Associate Scientist ? Field

ICRISAT seeks applications from dynamic Indian nationals, for the position of ?Associate Scientist? Field? in ICRISAT Development Centre to support activities of Global Research Program Resilient Farm and Food Systems (GRP-RF&FS). The incumbent will be based at ICRISAT, Bhubaneshwar office in Odisha and will support ICRISAT Development Center (IDC) in different R4D projects on regenerative agricultural practices comprising organic waste recycling and building soil carbon sequestration dynamics. The candidate will report to the Principal Investigator, ICRISAT Development Center, ICRISAT.

ICRISAT is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi- arid or dryland tropics has over 2 billion people and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT and its partners help empower these disadvantaged populations to overcome poverty, hunger and a degraded environment through better agricultural production systems.

ICRISAT is headquartered at Patancheru near Hyderabad, India, with two regional hubs and eight country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT envisions a prosperous, food-secure and resilient dryland tropics. Its mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics. ICRISAT conducts research on its mandate crops of chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet in the arid and semi-arid tropics. The Institute focuses its work on the drylands and in protecting the environment. Tropical dryland areas are usually seen as resource-poor and perennially beset by shocks such as drought, thereby trapping dryland communities in poverty and hunger and making them dependent on external aid. Please visit ? www.icrisat.org

 

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the Principal Investigator of the projects and support in project coordination and documentation.
• Liaise with project partners and officials at state, district, and block levels and coordinate the project activities efficiently.
• Conduct strategic as well as on-farm action research/validation trials on Biochar and other organic amendments and their scaling up as part of regenerative landscape agriculture.
• Writing of new research/ developmental proposals on livelihood improvement
• Guiding the team of technical and supporting field staff across project districts and monitoring the experimentation.
• Write and communicate reports, research, and development findings to Donors and relevant stakeholders for scaling up of technologies; documentation, and peer-reviewed publications.
• Contribute to writing training materials, technical progress reports, and annual reviews and work plans as directed by the project management.
• Ability to communicate across multiple cultural contexts and across scientific disciplines.
• Excellent organizational skills and experience working on large, complex development programs as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Undertake any other duties as required by ICRISAT and the needs of the center and as reviewed from time to time by the Cluster lead, IDC, and Research Program Director.

Requirements:

• Ph.D. in Agronomy/Soil Science or any other related disciplines with experience in organic waste recycling/organic soil amendments including Biochar and having at least 1-3 years of extensive R4D experience.
• Demonstrated skills in undertaking farmer participatory action research trials across different states in India.
• Excellent analytical skills and ability to implement monitor and evaluate on-farm and off-farm validation trials.
• Experience in working effectively in teams and a proven ability to help improve farm productivity through climate-resilient agricultural technologies and NRM interventions.
• Experience in establishing rural business models on organic recycling and other income-generating rural enterprises at community scale.
• Liaise effectively with a variety of stakeholders such as livelihood improvement agencies, CSR donors, Government departments, NARS partners and research institutions.
• Perform other activities as may be deemed appropriate by the head/cluster leader/RPD.
• Ability to develop effective relationships and work harmoniously in outcome-focused and multi-disciplinary team environments.
• Independently plan and carry out research on the nominated research project and work towards completion of the aims of the project.
• Ability and willingness to travel to outstation locations for demonstrations and data collection.
• High-level written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills, including demonstrated experience in preparing reports and research papers within the required timeframe for a range of audiences.

Desired experience:

• Experience in working with government agencies, NARS partners, and different CSR donors on projects towards regenerative agricultural practices.
• Demonstrated ability in proposal writing, project management, and training to different stakeholders on circular economy (waste-to-wealth technologies, soil health management: through organic carbon build-up, biochar, etc)
• Aptitude to work collegially and collaboratively in diverse, multicultural environments.

 

General:

This is a contractual position for a period of 36 months.

 How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 20 March 2024, with their latest Resume, and the names and contact information of three references who are knowledgeable about their professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged; however, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

ICRISAT is committed to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion. We encourage applications from women and nationals of developing countries.