An opportunity has arisen for a ‘Technical Expert on soil carbon stock changes’ to work with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome, Italy for 12 months. The new deadline is 6 February 2018.
The successful candidate will support the implementation of LEAP guidelines on soil carbon stock changes in the Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM) and its open version GLEAM-i. In particular the consultant will:
- review the GLEAM modelling framework and database and identify data needs and gaps
- identify most relevant data sources and revise existing datasets in view of LEAP guidelines and latest science for estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) stock changes in global grasslands and rangelands
- work directly with the GIS modellers to improve the modelling framework to incorporate assessment of SOC stock change in global grasslands
- lead the validation of model outputs, uncertainty analysis
- translate the framework into the interactive and open version of the model GLEAM-i
- oversee the proper documentation of the modelling approach
- liaise with experts and other partners for the continuous improvement of potential additional information and parameters
- provide feedback to LEAP TAG leaders
- contribute to publications
- any other duties as required
The key functions of the experts to support the road-testing and dissemination of LEAP products will be to:
- provide technical support to organizations and stakeholders engaged in the road-testing of LEAP guidelines
- prepare data collection sheets and preparatory technical material for road testing
- conduct life cycle assessments and complementary environmental assessments according to LEAP guidelines
- ensure that feedback from road-testers of LEAP guidelines is delivered in a structured manner
- contribute to preparation of communication material on LEAP activities and products such as newsletter, articles, policy briefs and brochures
- assist in revising the LEAP guidelines according to the feedback received from road testing
- facilitate development of LEAP environmental assessment tools
- assist in the organization of LEAP events
- any other duties as required
From 19-20 January last month the Global Research Alliance’s Integrative Research Group held their first independent meeting in Rome, Italy. At this meeting they reviewed their progress to date and held some discussions on Flagship projects and steps to develop their five Networks.
The meeting was attended by 34 participants from 16 Alliance member countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA, Uruguay), and invited experts.
The Integrative Research Group was formed after the 2015 Council Meeting after the decision was made to merge two previous cross-cutting groups: Soil Carbon & Nitrogen Cycling and Inventories & Monitoring.
The Meeting Report is now available in the Members’ Area of this website, or read the short Meeting Summary here
Participants in the Integrative Research Group Meeting in Rome, 2017
The Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) has opened a call for scientists working on organic agriculture to take part in a short (10-5 days) study stage at one of its research centers/units (see the call at www.entecra.it, unfortunately in Italian only).
The aim of the call is to promote future collaborative projects between European and CREA scientists in organic production area.
The call requires that a joint project is done with a CREA scientist working on organic agriculture.
Candidates should prepare a joint project, proportional to the length of the stage, about organic milk production and can contact [email protected].
In this case, the stage will be held at the Fodder and Dairy Production Research Centre at Lodi (40 km from Milan), and the scientist will be involved in current research projects on organic milk production.
The call considers a reimbursement of € 2.100, all expenses included.
Project proposals must be submitted by 30 May 2016, hence proposals should be sent as soon as possible, in order to prepare the stage project.
The Global Research Alliance is pleased to welcome South Africa and Italy as its newest member countries. For more information on Italy’s membership follow this link to the article in the Italian Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies online magazine.
There are now 33 Member countries participating in the activities of the Global Research Alliance: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam.
For more information on Italy and South Africa’s participation in the Alliance or how to become a member country please contact the Alliance Secretariat.