General Summary

Job Description 2: Postdoctoral Fellow in Pathogen Genomics (One Health Focus)

• Position Title:  Postdoctoral Fellow – Pathogen Genomics
• Department: Global Health Security
• Project: Professor Sewankambo Global Health Security Training Program in Africa
• Reports To: Deputy Head of Department 
• Duration: One year, renewable
• Location: IDI-McKinnell MKC, Makerere University Campus
• Application Deadline:  Two weeks after the advert date

Position Overview

We are seeking a dynamic Postdoctoral Fellow with expertise in pathogen genomics to strengthen our global health security program, with a particular emphasis on One Health approaches. The role integrates genomics applications with practical contributions to business development, scientific documentation, and program implementation to combat infectious diseases at the human-animal-environment interface.

Key Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Business Development: Contribute to the development of high-quality business and funding proposals, including concept notes, grant applications, and partnership pitches targeting donors, governments, and international organizations.
• Scientific Documentation: Support the preparation of scientific manuscripts, technical reports, policy briefs, protocols, and other documentation for internal and external stakeholders. The postdoc shall also support the presentation of research findings at conferences, workshops, and partner events.
• Program Delivery: Actively participate in the implementation of ongoing and new Global Health Security initiatives, including data analysis, modeling, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building activities.
• Science & Innovation: Conduct independent and collaborative studies focused on epidemic-prone pathogens and genomic data.
• Collaborations: Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams (including clinicians, epidemiologists, and policymakers) to translate computational insights into actionable public health strategies.

Academic Qualifications

• PhD in Pathogen genomics, Immunology, Pathology, Computational Biology, Medicine, Advanced Microbiology, Veterinary Medicine, Molecular Biology, or a related field, completed within the last 2 years (or soon to be completed).
• Candidates who have submitted and are awaiting thesis defense are eligible

Person Specification

Qualifications and Requirements

• Education: PhD in Pathogen genomics, Immunology, Pathology, Computational Biology, Medicine, Advanced Microbiology, Veterinary Medicine, Molecular Biology, or a related field, completed within the last 2 years (or soon to be completed). Candidates who have submitted and are awaiting thesis defense are eligible.
• Technical Expertise: Strong foundation in epidemics-related genomics, with specific interest or experience in one health applications (human-animal-environment interfaces). Familiarity with filovirus and large-scale genomic datasets like PathogenWatch is essential.
• Experience: Track record of scientific output (publications preferred). Recent PhD graduates or candidates finalizing their doctorate are welcome.
• Skills: Proficiency in genomic data tools, analysis software, and scripting languages (e.g., Python, R, Bash). Excellent scientific writing and interpersonal skills. Ability to thrive in collaborative, applied settings.
• Personal Attributes: Innovative, collaborative, committed to translational science, and eager to contribute to real-world global health solutions.

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More Details

Job Code: PDF - X003
No of Position: 1
Station: MKC
Classification: Scholar
Duration: 6 Months
Reports to: Deputy Head of Department
Posted Date: 2026-09-24 09:56:39.000
Closing Date: 2026-10-09 23:59:00.000

Postdoctoral Fellow (1)

Job Description 2: Postdoctoral Fellow in Pathogen Genomics (One Health Focus)

• Position Title:  Postdoctoral Fellow – Pathogen Genomics
• Department: Global Health Security
• Project: Professor Sewankambo Global Health Security Training Program in Africa
• Reports To: Deputy Head of Department 
• Duration: One year, renewable
• Location: IDI-McKinnell MKC, Makerere University Campus
• Application Deadline:  Two weeks after the advert date

Position Overview

We are seeking a dynamic Postdoctoral Fellow with expertise in pathogen genomics to strengthen our global health security program, with a particular emphasis on One Health approaches. The role integrates genomics applications with practical contributions to business development, scientific documentation, and program implementation to combat infectious diseases at the human-animal-environment interface.

Research Fellow (3)

ACCEPT-Africa Targeted Research Awards for Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness

Background

The African Consortium for Clinical Evidence, Pharmacology and Translational Research (ACCEPT-Africa) is a multidisciplinary, multi-country research consortium under the Africa Pandemic Sciences Collaborative (EPSILON-1). Led by the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Makerere University, Uganda, ACCEPT-Africa brings together research institutions and investigators from Uganda, Tanzania (Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Catholic University of Bukavu), South Africa (University of Cape Town), and Italy (University of Turin) to strengthen Africa's capacity to develop, evaluate, and deploy medical countermeasures for epidemic- and pandemic-prone diseases.

ACCEPT-Africa integrates expertise in early-phase clinical trials, clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD), implementation science, infectious diseases, laboratory sciences, regulatory science, and epidemic preparedness.

The consortium is guided by three strategic objectives:

1. Advance the clinical development of medical countermeasures targeting priority pathogens;
2. Strengthen epidemic–pandemic research ecosystems; and
3. Build sustainable capacity for early-phase clinical trials targeting priority pathogens.

To advance these objectives, ACCEPT-Africa invites applications from individual researchers for Targeted Research Awards addressing priority scientific and operational gaps relevant to medical countermeasure development and epidemic clinical research.

Purpose of the Call

The ACCEPT-Africa Targeted Research Awards will provide catalytic funding for focused, high-impact and implementation-oriented research projects that can generate preliminary evidence, address critical knowledge or methodological gaps, strengthen existing research platforms, and contribute to the development and evaluation of medical countermeasures for priority pathogens.

A total of three awards will be available, with funding of up to US$15,000 per project for an implementation period of up to 12 months.

The call is specifically intended to support research that can leverage existing ACCEPT-Africa platforms, cohorts, protocols, laboratory capabilities, partnerships and research infrastructure to achieve clearly defined outputs within the award period.

Applicants must submit a proposal addressing one of the three priority research areas below.

Priority Research Areas

Priority Area 1: Pharmacokinetics of drugs used for diseases of outbreak potential

Priority Area 2: Biomarkers and diagnostics for drug development which could be viral, immunological or other markers that can be used to assess treatment response or severity of highly infectious diseases of outbreak potential

Priority Area 3: Social and Behavioral Research on Epidemic Clinical Trials

Funding Available

ACCEPT-Africa intends to make three competitive research awards, subject to satisfactory scientific review and availability of funds.

Maximum Award

Each successful project may receive funding of up to US$15,000.

Applicants are expected to submit realistic and well-justified budgets directly linked to the proposed research activities and outputs.

Eligible costs may include research personnel support, laboratory reagents and consumables, sample processing and analysis, data collection, participant-related research costs, field activities, data management and analysis, stakeholder/community engagement directly related to the research, and dissemination of findings.

Major capital equipment and costs not directly attributable to delivery of the proposed research should generally not constitute a substantial proportion of the requested budget.

Application Requirements

Applicants should submit a concise application package containing:                  

1. CV and personal statement (use the NIH template)
2. 2 letters of recommendations (ACCEPT-Africa site PI and one proposed mentor)
3. Proposal (download the template.docx)
4. Budget (maximum US$15,000)

Key Timelines

Milestone	Date/Period
Call opens	September 2026
Application deadline	16th October 2026
Scientific and technical review	November 2026
Notification of successful applicants	Late November 2026
Anticipated project commencement	December 2026

Applications must be received by 16th October 2026. Late or substantially incomplete applications will not be considered.