Research Support Assistant (Stellenbosch)

Agricultural Research Council; Stellenbosch; On-site; ZAR 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent agricultural research institution in Stellenbosch is looking for a Research Support Assistant to collaborate on grapevine breeding tasks and assist with various laboratory procedures. The ideal candidate has strong hand-eye coordination, attention to detail, and experience with young plants. The position involves both fieldwork and lab duties, providing a great opportunity to contribute to agricultural research.

Qualifications

• Experience working in environments requiring good hand-eye coordination.
• Experience in tissue culture or laboratory preferred.
• Experience working with young plants, especially grape plants.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with researchers on grapevine breeding and evaluation.
• Assist with flower emasculation and pollination.
• Perform embryo rescue procedures for tissue culture.

Skills

Hand-eye coordination

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Education

Grade 10

Job description

Overview

Job title : Research Support Assistant (Stellenbosch)

Job Location : Western Cape, Stellenbosch

Deadline : September 22, 2025

Category: Agriculture / Agro-Allied jobs

Description

• Execute tasks in collaboration with researchers on breeding and evaluation of grapevine.
• Assist with flower emasculation and pollination.
• Embryo rescue procedures (tissue culture of seedless grape crosses). This includes aseptic removal of rudimentary seeds from surface sterilized berries (crosses), culture & dissection of rudimentary seeds to remove embryos for further culture & development and transferring germinating embryos to glass jars.
• Plant seedlings from glass jars to seed trays to harden-off plants from tissue culture.
• Plant seedlings from seed trays to plastic plant bags.
• Assist with tending to plants in greenhouses and tunnels (watering, weeding, fertigation).
• Assist with monitoring of pests and diseases in tunnels and greenhouses.
• Washing glassware and general cleaning of laboratory.
• Correct use of equipment according to specification (autoclaves, stereo microscopes, laminar flow benches, etc.).
• Keep equipment neat and clean.
• Any other ad hoc tasks that may be reasonable to be assigned to the job incumbent.

Requirements

• Grade 10 with experience working in an environment where good hand-eye coordination skills are required.
• Attention to detail and work accuracy is extremely important (rudimentary seeds and especially embryos are very small & very steady hands are needed to not damage embryos when dissecting rudimentary seeds).
• Previous experience working in a tissue culture or other laboratory will be a recommendation.
• Experience working in nurseries and with young plants (especially with grape plants) will be a recommendation.
• Experience in a work environment where tasks are repetitive.
• Excellent communication skills (mostly verbal but also written).
• Valid driver’s licence recommended, but not excluding applicants.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS : 18 SEPTEMBER 2025