CREAF is seeking to appoint one technician to work on the SEACURE project (Innovative solutions to prevent, reduce and remediate nutrient pollution along the land-river-sea system in the Mediterranean basin); with reference GAP-101157327, financed by the European Union through the Horizon Europe program. The successful candidate will join the Global Ecology Unit, an active research group with many other predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers.
SEACURE is funded by the European Commission (EC) under the HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-SOIL-01-01 call (Joint demonstration of approaches and solutions to address nutrient pollution in the landscape-river-sea system in the Mediterranean Sea Basin). The project seeks to address the problem of nutrient pollution in the Mediterranean basin, and the results will contribute to two of the EC key missions: (1) Mission Ocean and Waters, and (2) Mission A Soil Deal for Europe.
In particular, the project is dedicating resources to: i) reduce soil pollution and enhance its restoration; ii) reduce fertilizers use and nutrient losses; and iii) prevent, minimize and remediate nutrient pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems, in six territorial units (Mar Menor and Central Catalunya in Spain, Po delta and Esino River in Italy, and Axios River delta and Thessaly Plain in Greece).
A full-time contract is offered (37,5h per week), and likely to start at the beginning of June 2025 or soon thereafter. It will last at least for 12 months, with the possibility of extending it if required and if the budget allows. The offered salary is €18,134.50 gross per year (corresponding to category T6).
Main research fields: nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, food security, agronomic statistics, GIS, remote sensing, river basins.
Principal Investigator contact: Estela Romero (estela.romero@creaf.uab.es; +34 93 5814851)
TASKS:
The technician will contribute to SEACURE’s Work Package 3 (WP3) – Evaluate the large-scale impact of nutrient management strategies. The work will involve:
- Calculating nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) budgets at the basin scale for six demo regions in Europe. This requires searching, reviewing and downloading numerous international public databases and the consolidation of a database with agronomic statistics, population data, atmospheric deposition and other environmental parameters relevant to the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles.
- Geospatial data for river basin delineation, water flow and water quality, sanitation infrastructure and other relevant parameters.
- Searching and downloading data from coastal monitoring programs. These data will be used to assess the impact of N and P inputs in coastal waters and derive eutrophication indices, such as the ICEP proposed by the UN to monitor the advancement of SDG14.
The appointed technician will work closely with the IP, a junior researcher, and the rest of the SEACURE consortium's partners. There will also be exchanges with the UPM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Dr Luis Lassaletta), and opportunities to attend meetings and/or carry out short research stays abroad
REQUIREMENTS:
- Degree in Environmental Sciences, Agronomic Sciences, or equivalent.
- Proficiency in English and Spanish, both spoken and written.
- Expertise in using the basic analytical tools employed in ecology (data management, statistics), and proven experience in managing large datasets.
- Advanced knowledge of QGIS and Remote Sensing tools.
- Knowledge of statistics and programming in R.
- Strong oral communication skills.
ASSESSABLE CONDITIONS:
- Some knowledge of Geography and Spatial Planning will be highly valued.
- MSc or PhD related to the tasks mentioned above (GIS, Remote Sensing, Agronomics, etc.).
- Demonstrable experience in geomatics and remote sensing applied to Earth Sciences.
- Proven experience with databases (generation, analysis and management) and open-source repositories.
- Previous experience with data from European or global database collections (e.g., EUROSTAT and FAOSTAT, WHO/UNICEF, Copernicus Era5 Reanalysis data, Copernicus Marine Service, EMODnet) will be highly valued.
- Good skills with programming languages and modelling.
- Ability to work as a team and independently.
- Candidates with a certified disability of 33% or more will be prioritized, provided the disability is compatible with the position's responsibilities.
SELECTION PROCESS AND CRITERIA:
- Admission of candidates: Applicants must apply for the offer and attach the requested documentation, CV and cover letter (maximum 500 words), until May 19th, 2025. Applications submitted to any portal other than the CREAF job board and the instructions included therein will not be accepted.
- Pre-selection: determination of compliance with the minimum requirements of the offer.
- Selection: assessment of the preselected candidates by scoring based on objective criteria and by interview of shortlisted candidates.
- Final decision: in case of finding the suitable candidate, the election will be formally communicated to this person, and the identification of the chosen person will be published on CREAF job openings section and with personalized notification (by mail) when the process progresses.
JOB OFFER IN PDF