Data Scientist (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Reports to: The Research Team Leader

Location: Rabat, Morocco or Tunis, Tunisia or Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Main purpose of position

The Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) will be a member of the multidisciplinary Resilient Agrosilvopastoral Systems (RASP) team and work closely with the Social, Economy and Policy (SEP) team. The PDF will develop, manage, analyze, and report databases on different agricultural themes. The successful candidate is expected to have a solid background in agricultural data analysis using Python and R as well as an understanding of advanced statistical modeling skills. Examples of potential research areas under RASP and SEP include soil and water conservation modeling based on remote sensing, genomics of for sheep and goats, analysis of forage genetic resources, and adoption and impact assessment of agricultural technologies.

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) is a treaty-based international non-profit research organization supported by CGIAR. ICARDA’s mission is to reduce poverty, enhance food, water, and nutritional security, as well as environmental health in the face of global challenges including climate change. We do this through innovative science, strategic partnerships, linking research to development and capacity development that take into account gender equality and the role of youth in transforming the dry areas. ICARDA works in partnership with governments, universities, civil society, national agricultural research organization, other CGIAR Research Centers, and the private sector. With its temporary Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, ICARDA operates in regional and country offices across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. For more information: www.icarda.org 

All CGIAR Centers are currently engaged into a reform process (“One CGIAR’”) that will help ICARDA and CGIAR achieve better impact through more strategically integrated research, unified governance, an integrated structure, and new research modalities across participating Research Centers. This transformation is supported by CGIAR donors who have committed to increased funding as a result of these reforms.

• Develop automation for primary [in-person surveys] and secondary data [online and offline] collection activities. 
• Create predictive and prescriptive models that could have a positive impact on the efficiency of RASP and SEP research.
• Drive all data analytics activities ranging from conceptualization, and visualization to operationalization.

• Build, validate, and deploy machine learning models (supervised and unsupervised).
• Collaborate with software engineers and consultants to integrate data science solutions into existing agricultural platforms and systems at ICARDA.
• Publish research findings in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.
• Provide training and support to ICARDA researchers and stakeholders on data science methodologies and tools.