Research Supervisor at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

IITA is an international non-profit agricultural research-for-development (R4D) organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our R4D approach is anchored on the development needs of the tropics. We work with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. We have more than 100 internationally recruited scientists from about 35 countries and 900 nationally recruited staff based in various stations across Africa.

We invite applications for the internationally recruited position of:

Job Title: Research Supervisor

Ref No: IITA-HR-NRS2015-035
Location: Kano

Job Objectives
These positions are under TAMASA Nigeria Project. TAMASA (Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa) is a project that seeks to close attainable maize yield gaps in Nigeria through adoption of predictive Agronomic tools and improved inputs.

Duties
Successful candidate will perform the following duties:

• Support overall data collection, processing, and synthesis in relation to Maize Agronomy for TAMASA project.
• Be involved in the development of decision support tools, acquisition of geospatial data through UAVs, linking collected and ancillary data across scales, and mapping of maize yield gaps.
• Conduct data management and analyses, and contribute to reporting of research outputs.
• Provide support to project staff on monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of project activities relative to project goals.
• Be involved in field evaluation and validation of decision support tools.
• Assist in building capacity of national institutions and collaborating partners through strategic delivery and enhancement of project outputs, including databases, tools, and models.
• Implement activities related to TAMASA project operations and management of logistics. resource management.
• Possess excellent interpersonal skills, good communication skills, and strong motivation to tackle complex issues to advance Maize agronomy.
• Possess a valid Driver’s License
• Carry out any other tasks related to TAMASA project as need arises.

Educational Qualifications

• B.Sc. in Agronomy/Crop Production/ or any other related Natural Science discipline with at least 1 year of relevant experience with Geospatial Science/Geoinformatics.

The ideal candidate must:

• Have proven skills in application of geospatial technologies to address agricultural or natural resource management needs.
• Demonstrate hands-on capability to analyze geospatial datasets with ArcGIS, Erdas Imagine, Isatis (or similar softwares)
• Be proficient in conducting statistical analysis with tools such as SAS, Genstat and Excel.
• Be very familiar with crop/ ecological modelling tools for decision support and optimization of natural resource management.
• Possess excellent interpersonal skills, good communication skills, and strong motivation to tackle complex issues to advance Maize agronomy.
• Possess a valid Driver’s License

Remuneration

• We offer highly competitive salary with equally attractive fringe benefits and excellent working conditions in a pleasant team-based environment.

Application Closing Date
17th August, 2015.

Method of Application
Interested applicants should forward their applications which must include covering letter which should address how the candidate's background/experience relates to the specific duties of the position applied for, curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three professional referees (which must include either the Head of the applicant's current or previous organization or applicant's direct Supervisor/Superior at his/her present or former place of work). The application should be addressed to the Head, Human Resources Service.

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