The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a PhD graduate fellow to work on Urban livestock keeping and the transforming food systems in the Global South to be hosted under the Animal and Human Health (AHH) program at ILRI.

ILRI works to improve food and nutritional security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe and sustainable use of livestock. It is the only one of 15 CGIAR research centers dedicated entirely to animal agriculture research for the developing world. Co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, it has regional or country offices in East, South and Southern Asia as well as Central, East, Southern and West Africa. www.ilri.org

The AHH program seeks to effectively manage or eliminate livestock, zoonotic and food-borne diseases that matter to the poor through the generation and use of knowledge, technologies and products, leading to higher farmer incomes and better health and nutrition for consumers and livestock. https://www.ilri.org/research/programs/animal-and-human-health

About The Position

By 2050, more than two thirds of the world will live in urban areas. Food systems need to urgently transform to ensure they deliver healthy and nutritious diets to the growing urbanizing centers. The CGIAR has launched a new research initiative that will look at how to support cities to transform their urban food systems to meet the nutrition, health, and wealth needs of urban citizens in the Global South. The Resilient Cities initiative will work in capitals of 6 countries across South America, Africa and Asia to find science-based solutions to pressing urban food systems questions.

Feeding a healthy diet and offering a wealthy life within environmental boundaries to the urbanizing world are some of the biggest challenges of our times. Containing the public health risks associated with the growingly complex food systems is another pressing challenge. A part of the food production required to feed the growing cities takes place in urban and peri-urban areas. This includes livestock keeping in urban and peri-urban systems, which is an important source of income for low-income families and an important occupation for women, who are usually in charge of small-livestock keeping. At the same time, livestock keeping in urban settings presents many challenges, including role in zoonotic disease spread, noise and waste production. Livestock keeping management policies go from “benign neglect” to “active opposition” to livestock keeping in urban settings.

This fellowship will focus on mapping and describing urban livestock systems in selected cities in Africa and Asia, understanding the drivers of livestock keeping, the uses and purposes and their contribution to livelihoods and food systems in cities. The fellow will characterize livestock keeping in urbanizing cities and develop recommendations for policy makers and development organizations to guide the transformation of livestock keeping in urban settings. The fellow will also develop and test tools that could support future studies on urban livestock keeping.

Responsibilities Of The Fellow

• Development of research questions and PhD project proposal.
• Development of research tools and study design(s).
• Implementation of field activities, including supervision and coordination of field teams and field activities.
• Complete required courses and trainings offered at the university and/or ILRI.
• Present research findings at conferences and meetings.
• Write up of research outputs (incl. scientific reports, peer-reviewed publications, briefs and thesis).

Minimum Requirements For The Ideal Candidate

• Degree in agriculture, veterinary medicine, public health, epidemiology, or related field.
• MSc in agriculture, veterinary medicine, public health, epidemiology, or related field.
• Research or work experience in low- and-middle-income countries, in particular Kenya, Ethiopia, Bangladesh.
• Evidence of data analysis experience, such as using a statistical software and data bases, and report writing.
• Ability to jointly work in a multi-national, multi-disciplinary team of scientists and technicians.
• Demonstrate some experience in participating and conducting fieldwork.
• Excellent command in English language, both in written and spoken.

Location: ILRI Ethiopia.

Duration: 4 Years (Sept 2022 – Aug 2026)

Terms of appointment and stipend: ILRI will offer a competitive stipend to cover living expenses in the project location, medical insurance cover, tuition costs and meet research expenses. The successful candidate will be supervised jointly by an ILRI scientist and the university/academic supervisor/s.