11-Principal Scientist - I

Key skills

Landscape managmeent

SW conservation

Additional/Preferred Skills

NRM

Preferred Qualifications

Ph D

              Principal Scientist- Landscape Resource Conservation

ICRISAT seeks application for the position ofPrincipal Scientist- Landscape Resource Conservation to lead, coordinate and support landscape management research portfolio under Global Research Program on Resilient Farm and Food Systems (RFFS) of ICRISAT .The position will be based at ICRISAT Headquarter, Patancheru, Hyderabad, India.

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:

• Design, develop, lead and coordinate research strategy and execute research on resilient farming systems at farm to landscape scale.
• Design, deploy and document use cases on carbon neutral landscapes at representative sites of dryland systems.
• Undertake water balance studies to design water budget-based cropping systems at field, catchment, and landscape scale in the drylands of semi-arid tropics.
• Using innovative tools and approaches, identify potential sites for rainwater harvesting and develop/deploy management strategies, innovative methods, tools and techniques for improving economic and nutritional water.
• Collect, collate and analyze hydrological data across various project domains to assess the impact of hydrology on performance of various NRM interventions.
• Cross program coordination for bundled innovation packaging at landscape scale Supervise and mentor project staff, liaison among key stakeholders, partnership networks and donors.
• Develop an active Community of Practitioners on landscape management and resource conservation.
• Write grant proposals and mobilize resources for research on resilient dryland systems.
• Coordinate and synthesize the research outputs (technical reports, peer reviewed journal articles, policy briefs, research manuals, etc)

Qualification

• Ph. D in agricultural engineering/ irrigation and drainage  engineering/hydrology/water resources/environmental engineering/related NRM disciplines.
• At least 20 years of rich experience in landscape management/designing low-cost rainwater harvesting structures; and planning/execution various watershed interventions at field/community/landscape scale.
• Demonstrated skills in undertaking hydrological studies at various scale, estimating crop water requirements and water productivity.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage and implement large multidisciplinary, multi-institutional projects at landscape scale.
• Evidence on adapting and or developing experimental methods/concepts to support research in integrated water resource management and hydrological sciences.
• Capacity to effectively communicate research for development concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders (CSR/academic/development agencies/farmers, etc.);
• Experience in conducting watershed interventions and farmers’ participatory field demonstrations on sustainable crop intensification.
• Strong data management and analytical skills using innovative tools.
• Liaise effectively with a variety of stakeholders such as CSR, government officers, NARS partners and research institutes.
• Demonstrated fund raising skills.
• Experience in international agriculture with strong understanding of multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural environments
• Willingness to travel extensively and ready to relocate to any other research location of ICRISAT depending on institutional requirements.
• High-level written, oral and interpersonal communication skills in English and other language

General:

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

How to apply:

Applicants should apply on or before 18 March 2023, with their latest Resume, and the names and contact information of three references that are knowledgeable about their professional qualifications and work experience. All applications will be acknowledged; however only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

ICRISAT is an equal opportunity employer.