Plant Research Platform Coordinator

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

This position will be responsible for the overall operational management of multiple concurrent research projects at UBC Okanagan’s Plant Growth Facility. Duties include research project management; support for grant writing; infrastructure acquisition; training and advising on research techniques for biological research at the Plant Growth Facility, a shared research platform dedicated entirely to scientific research. This position is also responsible for setting a strategy for maintaining high research standards;

and for the implementation of operational policies, safety standards, and research protocols.

This position advises principal investigators on regulatory requirements as per federal, provincial, and University policies, ensures excellent service to the research community within and outside UBC, and establishes excellent partnerships with new users within and outside UBC.

Organizational Status

Reports to the Academic Director of the Plant Growth Facility, but works with considerable latitude. May supervise part-time student workers.

This position interacts with the Academic Director, Office of the Vice Principal, Research and Innovation, Principal Investigators, Advisory Committee members, researchers using the facility and their students, Building Operations and Project Services. As part of the Advisory Committee, this position provides the necessary operational information and data to allow the Committee to make informed decisions. In addition, this position liaises extensively with a variety of users both internal and external to UBC (industry collaborators, vendors and government officials).

This position provides guidance to researchers, contributes to the development of research project plans and timelines, and supports the documentation of findings and research related activities.

Work Performed

Optimization of research performance of the facility:

· Develops and implements policies and standard operating procedures for client services. Conducts research-training sessions of the facility policies/protocols for students, staff and faculty.

· Oversees dozens of simultaneous experiments and their specific research requirements in different compartments within the facility.

· Supports the development of grant proposals, research reports, and journal manuscripts, particularly with regard to technical aspects such as the identification and development of methods required to perform studies, and the preparation of data on environmental conditions during plant growth to ensure proper interpretation.

· Evaluates the success of research projects undertaken in the Facility, and prepares a database of metrics for use in annual reports and grant preparation.

· Assesses the requirements of current and potential users and determines the feasibility of current infrastructure for matching these requirements

· Creates and implements plans for maintenance, upgrade, and renovation of all equipment, tools, and infrastructure for the Plant Growth Facility; anticipates and resolves issues that could cause down time or interruptions to experiments.

· Ensures optimal plant growing conditions for simultaneous research experiments in multiple compartments through effective management of greenhouse controls (temperature, light, and ventilation).

· Makes professional…