Research Infrastructure Specialist, Plant Biology Institute

Join us at EIT:

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org.

Welcome to the Plant Biology Institute:

The Plant Biology Institute, headed by Professor Steve Kelly, is a key part of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Oxford. The institute aims to develop impactful and commercially sustainable solutions for improving global food production and planetary health through pioneering plant science research.

The Plant Biology Institute will unite world-class researchers who are focused on expanding the frontiers of plant science. Our research is focused on enhancing our ability to feed the planet while simultaneously improving the climate and ecosystem outcomes of food production. By embedding cutting-edge plant science research within an organisation that is focused on solving global challenges at scale, we aim to accelerate the timeline from discovery to global impact.

Areas of exploration include:

• Improved plant productivity, both indoors and outside.
• Reduced reliance on inputs including water, fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides.
• Novel decarbonised plant-based production platforms for food and medicines.
• Advanced technologies that speed up discovery and deployment in plants. 

Researchers will have access to state-of-the-art laboratory and plant growth facilities and have opportunities to collaborate with experts at the forefront of research on AI, automation, and generative biology across the EIT ecosystem. They will also work with global leaders in market development, commercialisation, and impact creation. The Plant Biology Institute has long-term substantial funding to support the unique scale and ambition of its vision.

Your Role:

EIT is seeking a responsive, detail-oriented and reliable Research Infrastructure Specialist to support the design, construction and customisation of cutting-edge experimental laboratories and associated facilities within the Plant Biology Institute. The role will help ensure that essential, delegated details and tasks are tracked and executed on time with excellent communication and visibility to colleagues and stakeholders. This is an impactful role that will play a key role converting the ambitious goals of EIT into real, working laboratories to support global impact. This role has significant growth potential depending on the capabilities and interests of the candidate.

Your Responsibilities:

Project coordination and delegated delivery:

• Translate agreed priorities into practical task plans with owners, milestones and deadlines; maintain an overview of progress and follow up outstanding actions.
• Deliver assigned work packages within agreed scope, timescales and authority, identifying dependencies and escalating risks or decisions early.
• Maintain project schedules, action logs, risk and issue registers, and decision records; prepare concise progress updates for the Head of Research Infrastructure.
  

Planning and design support:

• Coordinate the collection of research requirements for laboratories, support spaces, greenhouses and plant growth facilities; maintain room and equipment requirements schedules.
• Arrange design reviews, collate comments from researchers and technical specialists, and track queries and agreed changes through to resolution.
• Record equipment needs for space, access, utilities and environmental conditions, obtaining technical information from suppliers and routing it to the appropriate specialists for review.
  

Equipment scoping and procurement coordination:

• Maintain equipment lists, specifications, indicative costs, lead times and procurement priorities in consultation with researchers and the Head of Research Infrastructure.
• Obtain quotations and supplier information through agreed procurement processes.
• Prepare purchase requisitions, track orders, delivery dates and outstanding supplier actions with procurement and finance colleagues.
  

Laboratory setup and commissioning support:

• Coordinate equipment deliveries, site access, installation appointments and user training with suppliers, lab management team and researchers.
• Maintain readiness checklists for laboratory and plant growth spaces, tracking completion of installation, testing, documentation and outstanding defects.

Stakeholder communication and administrative support:

• Act as a day-to-day contact for delegated matters, obtaining updates and coordinating responses across internal teams and external partners.
• Maintain orderly, shared records and document version control, handle confidential information appropriately, and improve administrative processes as the Institute grows.
  

Additionally:

• Provide additional operational support to the scientific teams as needed, including potentially supporting procurement processes and coordinating local and international shipments of laboratory samples and materials.