Job opportunities at IIASA, Austria

The Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) Program at IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) is recruiting multiple research scholars in Integrated Assessment Modeling. The successful candidates will join an interdisciplinary and international team of scientists to further develop the MESSAGEix framework and in particular the open-source MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM model.

The vacancy announcement can be viewed on the IIASA website: https://iiasa.ac.at/job-openings?jh=x5fhwvtfz60ptfqifdtqowftn1u0nx2

Details:

Focal areas

Ongoing research in the ECE Program span a range of areas. In particular, candidates will be considered who can strongly contribute to one or more of:

1. investigating the role and trade-offs of implementing Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies with an emphasis on negative emission technologies (NETs) at global, regional, and local scales.
2. integrating climate change impacts into the IAM framework to allow studying mitigation, residual climate impacts and adaptation options jointly.
3. increasing spatial and temporal resolution of the IAM framework to better capture challenges and associated solutions at the national and subnational scales.
4. improving the representation of various energy supply technologies in MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM model dependent on their characteristics (“granular” vs. “lumpy” investment) system integration to better understand learning, spill-over and diffusion processes in decarbonization pathways.
5. developing, processing, and publication of scenarios related to the financial sector, such as the Network for Greening the Financial System (https://www.ngfs.net/ngfs-scenarios-portal/), the UNEP-Finance Initiative (https://www.unepfi.org/) and improving the representation of financial risk assessment in the IAM framework.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Perform in-depth literature reviews of existing technologies and investigate novel mitigation approaches
• Contribute to the development of the global MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM model, the open source MESSAGEix modeling framework, and related software tools and data sets
• Analyze, process, and utilize large-scale panel and geospatial datasets
• Investigate, prepare, and analyze integrated assessment model scenario campaigns in conjunction with senior researchers within the IACC and S3 research groups
• Develop and document version-controlled collaborative modeling code that allows to re-process data and analyze datasets and model results
• Maintain and disseminate relevant datasets according to FAIR data principles
• Publish relevant results in peer-reviewed journals and actively engage in dissemination efforts such as scientific conferences and workshops, stakeholder, and policy events.
• Contribute to ongoing and future projects and related deliverables, reports, stakeholder communication and capacity building activities.
• In line with the team spirit that prevails at IIASA, the incumbent may occasionally work on other tasks assigned by their superiors, that might not be directly related to this appointment but where the post holder has relevant experience and skills, and/or a shortage of immediate personnel capabilities requires such.

Skills and qualifications, and experience

• A degree in a field related to integrated assessment modeling including economics, engineering, environmental science or energy systems with at least one of the following qualifications:
  • PhD degree
  • Master’s degree with more than five years relevant research experience

• Demonstrated specific domain knowledge in one or more of the above focal areas is a strong asset
• Demonstrated experience in tools and systems used by the ECE program (cf. MESSAGEix documentation) including:
  • Experience in a modern programming language, preferably Python, is essential
  • Experience with an optimization framework (e.g., GAMS, pyomo, JuMP, etc.) is strongly preferred
  • Experience with integrated assessment modeling is an asset
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to open-source projects, data provision and code-development, using git and GitHub
• Demonstrated ability to develop, collaborate on, and publish scientific research through peer-reviewed publications
• A degree of flexibility and willingness to travel
• Fluency in English and excellent presentation skills
• IIASA offers an interdisciplinary and international workplace, and the possibility to interact with researchers of different nationalities, with strong ties to a world-wide network of research institutions engaged in environmental systems research. The successful candidate must be able to work in, and have respect for, an intercultural environment, and IIASA core values.

Appointment terms:

The selected candidates should be available to take up the positions as soon as possible. We offer an initial fixed-term, one year, full-time (40 hours per week) employment contract, with the possibility of extension after the first years’ work. Eligible applicants wishing to work part-time hours will also be considered.

Duties will be carried out at the IIASA premises in Laxenburg, near Vienna in Austria (up to 100 days per year home office working within Austria possible). Some travel will be required.

The vacancy announcement can be viewed here: https://iiasa.ac.at/job-openings?jh=x5fhwvtfz60ptfqifdtqowftn1u0nx2

Deadline: Review of applications will begin immediately, and continue until the posts have been filled.