Researcher on Climate-and-Health and Downscaling (RE2/R2)

Reference: 754_24_ES_CS_RE2
Job title: Researcher on Climate-and-Health and Downscaling (RE2/R2)

About BSC

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.

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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.

We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.

If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.

Context And Mission

The Department of Earth Sciences of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), BSC-ES henceforth (bsc.es/earth-sciences, https://earth.bsc.es/wiki) is one of the most active departments in Europe in atmospheric composition modelling, climate prediction, climate services and the IT aspects to make that research possible and efficient.

The Climate Services Team (CST) at the BSC Earth Sciences Department (ES), led by Dr. Ángel G. Muñoz, is looking for a climate scientist to work on the development of downscaled products for several sectors, including health, agriculture and energy, with a main focus on sub-seasonal, seasonal and decadal climate services.

The person appointed will be involved in different EU projects and national initiatives. An important part of their work will be in collaboration with the department’s Global Health Resilience (GHR) group, led by ICREA Professor Rachel Lowe. The mission of the GHR group is to apply a transdisciplinary approach to co-designing policy-relevant decision-support tools to enhance surveillance, preparedness, and response to global health challenges, with a focus on climate-sensitive infectious diseases. Together, the CST and GHR co-develop impact-based forecasting models at sub-seasonal to decadal timescales in collaboration with public health, disaster risk management, and humanitarian agencies. In addition, CST is growing in the field of spatial downscaling, promoting developments that provide tailored climate services across sectors; the person appointed will give support to such developments contributing to CST’s products in a wide range of projects, with a main focus on the climate and health project needs.

The successful applicant will participate in different projects operating in Europe, Asia, and the Latin America & Caribbean region and work with state-of-the-art climate predictions to obtain relevant climate indicators for health assessments at both global and local spatial scales. His/her/their activity will be positioned within the context of WMO’s Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), whose aim is to advance climate predictions to provide actionable sub-seasonal to decadal climate information to key sectors of society. This position therefore presents the opportunity to work alongside a wide range of leading international climate scientists delivering cutting-edge climate science and climate services across Europe. The position holder will enjoy joining one of the leading and most dynamic European groups in the field of climate services.

Successful candidates will benefit from expert training and BSC-CNS staff benefits: international multidisciplinary scientific environment and advanced applied research training. We encourage applications from highly motivated candidates with demonstrated experience in climate science and interest in applied research projects within the context of climate services.

Key Duties

Apply statistical downscaling methods to obtain climate data at high spatial resolution for specific sites, selecting the adequate method depending on the spatiotemporal scale and orography of each site
Perform user-oriented research, understand user needs and facilitate technology transfer
Actively participate in EU projects (participate in teleconferences, workshops, meetings, and writing deliverables)
Contribute to disseminate the results in peer-reviewed scientific papers and international conferences
Teamwork: Interaction with scientists in the group and the department to enhance synergies
Develop and deliver training materials for users and decision-makers in handling, post processing, and analysing climate information
Contribute to the development of a framework to provide downscaled products as climate services
Develop R packages and workflows, while improving existing as well as creating new functions, to apply state of the art spatial downscaling techniques

Requirements

EducationMSc in physical sciences, applied mathematics, environmental sciences or engineering, or a related discipline.
A PhD (or equivalent in terms of experience) is considered useful but it is not strictly required.
Essential Knowledge and Professional ExperienceExperience handling, analysing and validating large climate model datasets
Experience with climate statistical analyses, using computing languages such as R or Python
Experience with UNIX/LINUX environments and scripting languages
Additional Knowledge and Professional ExperienceAbility to work in a professional environment within a multidisciplinary and international team
Written and verbal communication skills in English, especially for scientific publications
CompetencesCapacity to interact and build strong relations with climate, health and computer scientists
Ability to take initiatives, prioritize the tasks and work under set deadlines

Conditions

The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department
We offer a full-time contract (37.5h/week), 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: 23 paid vacation days plus 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

Applications procedure and process

All applications must be made through BSC website and contain:

A full CV in English including contact details

A Cover Letter with a statement of interest in English, including two contacts for further references – Applications without this document will not be considered

In accordance with the OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for every vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will start the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. A profile questionnaire as well as a technical exercise may be required during the process.

The panel will make a final decision and all candidates who had contacts with them will receive a feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.

At BSC we are seeking continuous improvement in our recruitment processes, for any suggestions or feedback/complaints about our Recruitment Processes, please contact recruitment@bsc.es.

Deadline

The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.

OTM-R principles for selection processes

BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.
BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.