Research Associate(s)
We are looking for new research associates to join our team!
You will join our cross-disciplinary research efforts to improve the preparedness and resilience of humanity against global food catastrophes for the benefit of both present and future generations
We are looking for one or more Research Associates to plan and conduct interdisciplinary research under ALLFED's areas of work, potentially including:
- Food security, novel food production methods, and food system futures.
- Risk assessment, global catastrophic risk, and existential risk.
- Data science, crop modelling, and geographic information systems.
- Critical infrastructure resilience, supply chains, logistics, communications systems, and water access.
- Chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and fermentation.
- Agricultural systems, agricultural engineering, and agricultural science.
- Others: nutrition, economics, seaweed, and greenhouses.
Location:
Any / Home (flexible arrangement, remote flexi working).
Duration and Hours:
This is a 40h/week position, which can be split on the part-time basis (most likely 20/20). You will need to take part in policy team calls (phone or online conferencing, which may be very early/late for you due to time zone differences). The majority of time you will be able to set your own working hours.
Remuneration:
Our standard pay range for this role is $15-$25 per hour; however, we will consider a higher rate of pay for rare skills and experienced/exceptional candidates.
Reports To:
Director of Research (Research Coordinator)
Key Responsibilities:
- Seek out and apply the latest knowledge to the context of global catastrophic events / scenarios
- Do literature research on various interdisciplinary topics (see e.g. here)
- Collect findings in documents and analyze in spreadsheets/code
- Discuss your findings/knowledge with team members, maintain appropriate notes and records
- Maintain and develop research collaborations, collaborators’ contacts and records, so that they are readily available to the research team and the organization
- Keep important research documentation and data in good order and readily accessible for the research team, coordinators, and management, in keeping with ALLFED’s policies and guidelines
- Prepare reports, articles, and presentations (in line with ALLFED’s communications guidelines)
- Draft other research-specific communications (for newsletter, annual report, social media)
- Request, collect, and convey feedback on ALLFED’s research papers and outputs as well as the organization itself
- Create, evaluate, and help prioritize project proposals
- Communicate research projects’ progress, milestones, deliverables, and resources, and other project updates (as needed) to Management/Research/Projects Coordinator(s)
- Contribute to securing funds for research by identifying sources of funding and assistance with approaches and grant applications
- Other related tasks
Essential (must have):
For all ALLFED roles
- A mature attitude - we are trying to help feed the world;
- Reliable, hard-working, able to get along with people;
- Self-motivated and able to work with little supervision to deliver project objectives in a timely manner;
- Excellent record-keeping and organizational skills;
- Comfortable with working remotely and online collaboration systems;
- Able to give/take constructive feedback about work to/from other team members;
- Willingness to learn new tools, methods, software;
- Awareness of a significant responsibility that comes with ALLFED’s work, especially when it comes to outreach and public media presence;
- Good English spoken and written language skills;
- Access to high speed Internet (for your research and video conference calls);
- Headset (microphone + headphones) for calls.
Role Specific
- A completed or in progress bachelor’s degree;
- Excellent attention to detail;
- Excellent analytical and reporting skills;
- Flexibility: As Einstein said, "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" We frequently reprioritize research projects based on updated understanding to remain most effective.
Desirable (nice to have):
- A completed or in-progress bachelor’s or advanced degree relevant to one of ALLFED’s priority research areas (chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, agricultural engineering, agricultural science, aquaculture, international relations, psychology, data science, logistics, geographic information systems, economics, or a related discipline)
- Ability to code
- Good presentation skills
- Willingness to present and discuss work at conferences
- Big-picture thinking / ability to see how research interlinks with communications and preparedness planning
- Familiarity with global catastrophic risks
- Good at reasoning under uncertainty
- Impact-driven: you prioritize for improving the world optimally