Research Fellow- Climate Information Services Specialist at Bioversity International

Job Description

• Contribute in designing and implementation of digitally enabled and participatory agro-climate services by leveraging the previous expertise of the Alliance in Africa and other regions. This will require first understanding the different approaches to climate services at Alliance and elsewhere, documenting the needs of partners and users, and designing project activities that address those needs and build on previous work.
• Advance the area of agro-climate services for the Alliance in Africa, ensuring timely delivery of project outputs, and contributing to coordinating activities across relevant projects.
• Guarantee an effective, efficient, and responsible development and deployment of climate-informed advisory services and develop and test innovative ideas that leverage digital technologies to scale CIS.
• Engage in bilateral fundraising activities in the area of agro-climate services.
• Design and implement training workshops to colleagues and project partners, including for building climate literacy, developing better forecast systems, amongst others. 
• Continue to build and nurture key partnerships in Africa with key partners including Meteorological Services, Digital Partners, Farmer Organizations, and other CGIAR centers.
• Contribute to technical discussions with partners and develop roadmaps for CIS activity implementation.
• Coordinate activities internally at the Alliance and CGIAR, and stay up to date on activities of key partners (e.g., IRI), as well as on new methods and approaches to CIS
• Contribute and lead reporting, and scientific paper writing.

Requirements

• PhD/Masters level studies (on agriculture, climate sciences, agrometeorology, or related fields), and demonstrated experience of at least 2 years (for PhD) or 5 years (for Masters) working in the field of CIS.
• Extensive experience, training, and knowledge in agrometeorology, climate science, and/or climate services for agriculture.
• Experience in the design and application of participatory methods for CIS needs assessment, and CIS design and implementation at the field scale.
• Experience in designing and deploying CIS systems either through participatory, or digital means, or both. Working knowledge of seasonal forecast tools such as NextGen is a plus.
• Extensive experience of handling and processing gridded weather and climate data.
• Experience working with partners from academia, NGOs, CGIAR centers, and meteorological services
• Knowledge and experience on climate prediction and/or on the use of climate predictions to inform decision making.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. French would be a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multi-disciplinary efforts and work with stakeholders (both internally and externally) with emphasis in CIS
• Experience working in an international context and interacting with stakeholders across disciplines and (desirably) countries.