Postdoctoral Research Associate – Climate

Job no: 509313
Work type: Full time
Location: Sydney, NSW
Categories: Post doctoral research fellow

• One of Australia’s leading research & teaching universities
• Vibrant campus life with a strong sense of community & inclusion
• Enjoy a career that makes a difference by collaborating & learning from the best

At UNSW, we pride ourselves on being a workplace where the best people come to do their best work.

THIS ROLE IS LOCATED IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will conduct research that advances the understanding of Australia’s climate, its extremes and associated drivers, and to improve future projections. This research will directly inform climate adaptation solutions for Australia. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will develop their research expertise through the pursuit of defined projects relevant to their particular field of research.

Using existing observations, reanalysis, global and regional climate model ensembles and atmosphere/coupled model experiments, the Postdoctoral Research Associate will work with investigators within the Climate Systems Hub of the National Environmental Science Program to achieve these outcomes.

The Australian Government National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Climate Systems Hub, was established in 2021 and will conduct research activity until 2026. The Climate Systems Hub (CSH) is hosted by CSIRO and is a partnership of Australia’s leading climate change research institutions including the University of New South Wales, University of Tasmania, Australian National University, Monash University, University of Melbourne, the Bureau of Meteorology and state governments. The Climate Systems Hub’s research portfolio includes a range of climate and Earth systems projects integrated across land, ocean and atmospheric research. Our projects apply climate models, projections, process studies and observations analysis to enhance understanding of Australia’s current and likely future climate. This knowledge will be used alongside Traditional Knowledge and adaptation research to inform decision-making and improve Australia’s climate resilience.

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will contribute to the CSH project ‘Regional climate change guidance for local action’, which will do research into and develop products to summarise the state-of-play in projection science in Australia, consider future directions and opportunities, and investigate options for developing projections products that meet user needs. The project will also perform research into topics such as downscaling projections, tropical cyclones, extreme fire weather conditions and other climate hazards, and will trial a storyline approach to presenting and communicating climate change projections.

This position will be based at the UNSW node of CSH, within the Climate Change Research Centre, Sydney, NSW. The Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) is a multi-disciplinary research centre comprising one of the largest university research facilities of its kind in Australia. CCRC houses research expertise in the key areas of Earth’s climate: atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial processes. We apply basic scientific principles to pressing questions on climate dynamics, global climate change, and extremes of weather and climate.

About the role

• Level A – $98k – $106k – plus 17% Superannuation and annual leave loading
• Fixed Term – 3 years
• Full-time (35 hours per week)

The Postdoctoral Research Associate reports to Professor Jason Evans and has no direct reports.

Specific responsibilities for this role include:

• Contribute independently and as a team member in collaborative research, with other researchers among CSH partner organisations, with a focus to enhance the quality of research outcomes in regional projections science.
• Conduct research (as per the norms of the discipline) and/or enable research teams to create scholarly output that is recognised by peers.
• Contribute to the co-design and co-production of research projects through interaction with stakeholders during the research process.
• Maintain a strong focus on communicating research findings by publishing in highly ranked journals and presenting to peers at local, national and global conferences.
• Undertake specific research project/s under the guidance of a research leader and contribute to the development of research activities.
• Developing and running atmosphere and/or coupled climate model simulations.
• Analysing observations/reanalysis in relation to model simulations.
• Analysing output from bespoke model experiments and large ensembles (e.g. CMIP, CORDEX).
• Take on leadership opportunities that arise to contribute to the collegiate life of CSH/CCRC such as contributing to PhD supervision, committee membership, leading workshops, etc.
• Participate in and/or present at conferences and/or workshops relevant to the project as required.
• Align with and actively demonstrate the UNSW Values in Action: Our Behaviours and the UNSW Code of Conduct
• Cooperate with all health and safety policies and procedures of the university and take all reasonable care to ensure that your actions or omissions do not impact on the health and safety of yourself or others.

About the successful applicant

• PhD in Physical Climate Science, Climate Modelling or Atmosphere/Ocean Dynamics or related discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to undertake high quality scientific research independently and as part of a collaborative team.
• Demonstrated track record of strong research and publication (relative to opportunity) in an area listed in the position summary.
• Evidence of high level analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Evidence of highly developed verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated programming skills in a Unix/Linux environment (E.g. Python, Fortran, Matlab, R).
• Knowledge of regional climate processes and/or land-atmosphere interactions and/or atmosphere dynamics.
• Experience in developing experiments and running regional climate simulations with a model like the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF).
• An understanding of and commitment to UNSW’s aims, objectives and values in action, together with relevant policies and guidelines.
• Knowledge of health and safety responsibilities and commitment to attending relevant health and safety training.

Please apply online – applications will not be accepted if sent to the contact listed.

Contact:
Jason Evans
E: jason.evans@unsw.edu.au

Applications close: June 29^th, 2022