Research Officer II – GIS At The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

Job Purpose

ILRI works to improve food security and nutrition and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe and sustainable use of livestock. It is the only one of 11 CGIAR research centers dedicated entirely to animal agriculture research for the developing world. Co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, ILRI has regional or country offices and projects in East, South and Southeast Asia as well as Central, East, Southern and West Africa. www.ilri.org

ILRI hosts the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Nairobi (www.irri.org) with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna in the Philippines. IRRI is the world’s premier research organization dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger through rice science; improving the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers; and protecting the rice-growing environment for future generations.

This position is at job level HG14 and it is only open to Kenyan nationals.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Map climate vulnerability indicators and other abiotic risks with satellite image time series and GIS datasets;
• Geospatial modelling of suitability sites and patterns for climate smart agricultural technologies
• Map crop area and yield, cropping system, intensification and diversification models using satellite or drone data and crop models,  develop methods for assessment of climate-driven production losses
• Apply rice area/yield data to climate derisking and financial resilience activities, e.g. crop insurance in context of extreme climatic events
• Development of precision agriculture approach including nutrient/water stresses, weeds and diseases mapping and control
• Facilitate the execution and implementation of additional planned Geospatial activities in close coordination with the supervision team, local National partners and other stakeholders
• Acquire and process remotely sensed time series to extract information from multiple sensors (optical, SAR) and platform
• Coordinate and implement field data collection campaigns; develop innovation field – drone approach for model calibration and validation
• Organize and maintain project database, including field data, imagery, and geospatial datasets; ensure quality data quality control
• Analyze the datasets, and contribute to the writing of reports, research papers and other communication material
• Work closely with project team members to ensure full understanding of the scope, priorities, and deadlines of the activities
• Assist project leaders and/or collaborating partners to define the scope of research activities
• Collaborate with scientists at IRRI, collaborating research institutes, and the private sector to develop new research products
• Inform the immediate supervisor on the development of activities, image processing, and geospatial based activities
• Ensure timely delivery of processed geospatial datasets and products;
• Collect, store and curate data generated from the analytics; ensure the generation of quality field datasets
• Ensure the timely completion of high-quality research deliverables
• Communicate research results and new ideas in a broad array of outlets including peer-reviewed journals, mass media, policy fora as well as national and international scientific conferences

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Geospatial Science, Agriculture, Geography, Environmental Science, or other related discipline with at least 5 years’ relevant research experience in Remote Sensing and GIS in agriculture

Skills Required

Mandatory

• Sound capabilities in acquiring, processing, and analysing a range of remotely sensed datasets, including multispectral, hyperspectral and synthetic aperture radar imagery, satellite and airborne imagery;
• Experience in crop types mapping, vegetation phenology, cropping system mapping, database management and data curation, data quality insurance;
  Proven knowledge of field data collection (including protocol development);
• Experience in publishing research papers and writing reports;
• Good working knowledge of remote sensing and GIS software, database and software such as ERDAS, ENVI and e-Cognition and drone image processing tools like Pix4D, Agisoft and other open source package;
• Substantial experience in scripting/programming languages such as R and Google Earth Engine, python, etc;
• Experience in flying drones;
• Experience of any of statistical analysis packages and logical development development of models;
• Experience working with large team and different disciplines;
• Experience with working on multiple remote sensing datasets like satellite & drone images;

Preferred

• Knowledge of agricultural systems is a plus;