Postdoctoral Researcher - RADIANT project, School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Ryan Institute Ref. No. University of Galway 053-24

13 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

University of Galway

Research Field

Engineering » Other

Researcher Profile

Recognised Researcher (R2)

Country

Ireland

Application Deadline

27 Mar 2024 - 17:00 (Europe/London)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Hours Per Week

39

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Reference Number

University of Galway 053-24

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time fixed term (17-month) position as a Postdoctoral Researcher on quantitative assessment of sustainable and resilient food systems at the University of Galway, Ireland.  

 

This position is funded through an EU Horizon 2020 Research Project (RADIANT), and is available from 01/04/2024 to project end date 31/08/2025. 

 

The successful applicant will join the FUSION modelling research group (https://fusion-research.eu ) within the Ryan Institute at the University of Galway.   

 

Job Description: 

The successful candidate will undertake sustainability assessment of agri-food value chains within an international multidisciplinary team working on Work Package (WP) 4 of the RADIANT  project. RADIANT comprises 29 entities from 12 countries, and adopts a ‘Theory of Change’ approach to promote environmental protection, resilience and fair economic development through the valorization of underutilised crops. In WP4, partners from University of Galway, Wageningen University, Trinity College Dublin and University of Gastronomic Sciences (Pollenzo) are developing a RADIANT-Metrics framework to quantitatively benchmark the sustainability and resilience of agri-food systems based on underutilized crops (at crop, farm and value chain level).  

The overall aim of WP4 (led by David Styles ) is to supplement relative environmental efficiency metrics based on life cycle assessment (LCA) with simple metrics capturing broader sustainability and resilience attributes, based on ecosystem services and economic assessment. Emphasis is placed on capturing aspects necessary to tackle common weakness in industrialised agri-food value chains, such as soil degradation, lack of agri-biodiversity, low levels of multifunctionality and unbalanced distribution of revenue.  

The successful candidate will combine LCA with (results from) parallel economic and ecosystem services analyses to benchmark food value chains based on underutilised crops against industrialised food value chains. They will work within a wider research network  pioneering state-of-the-art assessment of food and bioeconomy production systems and scenarios in the context of climate neutrality targets and planetary boundaries (i.e. respecting absolute ecological thresholds), as well as considering relative efficiency via LCA.  

 

Duties:  

• Undertake life cycle assessment (LCA) of cropping systems and value chains 
• Integrate LCA with ecosystem services and economic metrics from project partners  
• Participate in project workshops and meetings 
• Write reports and scientific articles   
• Any other duties assigned commensurate to this level of post 

 

Qualifications/Skills required:  

 

Essential Requirements: 

• PhD in a relevant science, engineering or economics discipline  
• Proven experience applying LCA, economic or other quantitative assessment methods  
• Excellent knowledge of cropping systems  
• Demonstrated ability to publish scientific papers 

 

Desirable Requirements:  

• Experience with ecosystem services assessment 
• Knowledge of resilience assessment 
• Knowledge of underutilized crops 
• Project management experience  

 

Salary: Postdoctoral Researcher salary scale €42,782 - €54,965 per annum, (subject to the project’s funding limitations), and pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts.  

 

The default position for all new public sector appointments is the 1st point of the salary scale. This may be reviewed, and consideration afforded to appointment at a higher point on the payscale (subject to the project’s funding limitations), where evidence of prior years’ equivalent experience is accepted in determining placement on the scale above point 1, subject to the maximum of the scale.  

 

Research Salary Scales - University of Galway).  

 

Start date: Position is available from 01.04.2024 

 

Continuing Professional Development/Training: 

Researchers at University of Galway are encouraged to avail of a range of training and development opportunities designed to support their personal career development plans. University of Galway provides continuing professional development supports for all researchers seeking to build their own career pathways either within or beyond academia.  Researchers are encouraged to engage with our Researcher Development Centre (RDC) upon commencing employment - see HERE  for further information. 

 

Further information on research and working at University of Galway is available on Research at University of Galway  

 

For information on moving to Ireland please see www.euraxess.ie   

 

Requirements

Research Field

Engineering » Other

Education Level

PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Desirable Requirements:  

• Experience with ecosystem services assessment 

• Knowledge of resilience assessment 

• Knowledge of underutilized crops 

• Project management experience  

Specific Requirements

Essential Requirements: 

• PhD in a relevant science, engineering or economics discipline  

• Proven experience applying LCA, economic or other quantitative assessment methods  

• Excellent knowledge of cropping systems  

• Demonstrated ability to publish scientific papers 

Internal Application form(s) needed
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Additional Information
Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

university of Galway

Country

Ireland

Geofield

Where to apply

E-mail

[email protected]

Contact

State/Province

Ireland

City

Galway

Website

https://www.universityofgalway.ie/

Street

University Road

Postal Code

H91 TK33

E-Mail

[email protected]

STATUS: EXPIRED