GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, one of the leading institutions in marine research, together with the FUTURO (Future of Tropical Upwelling Regions in the Atlantic Ocean) project – centered around a large-scale, one-year field study off West Africa in the tropical Northeast Atlantic – is offering a position for a Scientific Project Manager to support this international research initiative.
This role includes project planning and coordination, financial and organizational oversight, stakeholder communication, and funding acquisition. The eligible criteria include completed university degree (preferably in natural fields), professional experience in the field as well as experience in national or international research funding, and communication skills in German and English. Experience in cooperation with African institutions is a plus.
This full-time position, with a minimum duration of 24 months, offers work-life balance support, engagement in marine and climate research areas, pension plan and beneficial benefits.
FUTURO will study the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) off West Africa – a critical marine region providing 25% of global fisheries from just 1-2% of ocean surface. The project addresses climate change impacts, acidification, and overfishing while developing sustainable practices to support West African coastal communities.
GEOMAR is focused on the global ocean and marine research and is committed to develop sustainable solutions for the protection of the ocean. They promote knowledge and technology transfer through international exchange.
Applications should be sent until 20th April 2025 under this link.
For further information and other jobs opportunities, please visit www.geomar.de.
Networking Friday with Carlo Fezzi (University of Trento)
On October 9th, 2020, 1-2 PM UTC, we will have Carlo Fezzi, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Trento (Italy) and Senior Lecturer at the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute, University of Exeter (United Kingdom). He will discuss the economic valuation for spatial targeting of coastal ecosystems’ conservation in the face of climate change. Preserving coastal ecosystems requires identifying priority areas for action. Economics can contribute to this process by developing methods to understand which locations provide the highest values for the society and which policy interventions are will deliver the highest benefits for the lowest cost. In this context, cultural services such as recreation deserve a prominent position, particularly in those areas with thriving tourism and leisure sectors. They are also crucial from a policy perspective, since their values can be at least partially captured via access fees or green taxes and, therefore, are extremely suitable for financing conservation and restoration programs in practice. This study shows how information on the number of visits to different outdoor recreation sites in a wide area can be used to develop a behavioral economic model providing welfare estimates that are directly applicable to inform a wide array of spatial planning questions related to coastal management. The empirical application is based on more than 150 different recreation sites located on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Carlo will present the changes in economic values from different scenarios including creation of marine protected areas and climate change impacts.
Networking Friday with Martin Visbeck (GEOMAR)
On October 2nd, 2020, 1-2 PM UTC, Martin Visbeck, Professor for Physical Oceanography at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Kiel University, discussed the Future Ocean Sustainability – From Ocean Observation towards Sustainable Development. The session will be moderated by Isabel Sousa Pinto, Professor at the University of Porto and Head of the Aquatic Biodiversity and Conservation group at Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR). Martin introduced two elements of the value chain more specifically: First the All-Atlantic Ocean Observing System (AtlantOS), a community-based program to support the implementation of an integrated basin-scale observing system ‘that benefits all of us living, working and relying on the ocean’. AtlantOS is working to support the ocean community to enhance and sustain basin-scale ocean observing in the Atlantic as a contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and similar programs and promotes the GEO Blue Planet Initiative. How can we transform current ocean observing from a niche action to the societal norm. Martin also introduced the concept of a Digital Twin of the Ocean as the next step in the value chain, filling the need to integrate a wide range of data and information sources (from physics to ecology through biology, chemistry and geology, as well as from social or economic sciences and business operators), to transform data into knowledge and to connect, engage, and empower citizens, governments and industries by providing them with the capacity to inform their decisions with the goal to arrive at a more sustainable ocean governing system. Neither AtlantOS nor the Digital Twin Ocean can succeed without full engagement of the ocean community including the Global North and Global South, actors from academia, business, civil society, indigenous and communities of practice. The upcoming UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to advance such agendas in the Atlantic and around the globe.
Networking Friday Special Session on Space Capacity Building
On September 25, 1-3 PM UTC, we held a Thematic Special Session on Space Capacity Building with Stefano Ferretti (ESA), Shubha Sathyendranath (Plymouth Marine Laboratory), and Antonio Martelo (DLR). The session focused on Space Capacity Building to empower the international community towards fully accessing all the economic and societal benefits that space assets and data can offer. New innovation models are increasingly spreading across various sectors and disciplines, including space, which is becoming an integral part of many societal activities (e.g. telecoms, weather, climate change and environmental monitoring, civil protection, infrastructures, transportation and navigation, healthcare and education). The session helped participants to construct their own space capacity building roadmaps, which take into account key stakeholders and also new private actors, NGOs and civil society. Starting from a policy and strategy perspective, the session addressed key aspects of capacity building, including innovation and exploration, global health, climate change and resilient societies. It outlined the available options and summarized the ideal programmatic conditions for their successful implementation. Showcasing reflections from a range of senior space professionals around the world, with their unique perspectives and solutions, the session provided a rich mosaic in which various cultural and policy approaches to space are translated into actionable programs and ideas so that space may truly benefit all of humankind.