Context And Mission
The Global Health Resilience (GHR) group led by ICREA Research Professor Rachel Lowe at the BSC-CNS is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral scientist to conduct cutting-edge methodological research on tracking past, present and future risk of climate-sensitive diseases and developing robust data-driven modelling approaches to predict the risk of outbreaks at sub-seasonal to decadal time scales.
The mission of GHR group is to apply a transdisciplinary approach to co-designing policy-relevant methodological solutions, to enhance surveillance, preparedness and response to climate-sensitive disease outbreaks and health outcomes. The group conducts cutting-edge methodological research on disentangling the impacts of global environmental change on infectious disease risk and co-developing impact-based forecasting models at sub-seasonal to decadal timescales in collaboration with public health, disaster risk management, and humanitarian agencies. The GHR group works closely with the Earth System Services (ESS) group, 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 selected candidate will co-develop data harmonisation and modelling tools using open-source and stakeholder provided data to provide decision-support toolkits at multiple spatial scales and different forecasting horizons for a diverse set of decision-makers. The candidate will interact with international partners of projects funded by the Wellcome Trust (HARMONIZE and IDExtremes) and Horizon Europe (IDAlert and E4Warning). The candidates will benefit from interdisciplinary training opportunities tailored to their experience and interests. The research will be positioned within the context of WMO’s Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), whose aim is to provide actionable climate information to key sectors of society. This position presents an opportunity to work alongside a wide range of leading international climate and health scientists delivering cutting-edge climate services for the health sector to inform policy makers in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and worldwide.
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 impact modelling for public health and an interest in applied research in the context of climate and environmental change.
Key Duties
Co-create decision support systems to enhance public health resilience to climate change
Harmonise multi-source, multi-scale climate, land-type, demographic, socio-economic, human movement and health datasets
Formulate statistical and mathematical models to understand the impact of environmental change and socio-economic factors on infectious disease risk and health outcomes
Develop indicators to track the impact of climate change on infectious disease risks and health outcomes
Disseminate research outputs in peer-reviewed scientific papers and international conferences
Interact with scientists in the group, department, center and other institutions in Barcelona to enhance synergies
Apply for competitive grants and projects
Engage with local communities, stakeholders and policy makers
Develop training materials and deliver training workshops to researchers, data managers and stakeholders
Support administrative duties of the group, including arranging meetings, taking minutes, writing deliverable and mission reports, maintaining Wiki/webpages, etc
Requirements
EducationBSc and MSc in Epidemiology, Biology, Ecology, Meteorology, Environmental Sciences, Physics or Mathematics (or equivalent)
Essential Knowledge and Professional ExperiencePhD in infectious disease epidemiology, statistical, ecological or environmental modelling or related field
Experience in data management and statistical analyses
Proficiency in scientific programming in a suitable language (e.g., R, Python)
Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, demonstrated in scientific publications
Ability to work in a collaborative professional environment within a transdisciplinary and international team
Additional Knowledge and Professional ExperienceKnowledge on some of the following topics: Bayesian statistics, spatial epidemiology, infectious disease transmission modelling, human movement modelling, statistical downscaling, multi-model combination techniques, and bias adjustments techniques
Experience working with public health stakeholders and international agencies
CompetencesProblem-solving, pro-active, result-oriented work attitude
Excellent communication skills
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: 1 Jan 2024