prior years’ equivalent experience is accepted in determining placement on the scale above point 1, subject to the maximum of the scale. Research Salary Scales - University of Galway

Closing date for receipt of applications is 17:00 (Irish Time) on 28th of October 2026. It will not be possible to consider applications received after the closing date.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The successful candidate for the AgriFuTech RA (model development) will be an ambitious, proactive, and innovative professional with demonstrated expertise in computational science, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning as applied to current topics in agri -food systems. They will combine technical excellence with strategic vision, with the ability to contribute to the leadership of multidisciplinary initiatives, develop innovative research and analytical capabilities, and work in teams translating complex data into impactful solutions that support research, innovation, and evidence -based decision -making for sustainable agricultural systems.

The individual will work in partnership with colleagues in the research group and their collaborators, including participating in relevant ARC Hub for ICT training, commercialisation and stakeholder engagement sessions, while exercising a degree of independence and contributing to the conception, design, and implementation of solutions. The role requires organisational skills, capacity for self-learning, and an ability to drive innovation across the group's research and development portfolio.

We are particularly interested to hear from candidates with an interest in building solutions from an early - stage architecture (rather than joining an already mature product), and a willingness to engage with users and understand real problems rather than simply implementing specifications.

Duties: • Contribute strategic and technical input to the AgriBiosciences, Food Security & Climate Change research group, including the implementation of computational and data-driven solutions in areas of relevance. • Drive the application of advanced computational methods to act as a backend for pipelines for handling crop breeding data and other complex challenges in agricultural genetics and related research domains. • Coordinate and undertake research activities, while supporting collaborative initiatives with multidisciplinary teams, external partners, stakeholders, and the ARC Hub for ICT team. • Help to identify emerging opportunities for innovation, proactively propose new research and commercial initiatives, and contribute to the strategic growth of the group's digital and analytical capabilities. • Ensure adherence to best practices in data quality, governance, and reproducibility. • Present research progress, technical outputs, and strategic recommendations to project teams, collaborators, stakeholders, funders, and wider audiences as appropriate. • Support the mentoring and development of students, researchers, and team members in relevant methodologies. • Actively contribute to research funding applications , innovation activities, knowledge transfer initiatives, and the translation of research outputs into practical impact. • Maintain awareness of and ensure compliance with relevant University, sectoral, and funder policies and procedures, including research ethics, data governance, intellectual property, commercialisation, equality, diversity and inclusion, and health and safety requirements. • Any other duties assigned commensurate to this level of post.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Essential Requirements:

• Masters degree (or higher) in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence or a closely related discipline. • Demonstrated ability to develop reliable, maintainable backend systems for data management pipelines. • Proven capacity with data handling and architectural thinking , including the ability to work with complex relationships between datasets, models, decisions, actions and outcomes and demonstrated interest in distributed and heterogeneous systems. • Advanced expertise in translating of architectural requirements into practical implementations. • A collaborative and interdisciplinary mindset , including capability to contribute to problem-solving, independent working, and collaborations with frontend developers, plant scientists, breeders, data scientists and other technical contributors.

Desirable Requirements: • Experience with Python and modern backend frameworks , PostgreSQL or other relational databases and data modelling. • Experience with REST APIs and/or event-driven architectures, and with docker and cloud technologies. • Excellence understanding of data provenance, versioning, audit trails or temporal data. • Experience with scientific computing, ML pipelines or computational workflows. • Experience integrating heterogeneous databases, APIs, files or external systems. • Familiarity with BrAPI, breeding-management systems, bioinformatics or agricultural data would be a strong advantage. • Experience with local/HPC computational environments would also be valuable as AgriFutech intends to support cloud, local and hybrid deployment models.

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Researchers at University of Galway are encouraged to avail of a range of training and development opportunities designed to support their personal career development plans. University of Galway provides continuing professional development supports for all researchers seeking to build their own career pathways either within or beyond academia. Researchers are encouraged to engage with our Researcher Development Centre (RDC) upon commencing employment - see HERE for further information.

FURTHER INFORMATION/LINKS

• TO APPLY: Search Current University of Galway vacancies. Applications must be submitted online. o How to apply guide

• For informal enquiries, please contact: Dr. Peter McKeown, [email protected] and Pouya Motienoparvar, [email protected]

• University's Strategic Plan

• Working in Research at University of Galway

• Moving to Ireland (Euraxess)

• Applicant Information

• We reserve the right to re-advertise or extend the closing date for this post.

• University of Galway is an equal opportunities employer.

• All positions are recruited in line with Open, Transparent, Merit (OTM) and Competency based recruitment.