Post-doctoral fellow - climate change adaptation

ICRISAT seeks applications for International Postdoctoral Fellowship in Climate Change Adaptation, to be based at its Regional office for Eastern and Southern Afirca based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi-arid tropics is home to over 2 billion people, with 650 million of these the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT is headquartered in Greater Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and belongs to the Consortium of Centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ICRISAT’s Regional hub for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) is located in Nairobi, Kenya, with scientists also located in research centers in Lilongwe, Malawi and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. ICRISAT’s work covers all countries in ESA. For more details, see www.icrisat.org.

ICRISAT-ESA in collaboration with CGIAR-CCAFS program is implementing a project aimed at assessing the risks associated with agricultural investments by smallholder farmers, understand their role in influencing farmer decision to adopt improved management practices and develop management options that reduce risk and promote adoption of improved practices. One of the options that this initiative focusing on is to evaluate the role of probabilistic seasonal climate forecasts in planning and managing farms by smallholder farmers and identify options to communicate the forecast information in a way that farmers can easily understand and utilize it. ICRISAT-ESA is also implementing a regional project that is aimed at quantifying the impacts of climate variability and change on key agricultural systems in the region using AgMIP protocols and procedures. This work involves calibration and validation of crop models and conducting ex-ante analysis to quantify climate impacts on the productivity and profitability of smallholder farming systems using present and future climate scenarios. The incumbent will contribute to successful implementation of these activities.

The job:

• Developing and testing efficient methods to communicate probabilistic seasonal climate forecast information to smallholder farmers
• Conducting surveys to monitor the impact of climate information in planning and managing farms by smallholder farmers
• Collecting and organizing relevant data from different sources and calibrating and validating crop simulation models
• Conducting ex-ante analysis to assess vulnerability of smallholder farming systems to climate variability and change at multiple scales
• Development of robust adaptation strategies with due consideration to the risks and opportunities associated with them
• Preparation of reports and scientific papers
• Other responsibilities as may arise in the course of time

The person:

• PhD in agriculture, environmental science, or any other related field
• Demonstrated skills in modelling agricultural/environmental systems especially in using crop simulation models APSIM and DSSAT
• Ability to develop conceptual frameworks and what if scenarios for simulation analysis
• Demonstrated experience and familiarity with smallholder farming systems in Eastern Africa and willingness to work with farmers
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary/multi-cultural team on trans-disciplinary issues
• Good publication record
• Good communication skills