Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, or South Africa: Climate and Environmental Data Scientist

Sep 18, 2022 | Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture
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The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

With novel partnerships, the Alliance generates evidence and mainstreams innovations to transform food systems and landscapes so that they sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people in a climate crisis.

The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.

About the position

The Alliance is currently searching for a Climate and Environmental Data Scientist who will play a key role in the Alliance’s ex ante analysis and foresight activities. The Scientist will contribute to developing analytical and modelling frameworks that integrate biophysical, ecological and socio-economic domains in order to evaluate the impacts of various interventions, such as increased agrobiodiversity cultivation, pest and disease management and sustainable intensification practices on livelihoods and ecosystems taking into account future drivers of change, such as climate change and economic growth.

Key Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Scientist for Climate Action and the Program Leader of Performance, Innovation and Strategic Analysis for Impact – PISA4I, the appointee will:

• In collaboration with partners of the One CGIAR Initiative on “Informing Sustainable Development pathway with Foresight and Data,” design of climate data cube structure and data models to support integration of climate variability data.
• Analysis of climate data trends and population of climate data cube(s).
• Development of spatial data models and resultant datasets to support incorporation of key themes (e.g., Biodiversity, farming systems) into other foresight analyses.
• Contribution to quality assurance and quality control of climate and other related datasets used throughout the project cycle.
• Close collaboration with other team members to support overall foresight activities.
• Contribute to development of partnerships/collaborations, to the writing of project proposals and work plans, to the preparation of workshops.
• Produce scientific papers for peer-reviewed journals and proceedings.
• Represent the Performance, Innovation and Strategic Analysis for Impact program in key workshops and conferences.
• Supervise short-term consultants or interns working for the foresight projects.
• Perform other duties as required.

Requirements

Qualifications and requirements:

• PhD Degree in Climate modeling; spatial data analytics; niche and species distribution and land use change modeling.
• Deep analytics experience using common open-source tools such as R, Python and corresponding spatial libraries (e.g. gdal/ogr, terra, sf, rasterio).
• Understanding of CMIP6 climate data structures such as NetCDF and Zarr, as well as familiarity with a variety of climate science related libraries including those used in cloud computing of climate data.
• Experience summarizing climate data trends and climate variability at various spatiotemporal scales using common indices and metrics.
• Expertise in modeling approaches that uses climate and other environmental data as input, such as maxent, random forest, Ecocrop, and in integrating other model results (e.g., crop models) with spatial datasets.
• Familiarity with RS-derived land use and biodiversity datasets, and landscape metrics.
• Excellent command of the English language, both written and spoken.
• Strong analytical and synthesizing skills; ability to think and write clearly and concisely on scientific documents and research proposals.

Desirable qualifications and competencies:

• Experience with interdisciplinary research.
• Peer-reviewed publications
• Strong teamwork, interpersonal and communications skills; courtesy, tact, and the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different cultural and national backgrounds.
• Highly developed skills with personal organization and priority setting.
• Ability to work with a high degree of independence within assigned areas complemented by sound judgment and initiative, and the ability to maintain structured and ad hoc communications with supervisors and colleagues to seek guidance.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to learn and practice new technologies as needed.

Terms of employment

The position is internationally recruited and will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. The initial contract will be for up to two (2) years, subject to a probation period of six (6) months and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources. This is a level BG09 position on a compensation scale of 14 levels, with level B14 being the highest.

The Alliance Bioversity-CIAT offers a multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary and excellent benefits. We are an equal opportunity employer, and strive for gender, diversity and inclusion in our staff, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic.

Applications

Please apply online through the website (https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers) not later than 7^th October 2022, attaching a cover letter illustrating your suitability for the above position against the listed qualifications, competencies, skills together with a detailed curriculum vitae, including names and contact information of three referees knowledgeable about your professional qualifications and work experience. Both documents in English. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. 

Closing date for applications: 7^th October 2022

Please note that email applications will not be considered

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

We invite you to learn more about us at:  http://alliancebioversityciat.org