Senior Research Assistant/Research Analyst (13-140)

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks to recruit a Senior Research Assistant/Research Analyst under the auspices of the Global Futures program, working under the direct supervision of the Senior Research Fellow leading the Global Futures program, and in close collaboration with other staff as appropriate.

The successful applicant will join a team of researchers working to enhance the strategic foresight and ex ante research evaluation capabilities of the CGIAR. This research involves extensive improvements to a widely respected partial equilibrium model of world agriculture written in GAMS to increase its spatial resolution, improve the biophysical representation of technologies and climate change, develop links to general equilibrium models, and add an explicit land use modeling/accounting system. The individual will conduct original research, and provide research, communications, and writing support to the other members of the research team. The position is a two-year, exempt, fixed-term appointment, and is renewable depending on performance and funding. This position is based at IFPRI headquarters located in Washington, D.C. Final title and grade will be determined based on experience.

Essential Duties:

Work with a team undertaking major improvements in the IMPACT suite of models of global agriculture. Example tasks include:

1. Work with a research team that is developing and implementing new modeling approaches to the determinants of land use, with an emphasis on the agricultural sector, but which also account for land use change interactions with forestry, urban expansion, and other non-agricultural land uses. This modeling architecture takes into account changes in population, income and key environmental factors, such as climate change and natural resource degradation.
2. Work closely with researchers who develop and maintain other models of biophysical crop growth, hydrology and economic policy used within the global change program.
3. Carry out consultations with crop and animal scientists to better define the potential for various agricultural technology interventions to improve productivity growth and enhance sustainability.
4. Work with the extensive land use data currently held within IFPRI, and seek other sources, where necessary, to enhance the scope and functioning of the land use modeling tools, and strengthen the existing database within the global change program.
5. Create linkages to possible external collaborators and research groups, when possible, in order to expand the portfolio of analysis tools as well as to create synergies with complementary modeling tools and methods.
6. Training and capacity building and development of documentation

Required Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Agricultural Economics, Applied Economics, Earth Systems, Natural Resource Management, Public Policy or other relevant fields
  • At the Research Analyst level, a Master's degree and minimum 2-3 years' relevant post-Master's experience is required.
• Experience and skill in computer programming, specifically GAMS modeling expertise.
• Experience working with large datasets.
• Ability to touch type to facilitate command line execution and code development.
• Willingness and ability to acquire new computational skills and adapt to novel research techniques.
• Ability to work with researchers from other sciences and backgrounds.
• Excellent communication skills (both oral and written) in English.
• Willingness to undertake international travel.

Preferred Qualifications

• Facility with processing and analyzing data on climate, soils and water.
• Experience and skill using MATLAB/Octave, FORTRAN, C/C++, or Java.
• Experience with relational databases such as MySQL.
• Knowledge of economics (experience with international trade, economic development, and agricultural economics is particularly useful)
• Knowledge of partial- and general-equilibrium economic models.