Postdoctoral on Climate Science (m/f/d)

at  PotsdamInstitut fr Klimafolgenforschung PIK e V

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 the working group Adaptation in Agricultural Systems within Research Department 2 – Climate Resilience, PIK is offering a
Postdoctoral position on Climate Science (m/f/d)
(55-2024 Postdoc ClimateScience)
in the field of climate science, meteorology, and agricultural modeling mainly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), starting as soon as possible.
The position is planned to be funded for 3 years with a planned start from January 1st, 2025. Remuneration is in accordance with the German public tariff scheme (TV-L Brandenburg), salary group E13. 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 person with interest in climate impacts, risk management and adaptation for agriculture in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and with experience in project management, stakeholder engagement and transferring scientific results to a non-scientific audience to join our team.
Working together with other researchers from different disciplines, governments, and international organizations primarily in sub-Saharan Africa (with occasional projects also in Asia and Latin America), the working group Adaptation in Agricultural Systems aims to transform research into high impact publications and user-oriented climate services and policies that enable end-users in partner countries to better adapt agriculture to climate change. This position will specialize on analyzing climate data for climate impact assessment in agriculture and related impact sectors. One focus will be on the use of large-ensemble climate model data for climate impact attribution, with latitude in the choice of additional research foci. The work is carried out within different third-party funded projects and in cooperation with climate scientists, agricultural modelers, health scientists, and economists.

REQUIREMENTS:

• You hold a PhD in a field related to tasks above within the broader theme of climate science. Examples are meteorology, physics, statistics, geoscience or related fields with a quantitative and empirical orientation. Knowledge and work experience in agriculture, sustainable development, and/or climate impact research is valuable.
• You have profound experience in analyzing climate data, and knowledge of the scientific strengths and limitations of different climate observational, reanalysis, and modelling products.
• You have expertise in data analysis, with programming skills in Python or R as well as in CDO/NCO and HPC, and interest in processing large data. Experience with other programming languages, GIS and/or remote sensing are valuable.
• Experience in project management, and development of research proposals is valuable.
• Work experience in LMICs is desirable as well as the willingness to travel to these countries.

• Develop and improve methodologies for climate data processing and evaluation for climate impact assessments, with a focus on LMICs.
• Contribute to research efforts within the working group that attribute and quantify climate change impacts on the agrifood system, including bias correction, statistical downscaling, and the derivation of simplified climate datasets for multi-impact model studies.
• Coordinate and contribute to the implementation of research projects through close collaboration with other researchers as well as the involved stakeholders in the target countries.
• 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, respond to information requests, prepare project progress reports and policy briefs.
• Manage projects, develop new project proposals and apply for funding.
• Support in supervising doctoral researchers and master students.