Researcher in Integrated Assessment Modeling

at  International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IIASA

SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• A master’s, PhD or equivalent degree in a field related to integrated assessment modeling including natural sciences, economics, engineering, environmental sciences or mathematics.
• Demonstrated experience in tools and systems used by the ECE program (cf. MESSAGEix documentation) including
• Experience in a modern programming language, preferably Python, is essential. Short-listed candidates will need to provide code samples and may be asked to perform a programming test
• Experience with an optimization framework (e.g., GAMS, Pyomo, JuMP, etc.) is strongly preferred
• Experience with integrated assessment, energy systems, water resource systems and hydrological modeling is an asset.
• Knowledge of and experience with GIS data, and gridded climate and hydrological model data.
• Knowledge of and experience with high performance computing and computational optimization problems or working in training machine learning models is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to open-source projects, data provision and code-development, using git and GitHub.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, collaborate on, and publish scientific research through peer-reviewed publications.
• A degree of flexibility and willingness to travel.
• Fluency in English and excellent presentation skills.
• IIASA offers an interdisciplinary and international workplace, and the possibility to interact with researchers of different nationalities, with strong ties to a world-wide network of research institutions engaged in environmental systems research. The successful candidate must be able to work in, and have respect for, an intercultural environment, and IIASA core values.

THE ROLE

The successful candidate will contribute to developing modeling methods and data to study the characteristics of transitions towards GHG neutrality and climate resilience. This research will include, but is not limited to:

• Development and application of the MESSAGEix-Nexus model, the open source MESSAGEix modeling framework, and related software and data sets.
• Complementary, quantitative analysis of the climate impacts on the water, energy and land sectors, from both supply and demand perspectives, and considering chronic and acute impacts, and development of novel methodologies to represent impacts in MESSAGEix.
• Analysis of sectoral adaptation options and development of climate adaptation scenarios, and their incorporation into MESSAGEix.
• Design and execution of model-to-model linkages, such as between sectoral models and IAMs.

As well as further developing the MESSAGEix framework, this position offers the opportunity to collaborate with a team of international scientists and work with international project teams on projects such as SPARCCLE and PRISMA.

MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Perform in-depth literature reviews of climate impacts on relevant sectors, understand key modes of impact.
• Implement the key climate impact effects within MESSAGEix data and model structures, through statistical methods to collapse high-dimensional data and the development of simplified statistical and process-based models.
• Research existing and novel adaptation approaches and scenarios, and understand and propose methods for their implementation in IAMs.
• Contribute to the software development of the global MESSAGEix-NEXUS model, the open source MESSAGEix modeling framework, and related software tools and data sets.
• Analyze, process, and utilize large-scale panel, geospatial and gridded datasets.
• Investigate, prepare, and analyze integrated assessment model scenario campaigns in conjunction with senior researchers.
• Develop and document version-controlled collaborative modelling code that allows to re-process data and analyze datasets and model results.
• Maintain and disseminate relevant datasets according to FAIR data principles.
• Publish relevant results in peer-reviewed journals and actively engage in dissemination efforts such as scientific conferences and workshops, stakeholder, and policy events.
• Contribute to ongoing and future projects and related deliverables, reports, stakeholder communication and capacity building activities.

To for this opportunity, you will need to provide the following documents in English:

• A cover letter outlining your motivation for and fit to the position.
• A detailed Curriculum Vitae.
• An example of an existing software (coding) project or application.
• The names, addresses (including e-mail), and telephone numbers of two reference givers

To for this opportunity, you will need to provide the following documents in English:

• A cover letter outlining your motivation for and fit to the position.
• A detailed Curriculum Vitae.
• An example of an existing software (coding) project or application.
• The names, addresses (including e-mail), and telephone numbers of two reference givers