Postdoctoral Fellow - Water, Conflicts and Resilience at International Water Management institute

About the Job

• The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR Research Center is seeking an innovative & multi skilled candidate to join as a Post Doctoral Fellow – Water, Conflicts and Resilience. This position will be based in one of IWMI’s offices in Africa.
• The Post-Doctoral Fellow – Water, Conflicts, and Resilience will develop innovative solutions to enhance water and climate resilience in fragile, conflict, or disaster-affected situations. The successful candidate will primarily carry out research under the One CGIAR initiative on “Fragility, Conflict, and Migration” and the bilateral project “Vegetable Irrigation for Climate Resilience Toolkit”. The postdoc will develop and implement new frameworks to support institutions in the design, implementation, and monitoring of water innovations aimed at reducing water-related conflicts, strengthening water security through emergency and crisis response initiatives, and enhancing resilience to shocks and stresses through preventive and adaptive programming.
• The successful candidate is expected to work in an interdisciplinary manner with IWMI and One CGIAR researchers in the fields of agriculture, water resources management, hydrology, climate change science, and digital innovations. They incumbent will also lead stakeholder engagement to ensure the translation of research into impact. Furthermore, the postdoc is expected to, together with the relevant project leaders, the Strategic Program Director for Water, Climate, and Resilience, the Research Group Leader for Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CCAR), and IWMI and CGIAR scientists, develop new research ideas and proposals for expanding the portfolio on water, conflicts, and resilience within IWMI and the One CGIAR. The successful candidate is also expected to present IWMI’s work on water, conflict, emergencies, and resilience through national and international platforms.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead innovative research in the field of water, climate risk, and resilience building across various socio-ecological and economic contexts in Africa, Asia, and MENA.
• Contribute to the scientific advancement and methodological developments of IWMI’s research on water, conflict, emergency operations, and resilience.
• Develop and implement frameworks aimed at enhancing the design, implementation, and monitoring of water innovations/solutions to enhance resilience building in emergency situations, conflict-affected areas, and disaster-prone or affected areas.
• Design digital and paper-based data collection methodologies and instruments depending on partner capacities and local infrastructure to collect high-quality data.
• Ensure that the databases align with CGIAR's well-described, machine-interpretable, openly available data policies and are FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable).
• Publish scientific results in high-quality peer-reviewed journals, following IWMI’s policies and procedures for the publication of research outputs.
• Integrate research findings into effective policy recommendations and disseminate information through relevant guidelines and policy briefs.
• Present research findings at national, regional, and global events, workshops, and conferences.
• Organize trainings, events, workshops, and stakeholder consultations in line with the research projects and topic relevance.
• Develop new partnerships and engage with key stakeholders in project implementation, policy advocacy, and dissemination of project outcomes to contribute to development goals and impacts. Collaborate with project management, IWMI, and other CGIAR colleagues, as well as national and international partners, to ensure the timely delivery of research results.
• Perform other related assignments as required.

Requirements

Minimum Educational Qualifications & Experience Required

Essential:

• A PhD degree in Agriculture, Water Management, Emergency & Disaster Management, Humanitarian Relief, International Development, or a relevant field.
• At least 3 years of international research experience in qualitative research, including study design, data collection, analysis, and report writing, and knowledge of various qualitative research methods.
• Experience in collaborating with humanitarian organizations and their local partners in the field.

Desirable:

• Research experience related to disaster management or emergency response.
• Experience in research management, coordination, and facilitation in fragile and conflict-affected locations.

Skills & Abilities Required

Essential:

• Strong qualitative research skills in the fields of social science, agriculture, water resources governance, and institutions.
• A good understanding of climate-smart agricultural water management and water services, early warning, anticipatory action strategies, humanitarian operations, and climate adaptation in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
• Excellent analytical and numerical skills, with a demonstrated ability to analyze complex data and generate meaningful insights.
• Ability to lead literature reviews, create databases, and use digital tools for data collection and analysis.
• Excellent oral and written language skills in English, including effective listening and strong verbal and written communication abilities.
• A positive attitude, a solid work ethic, and a demonstrated capacity and interest in learning new technologies, as well as taking on additional responsibilities over time.
• Self-motivated, enthusiastic, and able to work both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people in a multicultural and multidisciplinary environment, with sensitivity and respect for diversity.

Desirable:

• Research management, coordination, and facilitation skills in fragile, conflict-affected, and/or disaster-affected locations.
• Interest in data mining or finding innovative ways to collect data and fill crucial data gaps in fragile or conflict-affected situations.
• Proficiency in additional languages will be considered an asset.