The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education offers graduate education in Delft, The Netherlands, and carries out research and capacity building projects all over the world. The mission of UNESCO-IHE is to contribute to the education and training of professionals and to build the capacity of sector organizations, knowledge centres and other institutions active in the fields of water, the environment and infrastructure in developing countries and countries in transition.
UNESCO-IHE has a permanent staff of 180, of which 90 are scientific staff, while about 250 guest- lecturers from academia and industry contribute to the educational programme. Each year 750 participants (incl. about 200 new MSc students per year) from all over the world attend the various regular and short courses at UNESCO-IHE. The institute has an international staff & student community with English as working language
Department info
The Integrated Water Systems & Governance (IWSG) Department covers a broad range of disciplinary knowledge – sociology, law, economics, public administration, political science, information technology, mathematics, hydrological and hydraulic modelling sciences, engineering, knowledge management and innovation studies. With our research we seek to contribute to a better understanding of what makes such systems sustainable, resource efficient, resilient and how they contribute to social and environmental justice, in particular in, but not limited to, the Global South. UNESCO-IHE is developing together with its partners IWMI and FAO an international framework for water accounting. The newly developed framework is referred to as Water Accounting Plus (WA+). An open-access data repository is under continuous development that shares the water accounts of river basins with all professionals involved in decision making processes ( www.wateraccounting.org ).
The Integrated Water Systems and Governance Department is looking for a: Remote Sensing Crop Water Productivity Analyst / Junior
Lecturer (m/f) – 0.84 FTE
Responsibilities
The candidate is responsible for the implementation of the concepts of Crop Water Productivity in Africa and the Middle East, including as part of the FAO project to use remote sensing in support of solutions to reduce agricultural water productivity gaps. While the concept has been promoted by many international agencies, the implementation of crop water productivity is hindered by a lack of tools to measure it. UNESCO-IHE has made remote sensing software to facilitate a fast computation of crop water productivity on the basis of Landsat images. This tool will be applied to the countries specified and the results will be described statistically by crop type and by environmental factors.
The candidate will apply a surface energy balance model and validate the biomass production and evapotranspiration where feasible with local field measurements. A Water Productivity Score (WPS) will be derived at a spatial resolution of 30 m x 30 m, which facilitates the reporting to local governments on their scope of improvement. This information is useful for farmers, Departments of Agriculture, but also for Irrigation and for Environmental Protection Agencies.
The successful candidate should contribute to the imbedding of crop water productivity in the irrigation systems selected for this pilot study. The diagnosis will be presented to these countries and tailor- made courses on energy balance and biomass production modeling will be provided by the selected candidate. Fields with the best practices will be identified together with the recipient countries. The candidate is expected to prepare a set of manuals on image processing and water productivity ranking
that could be used in all FAO Member Countries. UNESCO-IHE is encouraging its staff members to develop international publications, and it would be preferred to do this together with the recipient organizations. It is expected that the candidate assists students and provide lectures in certain water management related modules.
The successful candidate will be working on
- Collection and processing of Landsat images with SEBAL3.0 model
- Validating remote sensing products with field data
- Summarizing the crop water productivity statistics by crop type and by irrigation sub-systems
- Defining gaps of crop yield and crop water productivity using fields with excellent performance
- Visiting countries in Africa and the Middle East to explain results and build local capacity by means of tailor-made training courses
- Assisting with teaching at MSc level on topics related to crop water productivity
- Assisting with supervision of MSc students on topics related to crop water productivity
Requirements
UNESCO-IHE is searching for a young academic person with a doctoral degree in either (i) energy balance modeling and/or (ii) irrigation water management. He/she should have proven excellent analytical and communication skills, and have an interest in agriculture. The candidate should have proficient programming skills in one of the software packages Python, Matlab and/or ArcGIS. He/she should have a positive track record on providing international short courses. Overseas working or training experience is preferred, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.
Terms of employment
This position is a temporary position for two years. The position is based in Delft, The Netherlands, with short missions to Africa and the Middle East. A competitive salary (grade 10) is offered depending on qualifications and experience in accordance with the conditions of employment for Dutch Universities. The appointment implies entry into the Netherlands' Civil Service Pension Fund (ABP). A Dutch work permit will be required.
Information and application
Additional information can be obtained from Dr. Janez Susnik, Deputy Head of the Integrated Water Systems and Governance Department (+31 (0)15 215 2368) or Prof. Dr. Wim Bastiaanssen (+31 (0)15 215 2321 - w.bastiaanssen@unesco-ihe.org ).
Applications (in English) should respond specifically to the requirements and should be sent before 17 January 2016 (closing date) including curriculum vitae, statement of teaching and research interests, motivation letter and the names and contact details of two contactable referees ( as one PDF file with your family name as the filename), to UNESCO-IHE, attn. Human Resource Management (E: vacancies@unesco-ihe.org ), PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands, stating vacancy-number
16-IWSG-02.
Reactions from staffing agencies and other 3rd parties are not appreciated.
