News

2022-02-25

The Atlantic International Research Centre (AIR Centre) is hiring a Scientific Programmer to support the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) Secretariat. The successful candidate will be part of a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers who conduct research in a variety of geographic areas and will support their work, pushing the boundaries of satellite data applications.

The MBON is the marine thematic network under the Group on Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). The MBON is a community of practices to develop and share best practices and standards on how to collect and share data about life in the sea. A grand challenge is to focus on Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) that can be used to track changes in how and why the abundance, distribution and diversity of organisms in the sea are changing, and to apply this information for sustainable development, conservation and societal benefit.

The MBON Secretariat provides a coordinating mechanism to link the GEO BON MBON with other key international ocean research and monitoring efforts as well as with local requirements for information about life in the sea and applied oceanography. The MBON Secretariat also streamlines and focus on this community of practice to link operational agencies with research groups across various disciplines (fundamental to social transdisciplinary sciences) on solving problems of society.

Support to the MBON Secretariat is needed on several activities that may include one or more of the following: identification of historical and current biodiversity data, interfacing and ensuring data interoperability between various international geo-portals, support programming for oceanographic applications based on remote sensing and in situ Earth Observations, support the expansion of the network both geographical and thematically, support the maintenance of the MBON website and content management.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Coordinate activities with the MBON Secretariat, MBON Co-chairs and Steering Committee Group.
• Coordinate activities with other international networks related to marine biodiversity.
• Coordinate efforts with research institutions in the Atlantic region that are aligned with the scientific agenda and the missions of the AIR Centre.
• Contribute and propose the organization of scientific and dissemination events within the AIR Centre and MBON networks.
• Explore the application of satellite-derived products to innovate in the support of biodiversity in the context of both the AIR Centre and MBON communities.
• Assist with the development, maintenance and management of a system to process space derived data products for different applications.
• Carry out excellent data quality analysis and quality assurance and provide satellite imagery for publications, production of data from new satellites with oceanographic instruments, and ingest all needed ancillary data.
• Support development of the code in high-level programming languages to generate satellite-derived products.

Qualifications and Required Skills:

• Academic qualifications: at least master’s equivalent in geography, oceanography, remote sensing biology or related areas and with minor or extensive experience in either marine ecology, marine biology, biological oceanography, computer science or related fields. Having a PhD will be valued.
• Proficient in high-level programming languages such as Python or R and able to develop user applications/methodologies.
• Good level of autonomy and planning skills.
• Demonstrated the ability to develop and publish technical reports, papers, and products.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (mainly in English).
• Experience in international proposals development will be valued.
• Experience working with satellite imagery and GIS (preferable).
• Professional experience of at least 3 years.

Location of work to be performed: Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal – Headquarters of the AIR Centre

Contract Duration: 2 years

More info HERE