"Postdoctoral Research Fellow"

Job Description:

• Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation | Centre for Crop Science
• Full-time fixed-term position for 3 years
• Base salary will be in the range $82,057.75 - $109,246.18 + 17% Superannuation (Academic Level A)
• Based at our Hermitage Research Facility (Warwick) with regular meetings at Gatton and St Lucia Campus

About This Opportunity

We’re looking for a driven Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join a multidisciplinary team transforming the value of sorghum biomass for sustainable agriculture and bio-based industries. Within the ARC Research Hub for Engineering Plants to Replace Fossil Carbon, you’ll collaborate with leading scientists across UQ and partner institutions, including the University of Adelaide, to deliver research with real-world impact.

Project Focus

Sorghum is Australia’s most important summer cereal, producing large amounts of stem biomass with untapped potential for renewable energy and sustainable materials. In this role, you will explore genetic diversity in stem anatomy and lignocellulosic composition, develop high-throughput screening methods, and identify genomic regions linked to key traits. Your work will directly contribute to breeding resilient, high-value sorghum cultivars and advancing solutions that support climate-smart agriculture.

Fieldwork at Hermitage Research Facility (Warwick) and collaboration across Gatton and St Lucia will provide hands-on experience in cutting-edge plant science, giving you the chance to make a tangible impact on sustainable food and energy systems.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Research: Lead and conduct high-quality experimental and analytical plant research, including field trials, phenotypic and anatomical analyses, NIR method development, genetic and genomic studies, publication and presentation of findings, funding applications, and translation of outcomes to industry.
• Supervision and Researcher Development: Provide effective supervision and research support to Honours and HDR students (as appropriate).
• Citizenship and Service: Demonstrate leadership and collaboration by supporting unit operations, contributing to internal and external service activities, fostering positive and inclusive team culture, and building partnerships with industry, government, and the wider community in alignment with UQ values.

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

About You

Essential

• PhD in Crop Physiology or a related field.
• Proven ability to design, execute, and analyse large-scale experiments.
• Programming skills in R or another language for data analysis and strong knowledge of statistical approaches in plant or biological sciences.
• Track record of high-quality research outputs (peer-reviewed publications).
• Experience supervising technical staff and/or students.
• Excellent written and interpersonal communication in English, with the ability to convey messages clearly to diverse audiences.
• Strong time-management skills and ability to meet deadlines.
• Ability to work collaboratively in cross-disciplinary, geographically distributed teams.

• Knowledge and experience in sorghum or other cereals, field trials, plant/crop modelling, genomics, genetics, crop ecophysiology, and agronomy.
• Evidence of contribution to successful external grant applications.
• Experience liaising and collaborating with external agencies for cooperative research initiatives.
• Motor vehicle driver’s licence.

Questions?

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Prof Karine Chenu (karine.chenu@uq.edu.au) or Prof Emma Mace (emma.mace@uq.edu.au).

For application inquiries, please reach out to the Talent Acquisition team at talent@uq.edu.au, stating the job reference number (R-59247) 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

Applications close Sunday January 18th 2026 at 11.00pm AEST (R-59247).