Fwd: FW: IIASA job opportunity: Researcher - Analysis of air pollution impacts on health
Sepo Hachigonta
FYI
From: HARRISON Alia <harr...@iiasa.ac.at>
Sent: Tuesday, 17 May 2022 13:36
To: 'nm...@iiasa.ac.at' <nm...@iiasa.ac.at>
Cc: IIASA External Relations <external...@iiasa.ac.at>
Subject: IIASA job opportunity: Researcher - Analysis of air pollution impacts on health
Dear Council Members and NMO Secretaries,
The Pollution Management (PM) Research Group, within the IIASA Energy, Climate and Environment (ECE) Program is looking to recruit a motivated and talented researcher to work within a team modeling and analyzing the multiple health and economic effects of environmental policy interventions.
Background
The PM Research Group is exploring the multiple benefits of measures to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases emissions, to inform decision makers about policy interventions that simultaneously meet multiple policy targets.
Its Greenhouse gas – Air pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model identifies cost-effective portfolios of measures that reduce the health effects of human exposure to ambient and indoor air pollution and contribute to climate and development targets. The model has been operationalized at various spatial scales; from global, continental, national scales down to city level assessments. The current setup of GAINS allows a quantification of premature mortality from exposure to ambient PM2.5 and ozone.
The purpose of the research is to inform policy efforts by providing region/country- and city-specific assessments of benefits of action and costs of inaction, including air quality and climate-air quality co-benefits. One focus of the work in 2022 will be on assessments of costs of inaction for three countries in Southeast Asia within the framework of a UNEP funded research project.
Main duties
- Support work to improve and extend the analysis of the impacts of air pollution on human health, quantifying mortality as well as morbidity from both ambient and household air pollution (the focus will be on impacts due to exposure to particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone)
- Work on the interpretation of available data and methods, their integration in the current GAINS integrated assessment framework, as well as co-lead the further development of the model with that respect
- Active involvement with partners in collaborating teams and institutions (mostly developing world and international organizations like UNEP, CCAC, EU) .
- Work on and further develop approaches to address other dimensions or wellbeing and economic effects of policy interventions (morbidity costs from air pollution, health impacts of non-air related environmental pollution, distributional aspects and inequalities), beyond a quantification of the pure health burden
- In line with the team spirit that prevails at IIASA, the incumbent may occasionally work on other tasks assigned by their superiors, that might not be directly related to this appointment but where the post holder has relevant experience and skills, and/or a shortage of immediate personnel capabilities requires such.
Qualifications, skills and experience
- An advanced university degree (PhD, Master's, or equivalent) in a relevant subject, and a strong research-oriented background in environmental health, environmental epidemiology, demography, health economics, statistics, or related fields
- Demonstrated experience in assessment and analysis of health data and their use in modeling approaches for burden of disease, morbidity, or economic valuation calculations
- Proficiency with state-of-the-art methodologies for assessing health impacts of (ambient and household) air pollution and/or other environmental risks in terms of mortality and morbidity
- Experience in processing health related statistics, handling their uncertainties and missing data
- Creative and solution-oriented thinking in a demanding environment with shifting priorities, and the ability to develop novel approaches, test and evaluate them and decide for workable solutions.
- Strong programming skills in structured languages such as Python, R or Matlab
- Knowledge and understanding of air pollution and its health impacts is highly desired as well as interest in questions of socio-economic heterogeneity, pollution related inequality, etc.
- Skills in analyzing socio-demographic data and experience with relational (SQL-based) databases would be an asset.
- Full fluency in English as a working language coupled with excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills
- Self-manager, including the ability to demonstrate initiative and work independently as well as in close collaboration with the rest of the team
- Ability to write in a clear and concise manner, think critically and independently about own research, and present factual, data-driven information, also at scientific conferences and workshops
- IIASA offers an interdisciplinary and international workplace, and the possibility to interact with researchers of different nationalities, with strong ties to a world-wide network of research institutions engaged in environmental systems research. The successful candidate must be able to work in, and have respect for, an intercultural environment, and IIASA core values.
Appointment terms:
The selected candidate should be available to take up the position in the summer of 2022, or as soon as possible thereafter.
We offer an initial fixed-term, one year, full-time (40 hours per week) employment contract with the possibility of extension thereafter. Eligible applicants wishing to work part-time hours may be considered.
Duties will be carried out at the IIASA premises in Laxenburg, near Vienna in Austria (up to 100 days per year home office working within Austria possible).
Further details can be found in the attached vacancy announcement and on the IIASA web.
Deadline: 10 June 2022.
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Best wishes,
Alia
Alia HARRISON (Ms.)
Recruitment Coordinator
Human Resources (HR) Department
tel: +43 (0)2236 807 286
email: harr...@iiasa.ac.at
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria | www.iiasa.ac.at
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