IRTA is currently seeking an enthusiastic and motivated Researcher with a PhD related to Marine Sciences to join the Marine and Continental Waters Program. We invite applications from ambitious candidates with relevant research experience and passion to conduct research and innovation activities on the modelling and forecasting phytoplankton dynamics.
AGROLABS DIGITALS is a pioneer research and innovation project of IRTA that aims to boost the Agrifood sectorwith the digital transformation both in plant and animal production. The project involves main actions: i) the creation of infrastructures for testing and experimentation of new digital technologies and ii) a platform of data and digital services, a data space, that will be made available to the main agricultural sectors, universities and other research and innovation institutes. The testing and experimentation facilities will be deployed in 10 different IRTA sites across Catalonia involving the Plant and Animal Production Areas of IRTA. In specific, they will focus on fruit and field crop sectors, postharvest of fruit and vegetables, swine, bovine and aquaculture.
* Head of the Program: Dr. Jorge Diogène
* Program’s key researcher/s for this position: Margarita Fernández Tejedor
* Job location: IRTA la Ràpita
* Full-time position (37.5 h/week)
* Terms of appointment: Contract for the project AGROLABS DIGITALS
* Salary: Category F from the RDT salary scale of IRTA (34.077€)
* Employee Benefits: 22 vacation days, 3 days of family & work conciliation, 45h of personal days, Friday afternoon off, Compressed Summer schedule from 15/06 to 15/09, Conciliation schedule.
Tasks and Responsabilites:
* Develop forecast models for harmful algal blooms using long-term time series of phytoplankton and environmental data.
* Run the forecast models in an operational framework including data visualization through a web portal to provide early warnings to the aquaculture industry about the weekly probability of HABs occurrence.
* Contribute to the activities of the research Program, performing scientific and technical tasks, taking part in the planning and execution of the project AGROLABS to ensure the achievement of milestones of the project.
* Perform literature review, data collection and management, involving statistical analysis.
* Contribute to the scientific production of the research and innovation activities of the Program.
* Contribute to the teamwork and team-spirit in the Marine and Continental Waters Program, fostering collaboration and integration activities.
Required qualifications and experience:
* Ph.D. in Marine Sciences, Ecology, Environmental Science or related fields applied to data analysis and/or, ecological modelling/forecasting, or ecosystem science, with post-doctoral experience in the research topic, preferably with an international scope and applied approach regarding ocean forecast.
* Proved research skills: experience on project proposal writing, literature review, experimental design and implementation, data analysis, scientific article writing.
* Dissemination skills: presentation/communication skills, and technical writing.
* Capacity to successfully develop collaborative research links with national and international research organizations, and the ability to interact closely with private companies. The successful candidate will be expected to attract funds from private and public sectors for research, interact with stakeholders
Desirable requirements:
* Expertise working with common programming environments, such as R or Phyton.
* Experience in statistical analysis and/or machine learning
* Experience in the modelling and forecast of Harmful Algal Blooms occurrence.
* Experience in the use of satellite data products
Languages:
* Proficiency in English
* Catalan and Spanish are valued
Application process:
If you wish to be considered for this position, please, apply via our Recruitment Platform to the job post with reference 63/25 and upload your CV and motivation letter until 07/05/2025. All information will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Please know that if you are the chosen candidate and you are from a country which does not belong to the UE, IRTA’s Human Resources Department will support you to get the residence and working permits.
IRTA guarantees an open, transparent, and merit-based recruitment process (OTM-R) to all registered candidacies avoiding thus any bias on gender, origin, age, ideology, or other circumstances that could be discriminatory. Candidates in a situation of social exclusion will be considered in the first place.