IWRI: Postdoctoral fellowship on drought monitoring and early warning (10873)

Description: 

Climate change is increasing pressure on the world's water resources. Arid regions such as North Africa are most vulnerable, as water resources are already limited. Morocco is particularly affected by the intensification of drought, which is already causing major water shortages, requiring optimized resource management in the face of climate change. At present, Morocco has no drought early warning system (DEWS), which would enable water and agricultural management practices to be adapted to drought hazards. The aim of this Postodoc project is therefore to develop a drought monitoring and drought early warning system for the Oum Er Rbia basin, one of Morocco's "granaries", in order to strengthen the governance and resilience of its population to the impacts of water scarcity. This Postdoc project will be co-supervised between Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco and the Department of Environmental Sciences at UQTR in Canada.  

Key duties:

The candidate will :

• develop multi-source indicators (climatic, hydrological, vegetation, observational and satellite) that best reflect the impacts of drought on populations 
• develop and test seasonal forecasting approaches for these indicators based on artificial intelligence algorithms
• carry out field visits and surveys of farmers and water users in the Oum Er Rbia agricultural zones 

Criteria of the candidate:   

PhD in hydrology, hydro-informatics, hydrometeorology, climatology, applied remote sensing on hydrology or related disciplines.

Skills:   

We are searching for a highly motivated and enthusiastic candidate, who should have:

• Good skills in hydrology,
• A good understanding of weather models and their use in drought applications,
• Data processing and analysis skills (programming language: R, Matlab, Python or other)
• Skills in geomatics and remote sensing
• Demonstrated track record of scientific publications
• Experience in co-supervising students 
• Ability in oral and written communication,
• Ability to work in collaboration and in a team,
• Strong analytical skills for effective problem solving,

About UM6P:

Located at the heart of the future Green City of Benguerir, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), a higher education institution with an international standard, is established to serve Morocco and the African continent. Its vision is honed around research and innovation at the service of education and development. This unique nascent university, with its state-of-the-art campus and infrastructure, has woven a sound academic and research network, and its recruitment process is seeking high-quality academics and professionals to boost its quality-oriented research environment in the metropolitan area of Marrakech.  

About IWRI:

IWRI is a transversal structure across several UM6P Programs. Research within the center is organized around several major areas that aim to ensure the challenging Food and Water security goal in Africa, with a special focus on developing methods/tools that use multi-source remotely, sensed data. The research aims to improve our understanding of the integrated functioning of continental surfaces and their interaction with climate and humans, with emphasis on sustainable management of natural resources (soil, land, water, agriculture) in the context of Climate Change. One of the center’s goals is to provide a set of services and operational products to users (local, national, and international) that aid in the decision support of water and food systems.