Postdoc Cascading and compounding hazards in coastal urban areas

• Organization: Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon
• Location: Geesthacht, Germany

Job Description (compounding hazards in coastal urban):

The Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), a scientific organizational entity of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, invites applications for a Postdoc, starting as soon as possible, in the research project „Risk workflow for cascading and compounding hazards in coastal urban areas – CASCO“, in the frame of the Helmholtz research programme “Changing Earth – Sustaining our Future” of the Research Field Earth and Environment. The position is limited to three years.

GERICS develops science-based prototype products and services in support to government,
administration and business in their efforts to adapt to climate change. It builds up a
national and international network structure in order to integrate existing competences and
knowledge, and to link various actors within the complex area of climate change.

In the Helmholtz research program “Changing Earth – Sustaining our Future” of the Research Field Earth and Environment, seven Helmholtz Centers (AWI, FZJ, GEOMAR, GFZ, Hereon, KIT, UFZ) are collaborating to gather deep insights into the complex relationships between the processes that take place on our planet. They are pooling their competencies to research the natural foundations of life in a systemic approach, from the land surface to the oceans and to the polar regions. For only with sound knowledge of the Earth system, with innovative technologies and strategic approaches and recommendations for politics the path to a sustainable future is possible. Within the framework of this program, the project CASCO is one of four “innovation pool projects”. These serve to strengthen the cooperation between the centers, to promote innovative ideas of young scientists, and to provide flexibility in dealing with current, socially relevant themes.

The main goal of the CASCO project is to develop new integrated methods and models for multi-hazard risk assessment of coastal urban areas, subject to extreme geophysical and climatic events. This project is carried out jointly with GFZ, GEOMAR and AWI. At GERICS we will develop a dataset of climatological hazards based on regional climate projection data, focussed on rainfall and temperature extremes. In addition, we will apply an Agent-Based model to simulate urban planning responses to extreme events.

Equality of opportunity is an important part of our personnel policy. The position can be filled part-time in principle.

Your tasks

• supporting the development of a workflow to capture cascading and co-occurring risks with a special focus on climate risks such as heat waves and heavy precipitation for the study area, in close cooperation with GFZ, GEOMAR and AWI
• develop rainfall and temperature extremes scenarios based on regional climate model ensemble simulations for the study region
• identification and analysis of region-specific characteristics of past and potential future climate extremes on the basis of high-resolution regional climate model ensemble data from EURO-CORDEX and other relevant data
• develop and apply an approach for coastal vulnerability and damage modelling
• modify and apply an agent-based model for a coastal area
• collaborate within the partner team to develop multi-hazard and cascading risk scenarios
• develop and document research software and data products according to FAIR criteria
• write scientific publications based on this research

Your profile

• university degree and Ph.D. in meteorology, physics, physical geography or other related disciplines in natural sciences and earth science is essential
• excellent knowledge of extreme value statistics and analyses of climate extremes is essential
• extensive experience in the analysis of climate model ensemble data from regional climate change projections and from earth observations and measurements is essential
• knowledge of climate extremes impact assessments on terrestrial and coastal systems is beneficial
• experience in Agent-Based modelling is beneficial
• profound knowledge of appropriate programming languages such as Python and R, experience with Linux/Unix computer environments
• extensive knowledge of geographical information systems
• excellent proficiency in English
• experience in writing scientific publications
• motivated to work in a multi-disciplinary and international environment

Content-related enquiries regarding this position can be directed to Dr. Laurens Bouwer ([email protected]), or Dr. Diana Rechid ([email protected]).

We offer you

• multinational work environment with ca. 1,100 colleagues from more than 50 nations
• extensive options of vocational training (i. a. expert seminars, language courses or leadership seminars)
• flexible working hours and various models to ensure the compatibility of family and career
• excellent infrastructure, including a scientific in-house library as well as modern work spaces
• remuneration according to the standards of the collective wage agreement TV-AVH including further social benefits
• free employee advice – Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• childcare offers
• Welcome Office, guest accommodation

Severely disabled persons and those equaling severely disabled persons who are equally suitable for the position will be considered preferentially within the framework of legal requirements.

Interested?

Then we are looking forward to receiving your comprehensive application documents (cover letter, CV, certificates etc.) indicating the reference number 2021/KG 6.
Application deadline: Nov 8th, 2021

Apply now

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