CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellowship in Aquaculture Genetics

CSIRO; Hobart; On-site; AUD 103,000 - 113,000; Full time

Job summary

CSIRO in Hobart, Australia, offers a postdoctoral CSIRO Early Research Career Fellowship in quantitative genetics and genomics to advance aquaculture breeding. The role blends data science, multi-trait and multi-environment modelling, Look-Ahead Genomic Selection and haplotype stacking to craft practical breeding strategies.

You will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to translate research into decision-support tools for breeders, publish findings, and contribute to the innovation system.

Qualifications

• Doctorate (PhD) in a relevant discipline such as quantitative genetics, animal breeding, plant breeding, statistical genetics, genomics.
• Must have up to three years of relevant research experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in modelling and data analysis.
• Strong programming and scientific communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate next-generation quantitative genetic and genomic methods for aquaculture breeding, including multi-trait, multi-environment and G×E×M prediction.
• Develop multi-objective breeding optimisation approaches that balance genetic gain, resilience, sustainability, profitability and genetic diversity.
• Develop and test Look-Ahead Genomic Selection and haplotype-stacking approaches to improve long-term breeding outcomes across generations.
• Build simulation and optimisation frameworks to evaluate breeding strategies under changing environments and management scenarios.
• Integrate genomic prediction, optimisation, mate allocation and look-ahead decision methods into practical breeding decision-support tools.
• Validate methods with simulated and real aquaculture datasets and assess transferability across species.
• Develop reproducible research software, pipelines and documentation.
• Publish and communicate findings, contribute to collaboration and funding opportunities.

Skills

Quantitative genetics

Genomic prediction

R/Python/C++

Large datasets

Breeding optimization

Simulation techniques

Parallel computing

Machine learning

Statistical learning

Scientific communication

Team collaboration

Scientific writing

Education

PhD in quantitative genetics

Tools

R

Python

C++

Job description

Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation .

Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation .

Role highlights

• Advance aquaculture breeding through genetics, genomics and data science
• Develop innovative tools to guide breeding decisions across generations
• Collaborate on supporting a resilient, sustainable aquaculture industry

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years relevant research experience. These Fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system.

Help shape the next generation of aquaculture breeding . In this postdoctoral role, you’ll combine quantitative genetics, genomics, optimisation and data science to develop breeding strategies for high-performing, resilient and adaptable populations across future generations and diverse production environments . Your research will integrate multi-objective optimisation, Look-Ahead Genomic Selection, genotype-by-environment-by-management modelling and haplotype stacking to guide selection and mating decisions.

Working with a collaborative, multidisciplinary team, you’ll translate your research into practical decision-support tools that help breeders balance genetic gain, resilience, adaptability, sustainability and genetic diversity. With scientific, technical and industry support, you’ll develop new ideas, build your research capabilities and deliver outcomes with practical value for the aquaculture industry.

Your high-level duties will include:

• Develop and evaluate next-generation quantitative genetic and genomic methods for aquaculture breeding, including multi-trait, multi-environment and G×E×M prediction.
• Develop multi-objective breeding optimisation approaches that balance genetic gain, resilience, sustainability, profitability and genetic diversity.
• Develop and test Look-Ahead Genomic Selection and haplotype-stacking approaches to improve long-term breeding outcomes across generations.
• Build simulation and optimisation frameworks to evaluate breeding strategies under changing environmental, disease, management and production scenarios.
• Integrate genomic prediction, optimisation, mate allocation and look-ahead decision methods into practical breeding decision-support tools.
• Validate the methods using simulated and real aquaculture datasets and assess their transferability across species and production systems.
• Develop reproducible research software, computational pipelines and technical documentation.
• Publish and communicate research findings, contribute to collaborative research and industry engagement, and support future research and funding opportunities.

Role particulars

Location: On Site in Hobart, TAS

Salary: AU$103k - AU$113k per annum (pro-rata for part-time) + 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Specified term of 3 years, Full‑time

Reference: 104090

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential Criteria

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD). The doctorate must be in a relevant discipline area, such as quantitative genetics, animal breeding, plant breeding, statistical genetics, genomics, or a closely related discipline.

Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (or full-time equivalent) of relevant research experience.

• Strong knowledge of quantitative genetics and/or genomic prediction.
• Demonstrated expertise in statistical modelling and computational analysis.
• Strong programming skills in at least one scientific programming environment such as R, Python or C++.
• Experience analysing large genetic, genomic or biological datasets.
• Develop novel algorithms for multi-stage and long‑term breeding decision optimisation.
• Design and implement scalable computational methods capable of analysing large genomic and phenotypic datasets.
• Apply advanced statistical learning, machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches where appropriate to improve prediction and decision‑making performance.
• Develop efficient software implementations using modern programming practices, parallel computing and reproducible research workflows.
• Evaluate optimisation and prediction methods under uncertainty using simulation‑based experimentation and sensitivity analysis.
• A record of high‑quality scientific publication appropriate to career stage.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively within collaborative and multidisciplinary research teams.
• Strong scientific writing, communication and organisational skills.

Essential Criteria

• Experience in one or more of the following: multi‑objective optimisation, machine learning, Bayesian statistical modelling, stochastic simulation or climate‑resilience modelling.

For full details about this role, please review the Position Description.

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?

While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.

Setting you up for success

We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact Laura Mason via [e-mail] and let us know how we can support you.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO , offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO .

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents, and Australian Temporary Residents who hold a valid working visa. Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Child safety

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy .

Applications close

24 November 2026, 11:00pm AEDT