Job offer: Research Associate in the Analysis and Interpretation of Climate Data for Extreme Weather

Grantham Institute, Faculty of Natural Sciences

Salary: £41,593 – 45,234 per annum

Location: South Kensington Campus

Job Summary

Do you want to work in one of the most groundbreaking areas in climate research? Do you have demonstrable expertise in the analysis of climatological data? Apply to join the climate attribution team, led by Dr Friederike Otto.

The role is associated with the Horizon 2020 project eXtreme events : Artificial Intelligence for Detection and Attribution (XAIDA) which strives to design new methods combining detection and attribution, event attribution and machine learning. A key aim is further to champion dialogue with concerned partners to prepare risk assessment and adaptation for similar future events, as well as develop educational material.

In this project the Grantham Institute is collaborating with scientists across Europe to perform event attribution assessments of extreme weather events around the world to external climate drivers.

Applicants may come from a diverse set of backgrounds including natural sciences, engineering, statistics or applied mathematics.

Duties and Responsibilities

You will have the opportunity to participate in research activities such as the rapid attribution initiative World Weather Attribution. This includes interacting with a variety of partners beyond those participating actively in XAIDA and the media.

Key Responsibilities

1. Apply, develop and implement methods for attribution analyses of extreme events with a focus on heat waves, floods and droughts using global and regional climate models and observational data. This will include issues of model evaluation, bias correction, quantification of uncertainties and vulnerability assessments.
2. Actively participate in and lead the scientific activities of the team and contribute to the scientific development of the project.
3. Contribute to and lead publications in highly-ranked, peer-reviewed academic journals.
4. Explore further opportunities for novel research on climate uncertainties, risk assessment and attribution of extreme events.
5. Engage with collaborators.
6. Participate in media and policy briefings and other public facing activities of the attribution team.

Essential requirements

You should hold (or be near completion of) a PhD or equivalent professional qualification in an area relevant to climate science, physics or meteorology.

In addition, you have to be able to demonstrate the following essential criteria:

• Good scientific programming skills and experience in python, R, Matlab, or equivalent mathematical data analysis languages
• Practical experience of interpreting the outputs from complex computer models including extreme value statistics, time series analysis, spatial statistics and stochastic processes or extreme event attribution.
• Practical experience within publication in relevant and refereed journals
• Ability to work as a member of a global interdisciplinary research team, including a range of partners.
• Ability to write scientific text and translate scientific findings into every-day language.
• Excellent verbal communication skills and the ability to interact with a wide range of people
• Ability to coordinate own work with minimal direction

Further Information

This is a full time, fixed term position for up to 31 months, starting in April 2022, or as soon as possible thereafter. You will be based at South Kensington Campus.

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £36,694 – £39,888 per annum.

If you are thinking about applying for this job and want to discuss it further, please contact Dr Fredi Otto on f.otto@imperial.ac.uk

Should you have any queries about the application process, please contact Gosia Gayer, g.gayer@imperial.ac.uk