Human Nutritionist

The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) – a member of the CGIAR Consortium (www.cgiar.org) – develops technologies, innovative methods and new knowledge that better enable farmers, especially smallholders, to make agriculture competitive and profitable as well as sustainable and resilient. CIAT conducts research for development in tropical regions of South East Asia, Latin America and Sub Saharan Africa (www.ciat.cgiar.org).

CIAT is seeking a Human Nutritionist to link agriculture and human health researchers as part of CRP4 – Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (http://www.a4nh.cgiar.org/). Biofortification work is carried out under Harvest Plus (www.harvestplus.org) and activities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is coordinated by Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria (EMBRAPA).

Role and responsibilities

• Provide intellectual leadership to nutrition research in relation to real and potential impact of biofortified crops and food products on human nutrition and health in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Provide leadership to the integration of biofortification into national food and nutrition security plans, policies, projects and programs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Lead the mainstreaming of Biofortfication as a strategy with the LAC regional nutritionists to scale up efforts for biofortification activities in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
• Promote the Nutrition Quality Laboratory based at CIAT with the food industry to drum up long-term and short-term projects related to Biofortification.
• Design and evaluate human health interventions using biofortified crops.

Requirements

The candidate shall have the following competencies, skills and experience and/or shall have successfully demonstrated these attributes in actual work situations:

• Advanced degree in Human Nutrition or a related discipline (PhD preferred).
• Bring a nutrition perspective and orientation to the breeding, diagnostic, impact assessment and seed systems teams
• A demonstrated record of achievements in micronutrient research related to human health and design of public health intervention
• Very good verbal and writing skills in English and Spanish

The statements in this description represent typical elements, criteria and general work performed. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills for this job.

Terms of employment

The position will be based at CIAT Head Quarters in Cali, Colombia in the scientist category. The initial contract will be for two (2) years, subject to a probation period of three (3) months, and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources.

CIAT offers a multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary and excellent benefits; we believe that the diversity of their staff contributes to excellence.

Applications

Applicants are invited to send a cover letter illustrating their suitability for the above position against the listed qualifications, competencies, skills together with a detailed curriculum vitae, including names and addresses of three referees.

All correspondence should be addressed to the CIAT Human Resources Office, and email applications to Isabella Botero (i.botero@cgiar.org) and should clearly indicate “Scientist/ Human Nutritionist” on the subject line.

The position is open until filled

We invite you to learn more about HarvestPlus and CIAT by accessing the websites www.harvestplus.org and www.ciat.cgiar.org respectively.