About the position

The role aims to generate robust, actionable evidence, translate it into compelling outputs for policy, investment and practice, and strengthen ILRI’s capacity in evidence-synthesis methodologies and data-driven decision-making. The position will focus particularly on climate change impacts on livestock and overall agrifood systems. This position will be a part of ILRI’s Livestock, Climate and Environment (LCE) Program.

Key Responsibilities

Research & Evidence Synthesis

• Design, conduct and oversee evidence syntheses (evidence gap maps, scoping reviews systematic reviews, meta-analyses,) on topics relevant to livestock systems, food systems, climate change, environmental or health impacts.
• Formulate research questions, develop protocols (e.g., adhering to PRISMA / ROSES/ other industry standards), carry out systematic literature searches, screen and extract data, assess risk of bias and methodological quality, synthesise results and interpret findings for stakeholders.
• Adapt or develop advanced synthesis methods (e.g., network meta-analysis, mixed methods synthesis, AI-assisted screening, living review frameworks) as relevant to complex interventions in agriculture, livestock/food systems.
• Contribute to or lead the development of new synthesis tools, workflows or software packages to increase efficiency and rigour of evidence synthesis.

Publication and Dissemination

• Lead the writing of high-impact journal manuscripts (first or co-first author) from synthesis projects and present findings at international conferences, workshops and stakeholder fora.
• Develop and disseminate research outputs beyond journals: policy briefs, research briefs, stakeholder summaries, infographics, data-visualisations, webinars.
• Work with ILRI’s communications, outreach and knowledge-management teams to ensure effective translation of evidence for non-academic audiences.

Collaboration, Project Management & Capacity-Building

• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams across ILRI’s programmes, and with external academic, policy and development partners.
• Manage synthesis projects: timelines, budgets, deliverables, data management, quality assurance and reporting.
• Mentor and train ILRI and CGIAR scientists, junior researchers and staff in evidence-synthesis methodologies, screening tools (e.g., Covidence, Rayyan, EPPI-Reviewer, SysRev, PROSPERO), meta-analysis software (e.g., RevMan, R, STATA), and best practices in systematic reviewing.
• Substantially contribute to identifying funding opportunities, preparing grant proposals and building partnerships to sustain future evidence-synthesis work.

Professional Development & Strategic Engagement

• Engage in relevant professional development: workshops, networks, methods training to deepen skills in evidence-synthesis innovation and research translation.
• Stay abreast of emerging methodologies, technologies (e.g., machine-learning assisted screening, natural-language-processing in reviews) and global trends in evidence synthesis, food systems research and livestock development.
• Contribute to institutional strategy on evidence-synthesis, data-driven communication and impact-oriented research uptake.

Requirements

• PhD in economics, epidemiology, public health, social sciences, agriculture, veterinary science, food systems with deep expertise in evidence-synthesis methodology or a related field.
• Demonstrated prior experience leading or substantially contributing to systematic reviews, meta-analyses (or scoping reviews, evidence gap maps), especially in the development domain (agri-food systems, livestock, public health, gender, environment).
• Strong publication record (ideally at least two first-author peer-reviewed publications on systematic reviews or meta-analysis) and familiarity with academic publishing processes.
• Proficiency in statistical analysis software and languages (e.g., R, STATA, SPSS, Python) including systematic review and meta-analysis packages and scripting.

• Design, conduct and oversee evidence syntheses (evidence gap maps, scoping reviews systematic reviews, meta-analyses,) on topics relevant to livestock systems, food systems, climate change, environmental or health impacts.
• Formulate research questions, develop protocols (e.g., adhering to PRISMA / ROSES/ other industry standards), carry out systematic literature searches, screen and extract data, assess risk of bias and methodological quality, synthesise results and interpret findings for stakeholders.
• Adapt or develop advanced synthesis methods (e.g., network meta-analysis, mixed methods synthesis, AI-assisted screening, living review frameworks) as relevant to complex interventions in agriculture, livestock/food systems.
• Contribute to or lead the development of new synthesis tools, workflows or software packages to increase efficiency and rigour of evidence synthesis.
• Lead the writing of high-impact journal manuscripts (first or co-first author) from synthesis projects and present findings at international conferences, workshops and stakeholder fora.
• Develop and disseminate research outputs beyond journals: policy briefs, research briefs, stakeholder summaries, infographics, data-visualisations, webinars.
• Work with ILRI’s communications, outreach and knowledge-management teams to ensure effective translation of evidence for non-academic audiences.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams across ILRI’s programmes, and with external academic, policy and development partners.
• Manage synthesis projects: timelines, budgets, deliverables, data management, quality assurance and reporting.
• Mentor and train ILRI and CGIAR scientists, junior researchers and staff in evidence-synthesis methodologies, screening tools (e.g., Covidence, Rayyan, EPPI-Reviewer, SysRev, PROSPERO), meta-analysis software (e.g., RevMan, R, STATA), and best practices in systematic reviewing.
• Substantially contribute to identifying funding opportunities, preparing grant proposals and building partnerships to sustain future evidence-synthesis work.
• Engage in relevant professional development: workshops, networks, methods training to deepen skills in evidence-synthesis innovation and research translation.
• Stay abreast of emerging methodologies, technologies (e.g., machine-learning assisted screening, natural-language-processing in reviews) and global trends in evidence synthesis, food systems research and livestock development.
• Contribute to institutional strategy on evidence-synthesis, data-driven communication and impact-oriented research uptake.

• Evidence synthesis methodologies
• Systematic literature searches
• Data extraction and analysis
• Risk of bias assessment
• Statistical analysis software (R, STATA, SPSS, Python)
• Systematic review and meta-analysis packages
• Scripting
• Project management
• Grant proposal writing
• Communication and dissemination
• Mentoring and training

• PhD in economics, epidemiology, public health, social sciences, agriculture, veterinary science, food systems with deep expertise in evidence-synthesis methodology or a related field.
• Demonstrated prior experience leading or substantially contributing to systematic reviews, meta-analyses (or scoping reviews, evidence gap maps), especially in the development domain (agri-food systems, livestock, public health, gender, environment).
• Strong publication record (ideally at least two first-author peer-reviewed publications on systematic reviews or meta-analysis) and familiarity with academic publishing processes.
• Proficiency in statistical analysis software and languages (e.g., R, STATA, SPSS, Python) including systematic review and meta-analysis packages and scripting.