Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Jimma University is innovation and research oriented with main focus on graduate programs (4 MSc and 4 PhD programs). The Department has recently launched PhD program in Food Technology. The current projects are mainly focused on dairy products and tropical fruits; however, new topics will be considered soon. There is a postdocotral position is available for conducting research projects, supervising graduate students, and some teaching duties (mainly at graduate level).

The candidate should have a PhD in food technology or a closely related discipline. Background in engineering is preferred.

Job Features

❃ This is part of a chair system in which assistant/associate professors work under supervision of a chair, and you will be officially appointed as an assistant professor. This is indeed equivalent to the popular postdoc model in the United States and other countries.

❃ You will work in a team of 15 – 20 postdoc fellows coming from different countries.

❃ Due to the team structure, flexibility to be supervised is one of the main criteria.

❃ Contrary to many postdoc fellowships, the present position is not focused on a specific research project. Instead, the postdoc fellows are involved in different tasks from research to academic affairs. The main theme is to empower the team members with various academic skills.

❃ Your workflow including research will be directly assigned by the supervisor. As quoted above, our preliminary goal is to prepare better scholars for leading research projects in the future. If you do not trust the group planning, DO NOT apply.

❃ The postdoc fellows should necessarily start to work on a new research topic (different from their past experiences), and normally involved in literature review during the first six months. The goal is to publish review article or book.

❃ We are looking for people who are ambitious and want to take this step as a jump in his/her academic career to build a world-class research group. There is no room for people who are interested in routine jobs for today.

❃ Due to our training mission, a significant part of this position is teaching duties.

❃ Each member should be committed to the team promotion internationally. Skills for networking are critically important.

❃ The salary is about $24,000 – $30,000, which is quite high considering the cost of living (i.e. four times higher than local full professors). Housing and flights will be covered. On the other hand, we are looking for those who are interested in the potentials of this position rather than a routine job with high salary.

❃ Jimma city is probably different from your imagination about Africa. The nature is greener than Europe, and the weather is always at excellent condition (18 – 25 C).

Criteria of Selection

➠ The main criterion of selection is the motivation and passion for cutting-edge research. We are generally interested in applicants who wish to work in a leading research group as a transition to continue their scientific career in top universities, rather than applicants who look for routine jobs in their scientific career.
➠ Our strategy is result-oriented research with tangible progress of projects in planned direction.
➠ Candidates must be committed to team work, and follow planned duties precisely.
➠ Candidate's attitude for being supervised in direction of the group missions.