Scientist -Statistical and Modelling Program at Wildlife Conservation Society

• The post-holder will work with WCS Global Marine Program to support a variety of conservation and science-based projects in the coastal socio-ecological systems of several countries and data collected over the years from the wider Western Indian Ocean (WIO). The post-holder will be responsible for managing all WCS Global Marine databases (fisheries, coral reef ecological and socioecoomic) and the associated metadata. He/She will work with scientists, and project coordinators to source, analyze, and disseminate data supporting conservation work, communication, informing planning efforts, conservation policy, and delivering project outputs. They will also provide technical assistance to researchers to design data collection methods and to conduct research in fisheries, marine protected areas and coral reef related projects amongst others.

Key Responsibilities And Duties
The main responsibilities of the coordinator will be to:

• Maintain WCS Global Marine Program coral reef ecological, fisheries, socioeconomic, and other databases;
• Process and analyze data to create end products that support research, scientific publications, conservation communication, and informs planning and conservation policy and action;
• Ensure integrity and safety of both data collection and data management;
• Assist in the design of conservation project research, experiments and data collection;
• Provide technical, statistical and modelling assistance to research teams as required;
• Work with research scientists and project coordinators to ensure the production of research reports and scientific publications;
• Intergrate new technologies and approaches in data collection, management, analysis and communication of research results;
• Maintain and develop networking with national organizations to keep abreast of databases, statistics, outputs and policy data needs;
• Engage with non-profit organizations and/or social enterprises, or government agencies that are in partnerships with WCS;
• Present ongoing research and monitoring at workshops, seminars and forums;
• Assist with the delivery of other project activities, including training, meetings, workshops, field trips, and community educational activities.
• Undertake any other relevant tasks as required;

Qualification Requirements

• Five years or more work experience with a non-profit organization, or government agency concerned with fisheries or marine management (strongly desired).
• BSc in fisheries, marine science required (MSc or above preferred).
• Fluent in English and excellent verbal and written communication skills as demonstrated by first author reports/publications.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Competent in Google Suite and MS Office and in smartphone based apps.
• Skills in programming language preferred (e.g. R or Python), GIS experience (e.g. QGIS or ArcGIS) and KoboToolbox data collection platform.
• Ability to relate to and work effectively with individuals from a wide range of backgrounds including government, NGOs and coastal communities.
• Experience in developing and facilitating training (strongly desired)
• Problem solving skills and ability to adapt to challenging situations.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently as well as part of a team.