Context And Mission
The Climate Services (CS) Team within the Earth System Services Group (ESS) is seeking a highly motivated researcher or research engineer to develop computationally-efficient climate diagnostics for climate indicators required by a number of climate adaptation use cases in a timely manner.
The mission of the CS Team is to apply state-of-the-art scientific climate knowledge for the co-development of actionable climate information and solutions relevant for key societal sectors agriculture, renewable energy, health) in their adaptation to climate change. The CS Team is part of the Earth System Services Group (ESS) within the Earth Sciences Department, whose mission is to research the impact of weather, atmospheric chemistry and climate upon socio-economic sectors, including renewable energy, agriculture, water management, forest fires, urban development and health and demonstrate the ongoing value of earth system services to society and the economy.
The person appointed will be involved in different EU and national-funded projects, with a primary focus on the Destination Earth Climate Digital Twin project, whose aim is to combine cutting-edge global Earth-system models, impact-sector applications and observations into a unified framework to provide actionable impact-sector information on multi-decadal timescales. In line with this aim, the appointed candidate will be developing climate services for Phase 3 of the project based on state-of-the art, high-resolution global climate projections at multi-decadal time-scales for the renewable energy sector. The appointed candidate will also be responsible for developing and maintaining the software for the computation of the renewable energy indicators in an operational environment.
The selected candidate will develop algorithms that can provide a number of use cases with the basic numerical information from essential climate variables to compute a wide-range of indicators. The information will be produced while the climate simulations are running, so that the functions implemented will need to be computationally efficient, robust, and scalable.
The candidate will interact with those responsible to develop the use cases to identify the set of functions that will respond to their requirements and insert the calculations in a complex workflow. The candidate will benefit from interdisciplinary training opportunities tailored to his/her experience and interests. This position presents an opportunity to work alongside a wide range of leading international climate scientists delivering cutting-edge climate services to inform policy makers and stakeholders across Europe and worldwide.
We encourage applications from highly motivated candidates with demonstrated experience in statistical downscaling and AI and a strong interest in applied research in the context of climate services.
Key Duties
* Implement user-oriented climate diagnostics with computationally-efficient algorithms in python, R or a similar language
* Identify climate diagnostic requirements from a selected number of use cases and include them in the above mentioned algorithms
* Interact with scientists and engineers in the group, department, and other institutions
* Disseminate the research output in peer-reviewed scientific papers and international conferences and the code generated in open access outlet
Requirements
* Education
o PhD in Applied Mathematics, Physics, Computing Engineering (or equivalent)
* Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
o Proficiency in scientific programming in a suitable language R, Python)
o Ability to abstract climate diagnostic requirements into mathematical concepts
o Ability to work in a professional environment within a transdisciplinary and international team
o Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
o Experience working with stakeholders from the energy sector and the development of use cases.
* Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
o Knowledge about workflow and data management, parallel computing and statistical analyses will be valued
o Basic knowledge about climate variability and change
* Competences
o Problem-solving, proactive, result-oriented work attitude
o Excellent communication skills
Conditions
* The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department
* We offer a full-time contract a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
* Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
* Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
* Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
* Starting date: As soon as possible