Location: Crops, Environment and Land Use Research Centre, Teagasc, Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford, Y35 Y521
Research
Salary: Research Officer with a Salary Scale of €40,580 to €77,284
Closing Date: 22/11/2024 12:00 PM
Temporary Full Time
Job Description
Duration:
Temporary externally funded non Grant-in-Aid contract post, the indicative duration of which is 5 months, subject to contract. A panel may be formed from which future similar vacancies may be filled; such a panel will remain active for a maximum period of 12 months.
Basic Function:
The successful applicant will carry out research that will increase our understanding of the effects of farm management and climate change on soil biodiversity and ecosystem services, towards the promotion of evidence-based conservation strategies. This work will be carried out as part of the Soilguard project, which is funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation programme, and comprises twenty-five transdisciplinary project partners from seventeen countries. The aim of SOILGUARD is to boost the sustainable use of soil biodiversity to protect soil multifunctionality and increase economic, social and environmental wellbeing. This will be achieved by co-creating strong evidence of the links between soil management, soil biodiversity, soil multifunctionality and human wellbeing across biogeographical regions. SOILGUARD will deliver evidence-based knowledge regarding sustainable soil management benefits for soil biodiversity and its potential to deliver ecosystem services under specific stressors derived from climate change.
The successful candidate will be required to take up the post in January 2025.
Background:
The position will be primarily based in the Teagasc Environment, Soils and Land-use Department in Johnstown Castle, Wexford. Teagasc. Johnstown Castle is Ireland’s leading research institute on soils and environment related research, and conducts both fundamental and applied research on a wide range of subjects, including soil health, soil-plant interactions, biodiversity, nutrient efficiency, water quality, gaseous emissions, agroecology, and land use. Johnstown Castle is well equipped with laboratory, greenhouse and field facilities to support a wide and innovative research programme, as well as 190 hectares of farmland. It has a wide-ranging programme on soil and plant microbiomes in agricultural systems.
Job Objectives
* Investigate the impact of aboveground biodiversity and climate stress on soil biodiversity and function in grassland systems.
* Carry out statistical and bioinformatics analysis on datasets collected as part of the Soilguard project.
* Interpret research findings and prepare scientific and popular press publications.
* Engage with partners from collaborating organisations to carry out analyses and interpretation, and progress project tasks.
* To disseminate research findings to a variety of audiences as appropriate.
* To assist Teagasc in meeting the commitments of the Quality Customer Service Charter and Action Plan.
* To actively participate in the annual business planning and Performance Management Development System (PMDS) processes.
* Fully co-operate with the provisions made for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of themselves, fellow staff and non-Teagasc staff and co-operate with management in enabling Teagasc to comply with legal obligations. This includes full compliance with the responsibilities outlined in the Safety Statement.
* Any other duties as may be assigned from time to time.
* This job specification is intended as a guide to the general range of duties and is intended to be neither definitive nor restrictive. It will be reviewed from time to time with the post holder.
Skills Requirement
Essential
* An honours Level 8 degree, (as recognised on the National Framework of Qualifications or equivalent), in Environmental Science, Soil Science, Ecology or a related discipline.
Desirable
* A postgraduate degree and/or research experience in soil ecology or a related discipline would be a distinct advantage.
Skills/Knowledge
* Demonstrated research and technical expertise in soil ecology or a related discipline.
* Evidence of research activity (publications, conference presentations, awards) and future scholarly output (working papers, research proposals etc).
* Excellent project management, analytical, report writing and data analysis skills.
* An ability to collaborate with team members and project partners.
* Excellent communication skills (oral, written, presentation) with an ability to enable effective knowledge and technology transfer.
* Demonstrated technical expertise in application of statistics to ecological datasets, and visualisation of results.
* High degree of proficiency in R software.
* Demonstrated research and technical expertise in microbiome analysis and bioinformatics.
* Evidence of teamwork and collaboration.
* Proven record of scientific communications.
* Aptitude for multidisciplinary approaches.
* An understanding of soil-plant interactions in grassland systems.
Behavioural Competencies
* Ability to work as part of a team, including consulting, collaborating and building relationships with key stakeholders.
* Strives for high quality of work and demonstrates commitment to the programme.
* Ability to communicate effectively to enable knowledge and technology transfer.
Eligibility
This is an open public competition. Should a current serving Teagasc staff member be successful in their application through open public competition for this post, their current contract of employment with Teagasc will come to an end on taking up this post.
Note: The ‘essential’ qualifications, knowledge, skills and behavioural competencies outlined above are ‘must-have’ which will be used in the selection process.
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