Vacancy IFPRI: ost Doctoral Fellow - Food & Water Safety
November 21, 2006.
Subject: VACANCY POSTING - Pos # 06-158N - Post Doctoral Fellow - Food & Water Safety
Importance: High
IFPRI VACANCY POSTING
POSITION # 06-158(N)
(INTERNATIONALLY RECRUITED POSITION)
TITLE: POST DOCTORAL FELLOW, FOOD & WATER SAFETY THEME
LOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C.
DIVISION: MARKETS, TRADE & INFRASTRUCTURE (MTID)
GRADE: 15B
REPORTS TO: CLARE NARROD, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW
POSTING DATE: NOVEMBER 15, 2006
CLOSING DATE: JANUARY 30, 2007 or until filled
JOB SUMMARY
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks a Post-Doctoral Fellow to conduct modeling of food and water safety problems in the context of developing countries. The successful candidate should be able to develop and analyze probabilistic models addressing human health and ecological risk associated with policy options. Topics will range from modeling the likelihood of entry and spread of plant and animal diseases to modeling the probability of microbial and environmental contaminants on food products produced by smallholders in developing countries. The Post Doc fellow will work closely with economists developing cost-benefit analyses on the same projects to develop cost-effective analysis of mitigation alternative to aid policy makers in developing countries in decision making. This is two-year, fixed term, renewable appointment based at IFPRI headquarters located in Washington, D.C. but will involve travel to countries in which IFPRI carries out its research.
The Post doc Fellow will work closely with the leader of the Food and Water Safety theme to develop a cross-divisional research program to search for policy options to improve food and water safety in developing countries to improve the health of the poor and market access for their products whether domestic or international markets. The Post-doctoral Fellow will conduct research and provide risk modeling support as part of an interdisciplinary team to identify a variety of options that will improve decision makers ability to target solutions to the poor in developing countries.
Projects will be targeted at:
1. Modeling the spatial spread of several plant and animals diseases and identifying cost-effective control technologies
2. Modeling the health risk associated with peri-urban waste water use in developing countries and identifying cost-effective methods to control the risk to the poor associated with the consumption of such products
3. Modeling the risk of environmental and microbial toxins in animal feed or human products and finding cost-effective storage technologies or methods that reduce such risks that can be utilized by the poor.
Essential Duties:
* Developing and evaluating quantitative, often probabilistic, models of ecological or public health systems;
* Designing and implementing quantitative and qualitative risk assessments supporting interdisciplinary risk analysis;
* Development of technical and policy approaches with interdisciplinary teams for solving risk problems associated with poor consumers and farmers and developing a variety of options to reduce the risk problem that can be consider by policy makers in developing countries;
* Development and enhancement of quantitative modeling approaches, literature review and interpretation, and research report writing
* Building IFPRI’s capacities, partnerships and networks for this work;
* Publishing the results of research in international academic journals
* Identifying and cultivating donor interest in this work, and writing proposals for funding.
Required Qualifications:
* Ph.D. a field relevant to modeling some of the risks described above, or be working towards the completion of such a degree, which must be awarded by 31 May 2007.
* Outstanding intellectual capacity and strong evidence of research potential;
* Strong team-building skills.
* Ability to work across disciplines.
* Excellent written and spoken English;
Preferred Qualifications:
* PhD with disciplinary training in decision science, operations research, or related disciplines with experience in quantitative risk modeling associated with agriculture, environmental or natural resource issues.
* Experience working in developing countries.
* Fluency in a second language, such as Spanish or French, desirable
IFPRI is one of the international agricultural research institutes organized under the umbrella of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The mandate of IFPRI is to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting world food needs in ways that conserve the natural resource base, with emphasis on low income and on the poorer groups in the countries.
IFPRI offers a multicultural, collegial research environment with competitive salary and excellent benefits. IFPRI is an international and equal opportunity organization and believes that diversity of its staff contributes to excellence. We encourage women and developing country professionals to apply.
TO APPLY: Log on to www.ifpri.org . Click on “Careers” and “IFPRI’s Most Recent Positions” to link you to Position # 06-158 – Post Doctoral Fellow, Food & Water Safety Theme. Please complete on-line application including a complete curriculum vitae and a detailed letter of interest. Also complete section providing 3 references. EOE
Alma
Alma López
Head, HR Services
IFPRI
2033 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 862-5628
Fax: (202) 862-8187
Email: a.lopez@cgiar.org
