Job Description
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW (NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS IN AFRICA'S SAVANNAS), AFAS PROJECT - AD/5/54/22 - (1 POST)
The AFAS Centre
The African Climate and Environment Centre - Future African Savannas (AFAS) is one of eight Global Centres for Climate and Environment funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). AFAS is hosted conjointly at the University of Nairobi (UoN), within its Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA) in Kenya and the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) with its African Centre of Excellence on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture (CEA-CCBAD) in Côte d’Ivoire. The lead partner in the consortium is Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany, and the other partner is the Global South Studies Center, University of Cologne, Germany. AFAS aims to address the urgent need to develop sound and robust evidence-based and sciencebacked strategies to preserve and protect the fragile environments of the West and East African savannas against the combined threats of extensive and diverse land use and rapid climate change.
It focusses on addressing societal needs and business opportunities and to develop both socialecological resilience and human capacities to overcome the barriers to the implementation of innovative approaches on climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation and to produce scientific outcomes that are relevant to policy and practice and implementable for the public and private sectors. AFAS particularly complements the already existing expertise in the regions with a new and innovative component on the Science-Policy-Practice Interfaces to co-produce capacity development and research outputs that are relevant to policy and practice and implementable for
the public and private sectors. The Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA), University of Nairobi, PO Box 30197- 00100, Nairobi, Kenya, is under the overall administration of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Nairobi. The ICCA is based at the Wangari Maathai Institute building which is located in an iconic and beautifully landscaped
50-acre campus in the Upper Kabete area of Nairobi. The ICCA is now a world renowned research platform of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, and undertakes action-oriented collaborative research under the themes: Climate Risk Management and Food Security; Water, Environment and Ecosystems; Policy and Communication; Technologies for Adaptation, Human Dimensions and Health, and; Green Growth and Sustainable Development. The Principal Investigator and Project Coordinator for Kenya is Prof. Daniel Olago.
The Position
The University of Nairobi wishes to recruit one (1) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, on a full-time 100% FTE basis for a period of two (2) years, renewable once, starting as soon as the appointee accepts the offer. This position will provide research and technical input to the AFAS Center, and will also contribute to teaching and other functions in the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Nairobi, in accordance with the University of Nairobi’s 2017 Policy on Postdoctoral Training.
Title: Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Nature Based Solutions in Africa's
Savannas
Organization: Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi
Location: Nairobi, with fieldwork visits to project areas
Salary: Euro 2000, taxable
Research Costs: Euro 2000 per year
Hours: Full time
Contract type: Two years, renewable once.
Restrictions:
- Holder of PhD degree
- Applicants must not have worked for more than five (5) years since their graduation
Reporting to: Principal Investigator
Starting Date: Immediately
Additional information
The AFAS Centre will offer supervision and all operational costs directly related to the research work. The Fellow will be based in the ICCA, University of Nairobi and will also have affiliation with the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of
Nairobi. The Fellow will have other roles, responsibilities and benefits as specified in the University of Nairobi’s Policy on Postdoctoral Training.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Assembly, review and analysis of existing information and data on nature based solutions
within Kenya and the broader savannah belt that stretches from East to West Africa.
- Carry out well-designed surveys to gain a better understanding of the climate change environment/ecosystems-livelihoods-development nexus with a focus on nature based
solutions and the science-policy-practice interface (SPPI).
- Using a suite of scenarios and risk assessment approaches, provide innovative and effective nature based solutions to counter the effects of climate change and environmental degradation on ecosystems and livelihoods.
- Contributions to and authorship of top-quality peer reviewed manuscripts in leading
journals.
- Dissemination of research findings by presenting results at conferences, participating in
workshops or exhibiting work at other appropriate events, and providing material for the
project web site and the sponsors.
Essential Requirements
- Hold a PhD degree or other equivalent qualifications recognized by University of Nairobi Senate
- Applicants must not have worked for more than five (5) years since their graduation
- Have a solid knowledge base and demonstrated experience on sustainable development, climate change mitigation and adaptation in Africa’s savannas
- Strong on nature based solutions to counter the impacts of climate change and
environmental degradation, and links to livelihoods, ecosystems, policy and sustainable
development
- Experience of undertaking high quality research in decision-support systems, ecosystem service planning process, environmental sciences, conservation planning and sustainable development
- Desire to learn and explore new intellectual territory
- Experience in use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) platforms in research
- Motivation and ability to work collaboratively in a large trans-disciplinary project including multiple disciplines, cultures, languages and environments
- Willingness to undertake field and stakeholder-based research, and be based in Kenya for the duration of the contract
- Evidence of appropriate level of scholarship such as a relevant academic degree, recent contribution to relevant literatures or professional practice
- Willingness and ability to contribute to the academic programs and research profile of the University
- Demonstrated strong communication skills, both oral and written
- Ability to work with minimum supervision and to coordinate and oversee research
assistants
- Dissemination of research findings by presenting results at conferences, participating in
workshops or exhibiting work at other appropriate events, and providing material for the
project web site and the sponsors.
Desirable Requirements
- Experience of reporting and presenting research findings to a variety of audiences
- Familiarity with multidisciplinary/trans-disciplinary approaches to research
-Experience in working with industry
Terms of appointment
This a contractual position whose tenure is two (2) years, renewable once.