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Organizational Setting
The Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications implements the IAEA's Major Programme 2, "Nuclear Techniques for Development and Environmental Protection". This Major Programme comprises individual programmes on food and agriculture, human health, water resources, environment and radiation technologies. These programmes are supported by laboratories in Seibersdorf, Monaco and Vienna. The Major Programme's objective is to enhance the capacity of Member States to meet basic human needs and to assess and manage the marine and terrestrial environments through the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques in sustainable development programmes.
The Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences is responsible for assisting and advising Member States in research and development for the nuclear sciences, especially the physical and chemical sciences. Specifically, the Division provides support to Member States in the following fields\: production of radioisotopes and radiolabelled products for applications in health care and industry; radiation source applications; research reactor utilization; applications of accelerators and nuclear instrumentation; nuclear and atomic data for applications; controlled nuclear fusion and isotope hydrology and geochemistry.
Additionally, the nuclear science activities carried out by the Nuclear Data Section and Physics Section in the Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications fall under Major Programme 1.
The Nuclear Data Section (NDS) is primarily responsible for the generation and maintenance of a number of high-quality and fundamental nuclear and atomic databases and providing services to users worldwide. The main means of dissemination is via the NDS website, which provides interactive tools to present the required data.
Main Purpose
To design, implement and maintain software services for the representation, dissemination and validation of numerical data to meet the needs of the international research community in the field of nuclear fusion energy. The consultant will design and deploy effective interfaces and standards to allow the upload, storage and search of data sets hosted by the IAEA's Atomic and Molecular Data Unit with an emphasis on the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reuseable) principle of database management.
Functions / Key Results Expected
- In close coordination and under the direct supervision of AMD Unit staff, develop a maintainable software infrastructure for the management of a diverse set of scientific data, by designing database schemas, the implementation of database management software, and the deployment of user-friendly front-end interfaces.
- Meet the needs of external data providers as they relate to the upload of their data through the design and implementation of secure and flexible, browser-based software services.
- Process externally-provided data into a well-defined database format with accurate metadata conforming to the standardized schemas developed with AMD Unit staff and other experts.
- Develop software tools in support of verification and validation activities.
- Extend the functionality of existing database services within the AMD Unit through the development and provision of better Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for the automated search and retrieval of data.
- Extend and enhance the computational services offered by the AMD Unit by updating existing PHP-based applications and developing web-based interfaces to existing computational codes; and, subject to funding, assist with the development of a secure and accountable distributed computing infrastructure through the development of a BOINC-based application.
- Develop and release documentation (public and internal) and other resources such as tutorials and outreach material to facilitate the effective use of AMD Unit data.
Qualifications and Experience
- University degree in science, engineering, or related field.
- Minimum seven years of relevant experience in database and software development, preferably within a numerical or scientific domain.
- Expertise in database management software including MySQL / MariaDB.
- Expertise in relational database design, implementation and maintenance.
- Extensive expertise in Python programming.
- Experience in interactive website development within the Django framework with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
- Experience with REST frameworks (including Django REST framework) and data transfer formats (particularly JSON).
- Knowledge of version control management with Git, documentation-writing and reporting.
- Experience with Linux-based system administration, security and networking an asset.
- Experience with scientific data management an asset.
- Knowledge of atomic and molecular processes relevant to nuclear fusion energy research an asset.
- Experience with NoSQL technologies such as graph databases, CouchDB and MongoDB an asset.
- Good oral and written command of English. Knowledge of other official IAEA languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) is an asset.
Remuneration
The remuneration for this consultancy is a daily fee of up to a maximum of € 250, based on qualifications and experience. In case duty travel is required within the assignment, a daily subsistence allowance (DSA) and travel costs are provided. Health coverage and pension fund are the responsibility of the incumbent.
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