Researcher in integrated modeling of environmental impacts from land and water use

BACKGROUND

The IBF Research Group adopts an integrated approach to sustainable land use and ecosystems modeling taking into account i) interactions between different economic sectors, including agriculture, forestry, bioenergy, and fisheries, ii) synergies and trade-offs between multiple societal objectives, including, but not limited to, GHG emissions and climate change mitigation, climate change impacts and adaptation, food security, sustainable nutrient and water management, and biodiversity, iii) across different spatial and temporal scales, going from pixel through the country level up to the global scale, and from annual to a hundred year time horizon.

The group is strongly connected to the international academic community, placing emphasis on transdisciplinary synergies and applied approaches. The work accomplished has long been recognized through regular publications in high-ranking scientific journals, and the team includes Top 1% highly cited researchers. In addition, IBF is recognized as a reliable partner in support of policy making, such as EU policies or CBD's Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework"

THE POSITION

IBF is offering a research position in the integrated modeling of resource use and environmental impacts to advance the understanding and development of land and water use systems compatible with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and planetary boundaries. Within a vibrant multi-disciplinary research team, the successful candidate will consolidate and expand the representation in the iBIOM integrated modeling platform around the GLOBIOM model of the environmental impacts (e.g., GHG, nutrient and water cycles, biodiversity), safe boundaries (e.g., level of pressures compatible with planetary boundaries) and contributions to people (e.g., material, regulation and non-material contributions) associated with the management of the land and freshwater resources for the agriculture, forestry, bioenergy and aquaculture sectors. This will include innovative interfacing of the GLOBIOM model to several datasets and models from a wide range of disciplines (e.g., ecology, agronomy and forestry, hydrology, nutrient cycling), requiring strong appeal for and versatility in multidisciplinary approaches, data analysis and coding.

In the frame of projects such as the BRIGHTSPACE, LAMASUS, RAINFOREST, CLEVER Horizon Europe project, the successful candidate will contribute to/lead cutting-edge analysis in collaboration with international partners on defining implications of a safe and just space goal for the land and water sectors and exploring options to evolve towards such a target. Examples of recent work to be furthered by the new hire includes Leclere et al. (2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2705-y), Chang et al. (2021; DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00366-x).

MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Employ external datasets and outputs of (and occasionally run and contribute to the development of) process-based and statistical models to:
  • translate GLOBIOM model outputs of land and water use and management into indicators of multiple environmental impacts and nature contributions to people, either as small module internal to the GLOBIOM model or as interfaces between GLOBIOM model outputs and models available on the iBIOM platform,
  • generate simplified relationships and constraints in the GLOBIOM model related to land and water use and management compatible with planetary and regional boundaries,
  • produce harmonized datasets characterizing land and water resource and use as well as sustainable land and water use and management options.
• Contribute to methodological and structural development of the GLOBIOM model and the iBIOM integrated modeling platform, through interfacing biophysical, biodiversity and economic models
• Apply the GLOBIOM and iBIOM integrated modeling platform in the context of research and policy projects
• Publish relevant results in peer-reviewed journals and participate in scientific conferences and workshops
• Contribute to project deliverables, reports, stakeholder communication.

• In line with the team spirit that prevails at IIASA, the incumbent may occasionally work on other tasks assigned by their superiors, that might not be directly related to this appointment but where the post holder has relevant experience and skills, and/or a shortage of immediate personnel capabilities requires such.