The African Data and Biospecimen Exchange is a new project starting at SANBI under the leadership of Prof Nicki
Tiffin and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aiming to reduce barriers to sharing of African data and
biospecimens and to promote equitable data and biospecimen sharing of African resources.
This project will build an online exchange to share meta-data about African datasets and sample collections that are
available for onward sharing or collaborative projects, so that researchers with data or biospecimens available to
share are able to connect directly with researchers wishing to use them and set up use agreements. The platform
will present query-able meta-data about available resources, implementing existing standards and ontologies where
possible and developing new standards where required. Infrastructure will be developed so that users can create
data-, biospecimen- and benefit-sharing agreements, and/or collaborative agreements on the platform, supporting
ethical and equitable sharing of African resources.
A position is open for a postdoctoral fellow to work full time on this project. The ideal candidate will have a strong
background working with health or biological data, data standards and ontologies for different types of health and
genomics data, as well as an interest in the ethics and governance of sharing data and biospecimen resources.
Experience with information systems or software development would be advantageous.
The fellowship will be for one year in the first instance, with potential for renewal thereafter depending on
performance as well as availability of funding. In-person attendance will be expected for this position.
The value of the postdoctoral fellowship for one year is ZAR 320 000. The successful applicant should be available to
start this position in Cape Town within one month of being offered the position, and earlier if possible.
• Application process:
Please email the following to ntiffin@sanbi.ac.za, with the email subject “Postdoctoral fellowship application” + your
name
– A one-page letter of introduction and motivation explaining your interest and suitability for this position
− The names and current contact details for two referees
− A 300-word synopsis of the work presented in your Ph D
− Your CV
− Closing date (updated) 15 March 2022
The University of the Western Cape has a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for entry to the campus. The successful
applicant will be required to provide proof of vaccination as they will need to be on campus for this position.