Scientist/ Senior Scientist – Systems Agronomist and modeler for climate smart agriculture

ICRISAT seeks application for the position of Scientist/ Senior Scientist – Systems Agronomist and modeler for climate smart agriculture to be based in Lusaka, Zambia.

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. ICRISAT and its partners help empower those living in the semi-arid tropics, especially smallholder farmers, to overcome poverty, hunger, malnutrition and a degraded environment through more efficient and profitable agriculture.

ICRISAT is headquartered in Patancheru near Hyderabad, India, with two regional hubs and five country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT, established in 1972, is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. For more details, see www.icrisat.org. 

Preamble:  Climate change poses a serious threat to agricultural productivity in semi-arid agro ecologies of the world that are already food insecure. Slowdowns in productivity growth, combined with increasingly frequent food production failures, point to the need to significantly raise the bar when it comes to increasing the productive capacity and strengthening the resilience of rural households. The economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 crisis are expected to further worsen food insecurity in these semi-arid agro-ecologies, making resilience-building an even more urgent task. In these semi-arid regions, empowering smallholder farmers to achieve food security and create income earning agricultural enterprises requires a deep understanding of the tradeoffs and risks farmers face in managing their highly resource constrained systems.  ICRISAT works with the national agricultural research and extension agencies, NGO’s and higher education institutions locally and abroad to develop farm technologies and management systems, create markets and value chains based around a set of mandate crops and technologies that are well adapted to the semi-arid tropics.  The use of systems modelling tools enables researchers to identify intervention strategies and points of intervention in the farm –value chain system that result in the greatest returns for the lowest risk.  With the increased focus on the concept of innovation systems driving the creation of inclusive market orientated development (IMOD), ICRISAT is retooling to undertake multidisciplinary research for development and systems approaches.  A talented and dedicated systems agronomist-modeler focusing on climate analytics is sought for the East and Southern African (ESA) region to strengthen our team in its engagement with several large initiatives in the region. The person sought will be able to support ICRISAT’s work in climate adaptation, scaling climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices and seek to support risk management through enhanced prediction of climate impacts on agriculture, and enhanced climate information and services. This person would primarily be an agronomist, but with an ability to apply the latest in climate science to understanding the role of climate smart agriculture in managing climate risk and achieving production. This may include taking model outputs to scale (e.g. climate change scenarios, spatial analysis), data analytics (e.g. analyzing and downscaling climate information) and using a range of analytical techniques for understanding spatial, survey, modelled scenario information.

The Position:

• Provide scientific leadership in applying agronomic knowledge and farming systems modelling frameworks to the research for development that leads to more sustainable and resilient smallholder farming systems for the target regions in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Participate and contribute to on-going research in climate risk management, assessing climate change impacts and planning for adaptation under the World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) and associated bilateral projects.
• Provide technical backstopping to the Zambia (60%) and Kenya (40%) AICCRA project for effective implementation and successful delivery.
• Analyse and distill climate-related research findings and sharing of knowledge products and tools that will address critical gaps in the design and provision of agricultural climate services, enabling climate-informed investment planning, and support the design of policies to promote uptake of CSA practices.
• Support the building partnerships and networks to strengthen actors’ abilities along the research-to-development continuum to anticipate climate effects and to accelerate the identification, prioritization, and uptake of best-bet adaptive measures.
• Provide analytical expertise in big data analytics to understand temporal and spatial dynamics and change in crop based systems, for example downscaling climate data and applying agricultural systems models in multi-point simulations.
• Design and implement applied research at scale within rural communities.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams from ICRISAT, Zambian and Kenyan Meteorological Departments, development partners (e.g. IFAD, GIZ, USAID) and other CGIAR Centers and higher education institutions.
• Contribute to the resource mobilization efforts of ICRISAT and the CGIAR Research Programs through writing research proposals, building capacity in our partners, engaging with the University sector by co-supervising postgraduate students.

The Person:

Essential

• PhD degree in agriculture, crop science, soil science, natural resource management or related discipline with experience in systems related research.
• Relevant work experience of at least 3 years for Scientist and 6 years for Senior Scientist post Ph.D.
• Significant knowledge of farming systems in the region and how knowledge of agronomy and soils can be applied to manage climate risk and achieve productive agricultural systems.
• Demonstrated capabilities in project or program management, including: supervision of project-based personnel, ensuring collaboration and coordination of project activities among partners, monitoring managing project resources, and reporting project results.
• Demonstrated expertise in research and implementation of climate services for agriculture, potentially including communications and institutional aspects.
• Very strong analytical skills with knowledge of the application of crop modelling for developing farm level climate risk responses.
• Good publication record, as evidenced by senior authored research papers in refereed journals.
• Experience in working with a wide range of stakeholders and interest to work in interdisciplinary team.
• Excellence in English (both spoken and written).

 Desirable

• Expertise in the management and analytics of big data related to climate services information including the use of climate forecast information.
• A high level of competency in the design and implementation of field-based experiments.
• Understanding of semi-arid smallholder farming systems and their constraints and opportunities for sustainable intensification.
• Demonstrated ability to write proposals and fund raise.

General:

This is an internationally recruited staff (IRS) position for a period of three years, renewable based on the performance of the incumbent and the Institute’s continuing need for the position.

How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 1 April 2020, with a response to the selection criteria, their latest resume and the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable about their professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged, however only short- listed candidates will be contacted.

ICRISAT is an equal opportunity employer