About This Opportunity

Create change with impact as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow contributing to the future of profitable and sustainable agriculture.

In this role, you’ll focus your research on improving field crop adaptive traits — from resource-use efficiency to yield performance — helping to address global challenges in food security and climate resilience. Working within a world-class research environment, you’ll combine your skills in plant and crop physiology, modelling, phenotyping, data science, and statistics to uncover insights that drive real-world improvements in crop productivity.

You’ll collaborate with leading researchers and industry partners to translate discovery into impact, developing your research profile while contributing to outcomes that matter to farmers, communities, and the planet.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Advance innovative research in crop adaptive trait physiology and modelling across multiple crops (including cereals and legumes), develop crop modelling software, combining modelling and experimental approaches to improve yield and resource-use efficiency.
• Collaborate, mentor, and grow—supervise students, contribute to joint research projects and funding applications, and help develop an emerging research program with real-world impact.
• Translate discovery into change by publishing in high-quality journals, engaging with industry and research partners, and contributing to UQ’s collaborative and purpose-driven research community.

This is a research focused position. Further information can be found by viewing UQ’s Criteria for Academic Performance.

About You

• Completion or near completion of a PhD in Crop Science, Plant/Crop Physiology, Mathematical Modelling or a related field
• Experience and expertise in modelling crop adaptive traits and experimentation
• Evidence of publications in reputed refereed journals and presenting at conferences
• Demonstrated experience in organising tasks, working effectively in multi-disciplinary teams or individually and meeting deadlines.
• Good interpersonal skills, including the initiative, drive and flexibility to achieve results.
• High levels of personal integrity, transparency and capability.
• Experience in crop model coding is desirable.
• Experience in statistical analysis and data visualisation (e.g. R, Python) is desirable.

The successful candidate may be required to complete a number of pre-employment checks, including: right to work in Australia and education check.

Relocating from interstate or overseas? We may support you with obtaining employer-sponsored work rights and a relocation support package. You can find out more about life in Australia’s Sunshine State here.

Questions?

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Dr Alex Wu at c.wu1@uq.edu.au.

For application inquiries, please reach out to the Talent Acquisition team at talent@uq.edu.au, stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line.

Want to Apply?

We welcome applications from all individuals and are committed to an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. To be considered, please ensure you upload:

• Resume
• Cover letter
• Responses to the ‘About You’ section

Our strength as an institution lies in our diverse colleagues. We're dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion, fostering an environment that mirrors our wider community. We're committed to attracting, retaining, and promoting diverse talent. If you require an alternative method to submit your application due to accessibility needs or personal circumstances, please contact talent@uq.edu.au.

Other Information

UQ is committed to a fair, equitable and inclusive selection process, which recognises that some applicants may face additional barriers and challenges which have impacted and/or continue to impact their career trajectory. Candidates who don’t meet all criteria are encouraged to apply and demonstrate their potential. The selection panel considers both potential and performance relative to opportunities when assessing suitability for the role.

Applications close Sunday 11 January 2026 at 11.00pm AEST (R-57918). Please note that interviews have been tentatively scheduled for late January/early February 2026.

Full-time fixed-term position for 2 years

Base salary will be in the range $82,057.75 - $109,246.18 + 17% Superannuation (Academic Level A)

Based at our St Lucia Campus

Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation | Centre for Crop Science