Post-doc: Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (IDS)
This position will be based at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK, and will contribute to testing and applying an inclusive, transparent and scientifically-informed Pathways Approach to inform groundwater management decision-making, with a particular focus on the Upper Awash Basin in Ethiopia, in partnership with GroFutures colleagues at the International Water Management Institute and Addis Ababa University.
The successful candidate will work with senior GroFutures researchers to employ Multicriteria Mapping (MCM), an interactive, decision-analysis technique, to appraise a set of plausible, technically and politically distinct, 'groundwater development pathways' characterised through a set of stakeholder analyses and social and physical science assessments of their plausibility. This will involve a multi-stage interview process to help informants in the Upper Awash Basin Observatory to explain their views and priorities related to those pathways in a structured and systematic way. Central to the MCM Pathways Analysis will be the inclusion of all relevant perspectives, particularly those of poor women and men groundwater users.
The Postdoctoral Researcher will contribute to the analysis of the MCM findings and the preparation of a series of academic and policy-relevant outputs from this research. The results and policy implications will be presented at multi-stakeholder workshops within the Upper Awash Basin Observatory. These events will be used to assess the commonalities and differences among stakeholder perspectives related to groundwater futures, while making decision-making more transparent and accountable through a deliberative and scientifically-informed process. The candidate will also contribute to the implementation of the pathways analysis and stakeholder engagement work carried out in the other two basin observatories in Niger/Nigeria and Tanzania.
We are seeking highly-organised applicants for this post who possess excellent analytical skills and strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the demonstrated ability to work effectively with colleagues and stakeholders in an interdisciplinary and multicultural environment. The successful candidate should be willing to travel to Sub-Saharan Africa on a periodic basis.
The position is a four-year, half-time, fixed-term position, which is fully funded in the first three years. In year four, with support and training, individuals will be expected to pursue and secure other funding opportunities and develop their own portfolio of work.
