Post-Doctoral Fellow – Agricultural Climate Services and Crop Disease Mitigation
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, known by its Spanish acronym, CIMMYT®, is a not-for-profit research and training organization with partners in over 100 countries. Please refer to our website for more information: www.cimmyt.org
CIMMYT seeks an innovative, self-motivated, and results-oriented candidate for a Post-Doctoral Fellow position focused on agricultural climate services and crop disease mitigation. The Post-Doctoral Fellow will work on improving cereal based agri-food systems in South Asia and potentially other parts of the developing world. The holder of this position should conduct and contribute to collaborative research aimed at improving the use of climate data and forecasts for the monitoring, forecasting, early warning and decision-making around transboundary pests and diseases on cereals using geo-spatial analysis and big data approaches.
The specific research focus of this position is to collaborate with CIMMYT’s national and international research and university partners to transfer crop disease monitoring systems (currently focused on wheat rusts, but includes wheat blast) developed in Africa to Asia. The work will involve strong integration and collaboration with internationally renowned crop disease modeling groups and Cambridge University.
This post-doctoral fellow will work as a member of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program in close collaboration with other CIMMYT programs and with public, private, local and international partners.
The position will be based at CIMMYT’s Bangladesh or Nepal office, located in Dhaka or Kathmandu, respectively. The Post-Doctoral Fellow will contribute to CIMMYT’s research for development activities across both countries.
Specific duties:
Contribute to the development of analytical models integrating climatological and epidemiological data to produce early warning and forecasting systems.
Development and support for data collection tools via mobile devices and related ICTs.
Integrate data streams from multiple sources, e.g. disease surveys, crowd-sourcing tools, diagnostics data, remote sensing and geospatial data.
Develop and improve database management and the development of information products related to disease early warning and forecasting.
Provide technical support and capacity building for national partners in disease forecasting, data management, and agricultural climate services.
Collaborate with CIMMYT scientists, national research, and extension partners to develop impactful pathways to assure that disease forecasts are understood and reach farmers on a timely basis.
Provide support to the development of project proposals and reports.
Produce peer-reviewed research articles.
Other duties as assigned by the supervisor.
Required academic qualifications, skills and attitudes:
A recent Ph.D. in Agricultural Climatology, Agroecology, Climate Services, Geo-Spatial Science, Data Science or a similar quantitatively-oriented science.
Experience with modeling climatic and/or environmental systems. Experience and/or knowledge of crop diseases and epidemiology highly desirable.
Experience with spatial modeling, use of geospatial data, remote sensing and geographical information systems.
Competency in programming e.g., R and/or Python.
Strong understanding of database architecture, statistics, data visualization, etc.
An understanding of numerical weather forecast systems and atmospheric dispersal models is beneficial.
Expertise in working with large data sets and the ability to integrate and interpret multi-thematic data.
Experience of and/or demonstrated interest in contributing to efforts to tailor forecasts and climate services to end-users and farmers.
An ability to communicate effectively and teach others in the context of a multi-cultural working environment.
The selected candidate must exhibit the following competencies: Proactive, Problem Solving, Decision-making, Achievement Orientation, Communication and Teamwork.
The position is for an initial fixed-term for two (2) years, after which further employment is subject to performance and the continued availability of funds. CIMMYT’s internationally competitive salary and benefits include housing allowance, car, comprehensive health and life insurance, assistance for children’s education, paid vacation, annual airfare, contribution to a retirement plan, and generous assistance with relocation shipment.
Candidates must apply for IRS19142_Post-Doctoral Fellow – Agricultural Climate Services and Crop Disease Mitigation. Screening and follow up of applications will begin on Friday December 20th, 2019. Applications must include a CV and a letter of interest. Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration. For further information on the selection process, please contact Yessica Castillo, at y.castillo@cgiar.org
Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
This position will remain open until filled.
CIMMYT is an equal opportunity employer. It fosters a multicultural work environment that values gender equality, teamwork, and respect for diversity. Women are encouraged to apply.