PhD Graduate Fellow - Genomic Data Modelling for Public Health Response

About the role

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in collaboration with the Genomic Pathogen Analysis Platform (GPAP) at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), is hiring a PhD Graduate Fellow (ref. ILRI PhD GF/Health/01/2026) hosted by ILRI’s Health program in Nairobi, Kenya. The 3-year fellowship focuses on building predictive computational models that translate metagenomic sequencing data from 30 urban wastewater sites into actionable outbreak intelligence for public health agencies. The fellowship provides a competitive stipend covering living expenses, medical coverage, tuition, and research costs. Deadline: 3 June 2026.

Responsibilities

• Curate and harmonise metagenomic and clinical surveillance datasets for integration and modelling.
• Develop predictive models linking pathogen abundance in wastewater to community-level disease indicators.
• Apply machine learning and statistical modelling approaches to multi-source genomic data.
• Build operational tools (thresholds, automated alerts) for use by national public health agencies.
• Publish peer-reviewed research and contribute to policy guidance documents.
• Present findings at ILRI, DTU, and international public health conferences.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Data Science, or Genomics.
• Proficiency in Python and/or R with relevant scientific libraries.
• Experience with workflow orchestration tools (Nextflow, Slurm, or Snakemake).
• Docker and containerisation experience.
• Version control with Git/GitHub.
• Background in genomic or metagenomic data analysis.
• Experience with machine learning or statistical modelling applied to biological data.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with wastewater-based epidemiology or environmental surveillance.
• Prior work in African public health data systems or low-resource computing environments.
• Experience with model evaluation, cross-validation, and bias assessment in genomic datasets.

How to apply

Apply through the ILRI recruitment portal at ilri.simplicant.com. Submit a cover letter, CV with contact details for three referees, and academic transcripts. Clearly state reference number ILRI PhD GF/Health/01/2026 in the subject line of your cover letter. Deadline: 3 June 2026.