Postdoctoral Fellow – System Agronomist

The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

The Alliance works with local, national and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

About the position

The Alliance’s Multifunctional Landscape Research Lever is seeking a dynamic Postdoctoral Fellow – System Agronomist to contribute to a broad spectrum of topics, with a focus on modeling, data science, and evidence synthesis. This role involves contributing to the designing, implementing, and supporting activities related to optimizing agricultural inputs (such as fertilizer, irrigation, and mechanization), soil and water management, and large-scale data analytics In Ghana and across West Africa. We are looking for a candidate who can integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, including good agricultural practices, integrated soil fertility management, improved cropping systems, and landscape management. The goal is to create sustainable and resilient systems that optimize resource efficiency and enhance farming profitability.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Contribute to the development, test, and promote climate-smart agricultural practices and technologies to drive the intensification and diversification of farming systems while aligning sustainable and profitable production goals.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to integrate agronomic, socio-economic, and environmental data, using comprehensive analyses to enhance farming sustainability and profitability.
• Co-develop and implement demand-driven approaches for integrated crop management practices, ensuring effective solutions in collaboration with key stakeholders.
• Contribute to projects related to soil, water, and landscape management, ensuring effective planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting.
• Engage with external stakeholders, and internal partners to build and maintain strong relationships, provide project update, monitor progress, and manage expectations for project deliverables.
• Collect, analyze, and interpret soil and water data to assess the effectiveness of implemented strategies and practices. Support the development of data tools and visualizations to uncover patterns and address critical research questions.
• Prepare and disseminate technical reports, research papers, and policy briefs to communicate findings to diverse audiences, including scientists, policymakers, and the media.
• Collaborate with CGIAR centers and other regional initiatives, such as the West Africa Soil Hub, to support soil health-related activities and integrate efforts across the region.
• Provide targeted training and technical support to farmers, extension workers, private sector partners, and other stakeholders on sustainable and climate-smart agricultural practices.
• Guide researchers and institutional partners in developing research protocols in subject areas specific, data collection guidelines, and scientific reporting, with a focus on soil and water management for cropping system transformation

Requirements

Required qualifications and experience

• PhD in soil and water, agronomy, geography, ecology, or related areas, with over 10 years of experience.
• Proven expertise in research design, implementation, data collection, analysis, visualization, and scientific writing, particularly in modeling and machine learning approaches.
• Documented proficiency in advanced quantitative analytical tools, including R, Python, and similar tools for qualitative data analysis.
• Strong track record as a research leader and manager in soil fertility management, landscape management, and climate-smart agriculture.
• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and spoken, including scientific communication and report writing.
• Strong leadership, organizational, and prioritization skills, with the ability to take initiative and work under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively in a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and multicultural team.

Terms of employment

This position is an internationally recruited based in Accra, Ghana. The initial contract will be for two years subject to a probation period of six months and is renewable depending on

performance and availability of resources.

The Alliance Bioversity-CIAT is committed to fair, safe, and inclusive workplaces. We believe that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority. We encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability statuses, sexual orientations, marital status, and gender identities. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications

Applicants are invited to visit https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications MUST include reference number RFP300011 – Postdoctoral Fellow – System Agronomist as the position applied for. Cover letter and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate’s last name, first name for ease of sorting. The Alliance collects and process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Applications closing date: Wednesday, 22^nd January 2025

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about us at:

                                   http://alliancebioversityciat.org

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements