Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Agricultural Systems Assessment

About the role

The University of Queensland offers a full-time, fixed-term position (up to 2 years) as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Agricultural Systems Assessment, based at the St Lucia campus. It sits within the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation's Centre for Crop Science and contributes to SorGain, a research, development and extension program co-funded by GRDC and UQ to improve Australian sorghum production. The fellow leads the day-to-day delivery of the Knowledge Integration, Grower Insight and Decision Frameworks work package.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct regional evidence syntheses and meta-analyses of sorghum agronomy, integrating agronomic, survey and decision data using qualitative, mixed-method, statistical and machine-learning approaches, and turn findings into practical decision-support resources.
• Lead stakeholder decision research with growers, advisers and industry representatives, covering research design, sampling, ethics, quality assurance, interviews, focus groups and participatory workshops.
• Support the supervision and development of Honours and Higher Degree by Research students, research assistants and project staff through mentoring and methodological advice.
• Coordinate project activities, milestones, risks and reporting, contribute to publications and funding proposals, and represent SorGain and QAAFI at scientific and industry forums.

Required profile

• A PhD or a doctoral thesis submitted in agronomy, crop science, farming systems, agricultural systems science, agricultural extension or innovation, decision science or a closely related discipline, with a substantial applied crop-agronomy component.
• Demonstrated expertise in crop agronomy and broadacre farming systems, including interpreting genotype, environment, management, operational constraints and seasonal risk interactions.
• Experience in adaptive, participatory or on-farm research and in designing and analysing qualitative or mixed-method research with growers and advisers.
• Strong quantitative and computational skills, including analysis of complex agronomic, environmental, survey or behavioural data with R, Python or equivalent.
• Experience in evidence synthesis, meta-analysis and integrating heterogeneous datasets, with attention to study design, data quality, uncertainty and reproducibility.
• Ability to engage with growers, advisers, industry, government and research partners, and to travel regularly to sorghum-growing regions of Queensland and New South Wales.
• An emerging or established record of peer-reviewed publications, and the ability to write technical reports and present clearly.
• For Academic Level B: at least 3 years of independent research beyond the doctorate, leadership of significant research components, and evidence of supervision, funding proposals or partnership work.

Required skills

• R, Python or equivalent for data analysis
• Evidence synthesis and meta-analysis
• Qualitative and mixed-method research design
• Knowledge of sorghum or dryland broadacre cereals is advantageous; field trials, farmer-participatory research, SQL or AI-supported decision support are also advantageous

What we offer

• Base salary of $85,373 to $113,660 plus 17% super at Academic Level A, or $119,463 to $141,545 plus 17% super at Academic Level B.
• Access to world-class facilities, grant-writing support and research funding opportunities.
• Group of Eight university membership, up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave, 17.5% annual leave loading, flexible working and internal-only vacancies.

Applications close 25 October 2026. Applicants must upload a resume, cover letter and answers to the 'About You' section; pre-employment checks may include right to work, qualification and criminal history checks, and unrestricted work rights in Australia are required.