Assistant Professor (fulltime) In Climate Risk Modelling, with a focus on majority countries

Assistant Professor (fulltime) In Climate Risk Modelling, with a focus on majority countries
Assistant Professor (fulltime) In Climate Risk Modelling, with a focus on majority countries

Published	Deadline	Location
today	31 Oct	Enschede

Job description
The world is confronted with major challenges related to an increase of extreme, climate-driven, hydro-meteorological events that impact societies with higher frequencies, undermining their resilience. This in turn is expected to lead to secondary crises, related to food, and water shortage, health, conflicts and refugees.
We are looking to strengthen our team to face the challenges we are facing as a society and to support the Netherlands in reaching this paramount target.
You focus on the development of approaches to quantify the risks for direct and indirect damages from disasters related to natural hazards under different climate, land use, population and economic scenarios and you use these as input for evaluating possible climate adaptation measures, in a spatial context. An important component of your work is the development of methodologies that aim at translating climate scenarios into changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme processes (e.g. floods, droughts, heat waves, landslides). You do this by different and innovative means that could include, but are not limited to, statistical methods, quantification of uncertainties, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, Earth Observation tools, development and application of probabilistic risk assessment models that integrate an economic component and where investments for climate adaptation are compared with the expected reduction in risk through cost-benefit analysis and other methods. You will exploit the potential of big geospatial data as well as cloud computing and distributed processing technologies to implement and validate the proposed solutions.
You will:

• Contribute to our research on climate risk modelling, and the development of methods to translate the changes in climate extremes, projected land use and population, into changes in expected losses in different sectors
• Contribute to the development of an open and online platform for dynamic risk assessment at local level that allows to analyse and evaluate multi-hazard impact chains, and risk reduction measure under global change scenarios
• Work closely with hazard modellers, climate experts, spatial planners, decision support experts, geo-health specialists, software developers and big data experts in ITC to develop workflows related to understanding and modelling climate risk
• Identify practical applications for your work that help to enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations, such as for example climate risk financing, and pursue funding to implement these together with partners
• Co-supervise PhD candidates and MSc students, in particular, you will contribute to the job description, hiring process and supervision of a PhD researcher directly linked to your position
• Publish your results in scientific journals and open data platforms
• Develop, coordinate, and teach courses in our MSc programmes, such as our elective on Modelling Multi-Hazard and Risks
• Work with our E-Learning Specialists to develop online educational materials and use our innovative Living Textbook (LTB) for educational purposes within our Geo-eAcademy
• Work closely with partner organisations (e.g. KNMI, Red Cross Climate Center, VU, AIT, 4TU Resilience) in development of joint research and capacity building activities
• Form a linking pin in the wider earth and environmental sciences domain in the Netherlands, and actively work towards strengthening our national network

Specifications

• max. 40 hours per week
• €3974—€6181 per month
• Enschede View on Google Maps

University of Twente (UT)

Requirements
You:

• Have a PhD related to climate risk modelling
• Have a strong interest in dynamic disaster risk assessment and development of a web-based simulation
• Have programming skills and experience in GIS and remote sensing, preferably open software applications
• Have recent and relevant high-quality research outputs in line with your career stage and considering eventual interruptions
• Have experience in teaching in Higher Education
• Have a high level of self-motivation while also being a team player;
• Are enthusiastic to work in a range of international and interdisciplinary contexts
• Have an excellend command of English
• Have pleasure in working in an interdisciplinary research setting to achieve both scientific excellence and policy relevance in a multi-cultural environment.
• Have an interest in the practical applications of your research and in collaborating with stakeholders, in a national and international context.
• Embrace Open Science and FAIR data principles.
• Have a passion for education in an international setting. You can develop high-quality education material and teach topics such as probabilistic risk assessment, multi-hazard interactions, and quantifying risk components.
• Are a dedicated supervisor for MSc students, and PhD researchers.
• Are committed to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) values of the ITC and of the CDR and you embed them in your work and your approaches.

The following are an advantage but can also be developed over time as part of your professional development:

• Experience in online/distance learning modes of education.
• Postdoctoral experience working in organisations dealing with catastrophe modelling
• Experience in projects on multi-hazard risk assessment in countries with data scarcity, in Africa, Asia or Latin America
• Familiarity with (and possibly the experience of) cloud computing and big data processing technologies
• Experience with collaborative projects (e.g. EU Research projects, UN, World Bank projects) and working in international environments
• Knowledge of Spanish and/or French
• Knowledge of, or willingness to learn Dutch
• A university teaching qualification
• Experience in outreach activities and community engagement

Conditions of employment
We offer an inspiring and challenging international environment. You will be initially employed for 1 year, after which your position can become permanent, subject to a successful evaluation.

• Gross monthly salary between € 3,974.- and € 6,181.- (depending on experience and qualifications, job profile Assistant Professor level 2 or 1).
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary and a year-end bonus of 8.3%
• Excellent support for research and facilities for professional and personal development.
• A solid pension scheme
• A total of 41 holiday days in case of fulltime employment
• Professional and personal improvement programmes

Department
The Centre for Disaster Resilience (CDR), within the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, focuses on a synergetic and common effort to increase well-being and global sustainable growth by significantly decreasing the disaster risk. We do this through fundamental, interdisciplinary and applied research, dissemination, education and training, (international) cooperation, and advisory services. Within the ITC, the Chair of Multi-Hazard Risk Dynamics develops approaches to describe and quantify the changing impact of extreme events and their interactions, resulting from climate change, and societal changes, especially focusing on vulnerable regions in the majority world.
Additional information
For more information you can contact Prof Cees van Westen (e-mail: c.j.vanwesten@utwente.nl). You are also invited to visit our homepage.
Please submit your application before 1 November 2022 (choose “apply here” below). Your application has to include

• A motivation letter clearly outlining your skills, your experience and how you fit the tasks and profile of the position.
• A full Curriculum Vitae.
• The names and contact details of two references.

The University of Twente wants to be an organisation that optimally deploys diversity, talents and capabilities in the labour market for now and the future. In the framework of our diversity and inclusiveness policy, we strongly stimulate people with a (work) disability to apply for this position.
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Join the university of technology that puts people first. Create new possibilities for yourself, your colleagues and society as a whole. Using modern technology and science to drive innovation, change and progress. That’s what it means to work at the University of Twente.

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