The Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS) is a partnership between the University of California San Diego and the India-based philanthropic Tata Trusts. TIGS is currently funded by a generous gift from the Tata Trusts, which are among India’s oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organizations that have established several of India’s leading institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Memorial Hospital and many other institutions of national and international importance. The overarching goal of TIGS is to advance global science and technology research in a socially conscious and ethical manner to ultimately find solutions to address some of the world’s most pressing issues, ranging from public health to agriculture.

TIGS operates in a close collaborative partnership between two institutes — one at the University of California, San Diego (TIGS-UCSD) and the other in India (TIGS-India). TIGS-India, a new public charitable Trust, was launched in summer 2017, and operates as a Center within the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem) in Bangalore, Karnataka. TIGS-UC San Diego and TIGS-India work collaboratively to train personnel, advance research and facilitate the broad applications of next generation technologies (e.g. next generation sequencing, gene activation or silencing, gene editing, gene drives) for human health and agriculture within India.

Under the general supervision of the Chief Scientific Officer, the Communications Coordinator will be tasked with all aspects of strategic communications planning for TIGS-India, which will include the creation, coordination and/​or outsourcing of interesting, accurate, and effective press releases related to TIGS-India, its mission and its work. Such communications will be disseminated to local, national, and international media markets and aimed at different stakeholder groups. The candidate is expected to cultivate relationships with media outlets in targeted markets, and produce or coordinate the production of technical, comprehensive, and compelling communications about the work of TIGS and its broad context with technical descriptions appropriate for different target audiences. 

The Communications Coordinator will be responsible for developing and maintaining a website for dissemination of communications related to TIGS, coordinating social media announcements and monitoring of social media accounts, and maintaining relationships with scientific leadership within TIGS-India. As part of the requirements of the position, the successful candidate will be responsible for creating and editing draft communications, ensuring proper grammar and journalism style, facilitating and coordinating translations in other languages when necessary, and working closely with outside communications firms, on the proper timing and audience for press releases and other written and web-based communications.

The successful candidate should have a Masters’ or Ph.D. degree in communications, journalism, or a related field with experience in biological sciences and a minimum of 5‑years of experience in the field of communications, journalism, or public relations.

The successful candidate will be a self-motivated, self-starting individual with outstanding English-language, writing, grammar and editorial skills and a high attention to detail and accuracy. Strong editorial judgement, diplomacy, interpersonal skills, and the ability to work independently in both proactive and reactive scenarios in a socially-conscious and ethical manner toward implementation of the TIGS-India mission are critical for this position.

Please forward the following for consideration of your application – (a) a statement of purpose explaining the salient aspects of your background that are relevant to the position; (b) your curriculum vitae and names and contact details for at least 3 references, (c) samples of your independent writing and/​or communications content (websites, social media, etc.). Please send all application materials, with a clear reference to the Job number listed above, to the following email jobs-​tigs@​instem.​res.​in .

Incomplete and irrelevant applications will not be considered.