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Bioinformatics training officer

November 4, 2022

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General information

  • Contract: TV-L 13, full-time, 3 years
  • Location: Freiburg, Germany
  • Closing date: January 2023, 9th
  • Position start: After March 2023, 1st
  • Contact: Bérénice Batut, Björn Grüning

Are you passionate about training in life sciences? The Freiburg Galaxy Team is looking for a team member who will develop, coordinate and implement training programs within international communities, especially via BioNT, a new multi-organization project funded by the European Commission, and via the Galaxy Training Network (GTN).

Within the University of Freiburg and the Bioinformatics Group Freiburg (headed by Prof. Dr. Rolf Backofen), the Freiburg Galaxy Team is led by Björn Grüning and is part of ELIXIR Germany. The team develops and offers several services to enable reproducible and accessible research for everyone. The flagship service is the European Galaxy server UseGalaxy.eu, with 50,000+ users who have access to an open-access computational infrastructure through Galaxy as a gateway for data resources, tools, and applications for FAIR data analysis. The team is also deeply involved in training and capacity building, e.g. in data analysis, programming, data management, and Galaxy server administration. The Freiburg Galaxy Team is very active in the community-driven development and maintenance of Galaxy Training Network (GTN) material, the Street Science Community, and also in the Open Life Science program. The team is also strongly connected with international training communities such as the ELIXIR Training platform, GOBLET, and Life Science Trainers.

The BioNT (Bio Network for Training) project is a consortium of 10 partners from Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and Norway and is led by EMBL Heidelberg. It aims at increasing computational literacy and capacity by providing short training courses to a diverse audience, from job-seekers to managers of companies, active in biotechnology, bio-data, and software development across the Life Sciences. The initiative will provide a unique opportunity for interaction between academic and industrial stakeholders, in particular with excellent training providers from both sectors. The project structure is inspired by The Carpentries and close interactions are anticipated.

Your role

The successful candidate will work as part of the Freiburg Galaxy team in the Bioinformatics Group Freiburg and with stakeholders across the BioNT consortium and the GTN. You will:

  • Develop the training strategy of the team together with the GTN

    • Identify the training needs
    • Organize bioinformatics and computational training courses and workshops
    • Develop collaboratively high-quality training materials
    • Review training materials
    • Contribute to the editorial board and maintenance of the GTN
    • Encourage and empower community members

  • Participate, lead, and coordinate tasks within the BioNT project, including

    • Communication
    • Curation and publication of guidelines and policies
    • Leading communications with external international training communities, in particular, The Carpentries

This is a highly collaborative role that provides diverse opportunities to engage with and support the scientific community while developing your own leadership skills. The role includes significant scope for working independently and growing professionally as it provides the successful candidate with opportunities to shape the strategy and direction of the project according to their interests in accordance with the needs of the community.

Your Profile

We are looking for a dedicated and motivated team player who has

  • Ph.D. or equivalent experience in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or related fields
  • Proficient oral and written communication skills (English)
  • Sensitivity to stakeholders' needs and enthusiastic team-working spirit
  • Willingness to lead tasks in an international project
  • Keen interest, experience, and/or formal qualifications in teaching computational or life science research skills (e.g. Carpentries, RStudio, or ELIXIR Train the Trainers instructor certification)
  • Working knowledge of some bioinformatics analysis, programming/scripting languages such as Python, R, and Bash, and scientific computing concepts such as version control, workflow management

You might also have

  • Working knowledge of Galaxy
  • Technical knowledge of website development
  • Interest in learning from other training communities of practice.

What we offer

Located in a region that connects Germany, France, and Switzerland, our team offers an international research environment with outstanding infrastructure facilities and a positive working atmosphere that places a high value on work-life balance.

  • Salary according to your qualification and professional experience according to TV-L
  • Professional training and development opportunities
  • Challenging work in a modern working environment
  • Flexible working hours and trust-based working time
  • 30 days holiday
  • JobTicket
  • Family-friendly offers (affiliated daycare center at the institute, family service)

We value and promote diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities, so we welcome applications from all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from severely disabled people. We would also like to increase the proportion of women in areas where they are underrepresented and therefore expressly encourage women to apply.

Interested to join our team?

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Please submit your complete application documents including a 1-page motivation letter, CV, and two contact details of references by January 2023, 9th to bioinf-jobs@informatik.uni-freiburg.de.

University of Freiburg
Dr. Björn Grüning
Head of Freiburg Galaxy Team
Georges-Köhler-Allee 106
79110 Freiburg

We plan to review applications within 2 weeks of the closing date and interview candidates within 2 weeks after. Interviews will take place virtually via Zoom. Selected candidate(s) will be afterward invited to meet with the Freiburg Galaxy team.