Postdoctoral Fellow - Date palm protection and production - Arabian Peninsula
ICARDA, Oman

Reports to: ICARDA Regional Coordinator for the Arabian Peninsula program

Location: Muscat, Oman

The role of the postdoctoral fellow will be to conduct Research for Development and scaling of technologies in the domain of date palm management in the Arabian Peninsula including Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Integrated Water, Soils and Nutrient Management (IWSNM) and digital innovations related to these activities.

The postdoctoral fellow will be supervised by the regional coordinator of the Arabian Peninsula program of ICARDA and will collaborate with the date palm consultant, the team leaders of the SWA (Soil, Water, and Agronomy) and GeoAgro teams and with the national coordinators of the countries involved in the Date Palm project.

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) is an international autonomous, non-profit, research organization supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

ICARDA’s mission is to reduce poverty, enhance food, water and nutritional security, as well as environmental health in the face of global challenges including climate change. We do this through innovative science, strategic partnerships, linking research to development and capacity development that take into account gender equality and the role of youth in transforming the dry areas. ICARDA works in partnership with governments, universities, civil society, national agricultural research organization, other CGIAR research Centers, and the private sector. With its temporary Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, ICARDA operates in regional and country offices across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. For more information: www.icarda.org

• Conduct field experiments, farmers survey, data collection and data analysis on date palm IPM and IWSNM in collaboration with the ICARDA date palm consultant and national partners, as planned in the Date Palm Project funded by GCC secretariat.
• Collaborate with the GeoAgro and SWA teams of ICARDA in the testing and scaling of digital technologies to support data collection, data processing and decision support tools in the IPM and IWSNM domains.
• Collaborate with these teams and the date palm consultant to prepare and publish projects reports, technical bulletins, policy briefs and scientific publications on date palm IPM and IWSNM.
• Contribute to training and capacity building of students, trainees, visiting scientists and partners from the national research systems (NARS);
• Collaborate with the Regional Coordinator and research team leaders in the development of proposals for funding in the domains of Sustainable Date Palm Production and Integrated Desert Farming Systems.

Requirements

• PhD in plant protection, agronomy or related disciplines, with 1-2 years of postdoctoral experience;
• Experience in digital technologies in agriculture in at least one of the following domains (big data, remote sensing, modelling, artificial intelligence)
• Technical and scientific knowledge on date palm production and protection
• At least five years of Research For Development experience with track record of publication in ISI journals
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English; knowledge of Arabic desirable
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary and multicultural environment as well as independently with minimal supervision.

Benefits

This is an internationally recruited position for which ICARDA offers an attractive compensation package including a competitive salary, housing and furniture allowance, medical insurance, 30 days of annual leave, five months’ maternity leave, 15 days’ paternity leave. The successful candidate will be offered a fixed term contract until 31 December 2022, renewable subject to funding, continued need for the position and satisfactory performance. The first six months will be probationary period.

Job Rewards and Benefits