Post-Doctoral Fellow (Adaptive Immune Responses)

Job Description:

• Employment Type: Full Time, 35 hours per week
• Duration: 12 months fixed term
• Remuneration: Research Level A $113K- $121K (based on experience) + 17% super+ annual leave loading
• Location: Kensington Campus, New South Wales. This is an onsite position.
• Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Candidates must hold unrestricted work rights to be considered for this position.

Position Summary

Under the supervision of Snow Fellow Dr Deborah Burnett, this Post-Doctoral Fellow position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research investigating how the adaptive immune system, and in particular B cells, recognise and responds to foreign and self-antigens. The successful candidate will employ a broad suite of immunological and molecular tools—such as flow cytometry, cell-culture, multi-parameter immunofluorescent histology, single-cell RNA sequencing, data analysis and in vivo models—to interrogate B cell responses in human samples and pre-clinical systems. This research aims to generate mechanistic insight into immune tolerance and autoimmunity, with translational relevance to infection, vaccination, and immune-mediated disease.

This position is ideal for an early-career postdoctoral researcher with strong technical expertise, excellent organisational and communication skills, and a passion for scientific discovery. You will join a supportive, collaborative and productive research environment that encourages independence and fosters career development.

Some key skills required:

• A PhD in immunology with a focus on adaptive immune responses.
• Demonstrated technical experience in techniques relevant to exploration of the adaptive immune response including processing and analysing human and/or animal samples, multi-colour flow cytometry, histology, cell sorting, ELISA, PCR, molecular cloning and RNA sequencing workflows (e.g., single-cell or bulk).
• High attention to detail and excellent record keeping in both laboratory notebooks and digital data management systems.
• Ability to work independently, take scientific initiative, and drive projects forward, while also contributing effectively to a collaborative team environment.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to build professional relationships with collaborators, students, and technical staff.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, and capacity to learn new techniques.
• High levels of emotional intelligence, with a professional, respectful, and self-aware approach to teamwork and collaboration.

Desirable:

• Experience in managing mouse colonies or human patient samples, including ethical and procedural compliance
• Prior experience working in a research team studying adaptive immune repertoires, immune tolerance, vaccinology or autoimmune mechanisms.
• Experience with bioinformatics pipelines for analysing transcriptomic or repertoire sequencing data.

Please refer to the position description for full details.

Benefits and Culture:

UNSW offer a competitive salary and access to a plethora of UNSW-perks including:

• Career development opportunities
• 17% Superannuation contributions and additional leave loading payments
• 10 days paid cultural leave per year
• Additional 3 days of leave over Christmas period
• Discounts and entitlements (retail, education, fitness)

More information on the great staff benefits and culture can be found here

How to Apply:

To be considered for this role, you must address the Selection Criteria which are outlined in the “Skills and Experience” section of the position description. Applications that do not address these criteria will not be considered. For more information, refer to the Position Description available on JOBS@UNSW.

Make each day matter with a meaningful career at UNSW. Submit your application including your resume & cover letter online before Sunday 31st May at 11:55pm. A copy of the Position Description can be found on JOBS@UNSW.