Postdoctoral position for Crop modelling

• Organization: POTSDAM INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE IMPACT RESEARCH (PIK)
• Location: Potsdam, Germany
• Application Deadline: June 27, 2021
• Job Type: Postdoc
• Fields: Agronomy, Agricultural Economics, Crop Science, Climatology, Geostatistics, Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics (GIS)

JOB DESCRIPTION

The climate needs bright minds. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) addresses crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impacts and sustainable development. It is one of the world’s leading research institutions in its field and offers natural and social scientists from around the world an inspiring environment for excellent interdisciplinary research.

For Research Department 2: Climate Resilience PIK is offering

Postdoctoral position (m/f/d)

(Position number: 28-2021-Postdoc)

in the field of Crop modelling, starting on as soon as possible.

The position is funded until December 31, 2023. Remuneration is in accordance with the German public tariff scheme (TV-L Brandenburg), salary group E  13. This is a full-time position with a weekly working time of 40 hours per week. Appointment is conditional on approval by the funding agency. The position can be filled on a part-time basis.

We are looking for a Postdoctoral researcher to join our team in the field of crop modelling, both process-based and empirical, for estimating climate impacts and derive adaptation measures for agriculture mainly in developing countries.

Working together with governments, research institutes, international and private organizations primarily in sub-Saharan Africa (with occasional projects also in Asia and Latin America), we aim to transform research into user-oriented climate services and policies that enable end-users in partner countries to better adapt agriculture to climate change. This position will focus on developing risk monitoring, risk transfer and risk management solutions (i.e. agricultural insurances, agronomic adaptation strategies and yield forecasts) to stabilize the crop production of smallholder farmers. The work is carried out within different third-party funded projects. This position will perform crop modelling with process-based and empirical crop models, in cooperation with climate scientists and agricultural economists.

Key responsibilities:

• Improve and apply crop models with the aim of advancing their utilization for agricultural risk assessments
• Coordinate and contribute to the implementation of research projects through close collaboration with other researchers at PIK as well as the involved stakeholders
• Write and publish articles in peer-reviewed journals that highlight findings from the research projects and present research findings at international conferences
• Liaise and maintain communication with project donors, responding to information requests, preparing project progress reports and policy briefs
• Support data collection, literature review and analysis, and inform the development of sustainable agricultural policies
• Manage projects, develop new project proposals and apply for funding 

We further encourage you to pursue your own research interests, which should have a thematic overlap with the above responsibilities.

Requirements:

• You hold a PhD in the field of Agricultural Science, Geo Science, Statistics, Agricultural Economics or related fields with a quantitative, empirical orientation and knowledge of agriculture (agronomy and agricultural economics). Knowledge and work experience in tropical agriculture, sustainable development and/or climate impact analysis is valuable. 
• You have profound experience in process-based and (optionally) statistical crop modelling or related climate impact modeling.
• You hold solid expertise in statistics, programing skills in R and/or Python, are familiar with large data sets and associated file formats (e.g. NetCDF). Experience with other programing languages, GIS and remote sensing satellite data is valuable.
• Experience in project management, and development of research proposals is valuable.
• Work experience in developing countries is desirable as well as the willingness to travel to these countries.
• You have strong analytical and scientific writing skills, excellent communications skills, and you are fluent in oral and written English. Proficiency in French is an asset.
• You have the ability to work independently, goal-oriented and on your own initiative

We offer:

• an inspiring, international, and interdisciplinary work environment in one of the world’s leading research institutes on climate change
• participation in user driven research projects with international partners 
• insights into international projects with extensive stakeholder engagement
• opportunities for cooperation with PIK’s national and international network of leading climate and agricultural research institutes 
• guidance and supervision in career development 
• high-impact of your research through publications in renowned journals and consortia
• a collective pay scheme and associated benefits.
• a stimulating working environment in an internationally recognised research institute on Potsdam’s beautiful, historic Telegrafenberg campus, a short commuting distance from Berlin

PIK seeks to increase the share of women in scientific positions and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. In cases of equal qualification and within the given legal scope, women will be given preference. Applications by persons with a migration background are expressly encouraged. Applications of disabled persons with equal qualifications will be regarded favourably. PIK also encourages applications by parents returning from parental leave.

Please apply by 27.06.2021directly using our application form.

Application documents should comprise a letter of motivation including research interests, CV, relevant certificates, and a short sample of your work (e.g. journal publication, approx. 2-10 pages). For further information or to discuss the position please contact  Dr. Bernhard Schauberger at [email protected].

Apply Now

Similar Positions :

• Postdoctoral Researcher: Remote Sensing of Peatlands
• 4 Postdoc and 5 Phd positions studying structure and function of trees and using drone-based remote sensing
• Postdoctoral Fellow – Water Accounting and Hydrology
• NIAS Post Doctoral Fellow|Project Associates
• Research Associate (postdoc) in urban modelling, spatial data analytics and machine learning (f/m) – Ref 21-18