Postdoctoral Scientist- Water Systems- SEI

Overview

To lead and coordinate the Centre’s research on Water Systems, including Integrated Water Planning and water-energy-food (WEF) nexus analysis. A major role for the position holder will be to undertake water modelling using SEI’s WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning) tool, and other water modelling and management tools, lead policy engagement on water, oceans and blue economy, coordinate capacity building activities, including training and provide scientific advice to external partners, including policy makers, local communities and private sector actors.

Duties and responsibilities

Research, policy, and capacity development tasks

• Lead and coordinate water systems modelling and analysis using the WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning) tool and other water management tools to quantify current and projected water demands across different sectors, considering drivers of change, including climatic variability.
• Coordinate the Centre’s research on Integrated Water Planning, water-energy-food (WEF) Nexus, Water and Sanitation (WASH), and Oceans and Blue Economy.
• Coordinate Centre’s engagement in key water and ocean policy processes at the national, regional, and global levels, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development (2018-2028), the United Nations Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), and the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW) processes.
• Conduct internal and external water focussed capacity building initiatives, including coordinating training and providing technical support for users of SEI’s Decision Support Tools (DST) for water planning and management.
• Contribute to formulation and implementation of the Centre’s Annual Workplan, including budget preparation, programme design, knowledge management, and project  implementation.
• Support the Communications team in outreach activities, including media appearances, public presentations, science-policy dialogues, and preparation of articles for specialist publications as appropriate.
• Supervise postgraduate students and contribute to teaching and training at universities that have partnership arrangements with SEI.

Centre development

• Manage projects, including coordinating project teams, and contributing to research design, data collection and archiving, data analysis, writing of publications, and dissemination of findings through seminars, workshops, conferences, and other public outreach activities.
• Provide guidance to early career research staff in the research process and career development and contribute to SEI’s staff research development program.
• Contribute to strengthening the relationship between the Centre and other partners through joint research, policy engagement and capacity development activities.

Project specific tasks

• Coordinate the implementation of the project “Applying the Water-Energy-Food Nexus to Promote Ecosystem Based Adaptation in the Ewaso Ng’iro North River Catchment, Kenya.”
• Support the implementation of the EU funded project ONEPlanET (OpeN source Nexus modelling tools for Planning sustainable Energy Transition in Africa).
• Support the implementation of the project “Integrated Management of Natural Resources for Resilience in the ASALs (IMARA).”
• Work on existing and new projects as assigned by the supervisor.

Requirements

• Ph.D. degree in Hydrology, Engineering (Civil, Water, or Agriculture Engineering), Geography, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Science, or interdisciplinary studies with Water relevant qualifications.
• Research background in water management, WEF (water-energy-food) nexus, ocean and ecosystems management, preferably applied research that links to policy and decision-making in African context.
• Experience in water systems analysis, and water modelling in a GIS platform, including strong ability and skills in using Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) tool and other water modelling tools.
• Knowledge and understanding of policies on water, oceans and in related sectors
• Experience in communicating scientific information to a range of different audiences.
• Proven experience in fundraising and writing research grant proposals.