What is it?
This is an exciting opportunity for a 3 year academic appointment in Sustainable Livestock Production in Future Landscapes.
The successful candidate will work within the Nancy Roma Paech group in Sustainable Animal Production at the Camden Campus. They will contribute to the teaching and learning efforts within the School of Life and Environmental Sciences / Faculty of Science while working with the support and guidance of Professor Luciano A. González (Nancy Roma Paech Chair in Sustainable Animal Production), the School and the broader community at The University of Sydney. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to develop their own research profile and career in tertiary education.
Where is it?
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Camden Campus, Sydney, Australia
Are you eligible?
Candidates with a strong background in modelling of livestock production systems, precision livestock production, and training or work experience in the relevant disciplines are suitable for this position.
Applications close 11:30pm, Monday 27 January 2020 (Sydney time)
Click here for more information and to apply.
One of the 2019 CLIFF-GRADS awardees, Kofi Boateng is in the news talking about how he is finding the move from Ghana to the USA, what life is like in Pendleton and the aims of his research.
Click here to read the full article.
Thirty-six CLIFF-GRADS alumni from twenty different countries attended a workshop in Indonesia in October 2019 alongside the annual meeting of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) Council.
The workshop was the first opportunity for the CLIFF-GRADS alumni to meet one another, given that they all come from different countries and study in host institutions around the world. It established a network of young professionals, and provided networking opportunities with leading scientists and country representatives in the students’ respective fields.
The primary goal of the workshop was to build on existing emission quantification and estimation capabilities of CLIFF-GRADS alumni through lessons presented by experts in their fields, and some hands-on technical training.
Topics that were covered in the workshop included:
- The future of mitigation: new technologies and emerging solutions
- Modelling greenhouse gas emissions for carbon sequestration
- Developing greenhouse gas inventories and emission Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV)
- Connecting science to outcomes and impact
The workshop provided a platform for these early-career CLIFF-GRADS scientists to present their research, and to discuss and refine methodologies relating to their PhD theses and CLIFF-GRADS research stays.
Finally, the group also attended the 5th Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture, focused on ‘Transforming food systems under a changing climate’. The CLIFF-GRADS alumni learnt about agriculture’s vital role in both global food security and the emission reductions needed to meet international obligations to limit warming under the Paris Agreement.
The CLIFF-GRADS alumni are each contributing to international research in low emission agriculture. Their work is vital as agricultural systems will need to change significantly over the next decade to achieve global food security and to build the resilience of agricultural systems to climate change.
We also wish to acknowledge the workshop facilitators: Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), the Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) flagship of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
Click here to read more about CLIFF-GRADS, including when the next round of applications open in early 2020.
The International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM ) have two advanced courses in Greenhouse Gas Assessment and Mitigation in Agriculture at the Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo de Zaragoza (IAMZ) in Spain from 30 March – 3 April:
1. Evaluation and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture: Simulation concepts, methods and tools,
2. Greenhouse gas assessment and mitigation in agriculture: concepts, methods and simulation tools
Please click on the course above that you are interested in for more information and to register.
The second newsletter for the Inventories and Nationally Determined Contributions Support Network of the GRA is available now.
In this edition, you will find:
- a feature article focusing on opportunities for reducing GHG emissions from cattle production systems: Agricultural innovation for the development of low-emissions cattle value chains in Latin America
- an article from one of our co-leads partaking in a UNFCCC expert review team reviewing Annex I countries National Inventories
- summaries of the recent GRA Council meeting and the GRA PhD programme, CLIFF-GRADS
- an article on some recent African low emissions livestock development regional workshops
- training opportunities
Thirty-one early-career scientists from 14 developing countries will each receive research scholarships to boost their scientific capability.
The scholarships are being provided by the Climate, Food and Farming Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Development Scholarships programme, or CLIFF-GRADS.
The successful scholarship recipients for 2020 are being announced to coincide with the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid. The full list of awardees and their topics of research can be found here.
CLIFF-GRADS is a joint initiative between the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
The CLIFF-GRADS programme forms part of New Zealand’s international contribution towards building scientific capability in developing countries. Other funders include the CGIAR Trust Fund donors and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Hayden Montgomery, the special representative of the GRA who is based at MPI, says CLIFF-GRADS enables early-career scientists to undertake research exchanges of up to 6 months at institutions and research centres run by GRA members and partners.
“Through CLIFF-GRADS, the successful students will be hosted by 20 research institutions in 15 countries,” says Mr Montgomery.
“CLIFF-GRADS is becoming more and more competitive, with applications from nearly 300 students from 42 countries.
“The diversity in both the applicants and host supervisors is also growing, which clearly shows the value people are seeing in the programme towards boosting research expertise internationally.”
CLIFF-GRADS gives scientists the opportunity to gain technical skills in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions management and opens the door to an international network of experts that are working toward reducing greenhouse gases from food production.
“Through CLIFF-GRADS, the scientists will research rumen microbiology, rice production, soil science, rangeland management, and other topics,” says Mr Montgomery.
“They’ll gain important hands-on experience with scientific equipment they would not normally have access to, and form global connections with valuable career-long mentors.
“We’d especially like to acknowledge the support of fellow GRA country members and international partners, particularly CCAFS, for supporting these technical training opportunities for students.
“CLIFF-GRADS is a valuable way of boosting scientific expertise around the world and helping in global efforts to drive action to address climate change.”
This is a position associated with New Mexico State University, Agricultural Science Centre (ASC) Clovis. The focus is on increasing efficiency and profitability of agricultural systems while improving environmental quality and agricultural sustainability. The candidate will assist with field and laboratory works in tillage, cropping system intensification, and forage systems research evaluating soil organic carbon and nutrient dynamics and associated biogeochemical processes.
To read more and to apply click here.
A Soil Health postdoctoral researcher position is available that will coordinate a project to identify differences in soil health status across various land uses (agriculture cropped, hay and pastureland, forest, and urban/suburban ecosystems) in Connecticut, and to determine the resistance and resiliency of these soils when subjected to abiotic stress.
The position is funded for 2 years. Salary at US$50,000/yr.
You can read more about the position here.
This is a position based in Ispra (Italy) working on soil degradation. Among other responsibilities, the successful candidate will support Luca Montanarella (CIRCASA WP3 leader) preparing for an International Research Consortium on agricultural soil carbon.
Applications close 4 December 2019
For further information click here.
CGAIR’s program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) are holding a discussion about solutions that could make our food systems climate-friendly
Date: 25 February 2020 10:00am – 16:30pm (UTC +1)
Location: University of Copenhagen, Denmark
For further details and registration click here.
In advance of the COP25 KJWA workshop, CCAC invite you to a webinar on “The CCAC and China’s efforts on improved nutrient use and manure management for sustainable and resilient agricultural systems”.
Date: November 25, 2019, at 6:00 P.M eastern standard time (UTC -5hrs).
For details click here.
This webinar will bring together policy makers and scientific experts to discuss the advances in improved nutrient use and manure management, highlighting best practices.
The University of Aberdeen are recruiting for a tenured post in their modelling team, at lecturer/senior lecturer level.
To find out more here.
The closing date for receipt of applications is 12 December 2019.