The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is seeking a bovine TB scientist with a salary range of between £35,857 and £38,551.

The deadline for applications to the role is 11:55p.m on Friday, July 26, 2024.

APHA is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), and works on behalf of the Scottish government and Welsh government.

Its workforce, made up of over 3,000 people, aims to provide research, advice and support to the UK government for safeguarding animal, public and plant health for the benefit of the environment and economy.

The chosen candidate for the position will provide scientific and technical expertise for a range of projects with an immunology and vaccinology focus in the field of bovine TB.

This could include the development of new diagnostic assays and tests, APHA said.

"This post provides the opportunity for the chosen candidate to acquire knowledge and experience across the field of TB research, which forms part of Defra’s 25 years plan to eliminate bovine TB in the UK by 2038."

This post is based at the Weybridge APHA laboratories. Attendance at the laboratories is essential, and therefore the post holder needs to be able to work from the APHA Weybridge site.

Qualifications and responsibilities

The chosen candidate for the position will have be a biological sciences graduate with a higher degree (masters, PhD) and/or relevant equivalent research experience.

The responsibilities of the role include:

Be responsible for the generation and analysis of immunological test data, with hands-on scientific involvement in, and oversight of, the day to day running of a given area of research work;
Preparation of data for presentation (oral and/or written);
Oversight of the workgroup TB biological archive, coordinating collaboration with external partners as required;
Contribution to other research work within the workgroup as required;
May involve the supervision/line management of junior staff;
Act as a room officer within the immunology laboratory suite, implementing and maintaining good practice and standards therein;
May involve experimental infection work for which the candidate would need to hold a Home Office licence or be willing to undertake training for a licence;
May involve the post mortem of infected animals in contained facilities, and mycobacterial culture of PM tissues in a CL3 laboratory.