The Geospatial Solutions Theme:

The vastness and remoteness of much of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region has often been a barrier to development and research. ICIMOD has worked to breach this barrier by developing and institutionalizing remote sensing and geographic information systems as a tool to support development policies and assist science-based decision making at multiple levels. In particular, it has worked with both international and regional partners to provide access to data and information, integrate analysis and modelling, and develop interactive mapping and spatial visualization. Consequently, ICIMOD is now internationally regarded as a regional resource centre for geoinformation and earth observation application with a specific mountain focus. ICIMOD is also committed to capacity building in this area; the regional member countries have benefited from ICIMOD’s short courses and training programmes and have gone on to establish geographic information system (GIS) hubs in their own countries.

The Cryosphere Initiative ICIMOD’s Cryosphere Initiative collaborates with its partners to study the importance of snow, ice, and permafrost. The initiative and its implementing partners in the region have established a Cryosphere Monitoring Programme to assess cryosphere water resources, cryosphere-related disaster risks, and scenarios for future water availability using an integrated approach of field measurements, remote sensing, and modelling.

Together with the regional and international partners, the initiative works to enhance the capacity of institutions in ICIMOD’s regional member countries to increase scientific knowledge of the cryosphere and to co-produce and share relevant data and knowledge about the cryosphere. The work contributes to the development of effective measures and policies for water resources and risk management in the HKH.

No of Vacancy: 1

Duration: One year (probation period of three months), with a possibility of extension subject to performance, programme activities, and ICIMOD’s future funding levels

Remuneration: Salaries and benefits of ICIMOD are competitive compared to other regional organizations; remuneration is commensurate with experience and qualifications

Qualifications and Experience:

• A Masters Degree in Geoinformatics or Cryosphere-related subjects with at least two years of relevant work experience is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
  
• Experience in remote sensing and image processing, rectification, and classification
  
• Knowledge of remote sensing and geospatial data sources
  
• Experience in developing scripts for automatic processing of remote sensing and geospatial data using python, java scripts, or R
  

Skills and Competencies

• Content knowledge: Knowledge on earth observation and geospatial information
  
• Management & coordination: Ability to work with minimum supervision and guidance for analyzing and processing geospatial data
  
• Impact & results orientation: Proactive approach to team work
  
• Analytical thinking: Seeks out information and conducts research to understand problems and use appropriate data to support decisions
  
• Social/team competency: Ability to work smoothly and effectively with others in the team to establish constructive ideas or solutions that meet the team objective
  
• Flexibility: Ability to easily adapt to changing contexts, technologies, and approaches when necessary and make improvements in own work area
  
• Report writing: Ability to contribute to the preparation and consolidation of reports and publications
  

Responsibilities and Tasks:

Under the direct guidance and supervision of the Theme Leader for Geospatial Solutions, and in technical collaboration with staff within the Cryosphere Initiative, the Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Associate will conduct studies related to cryosphere monitoring.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support collection and integration of data from various spatial and non-spatial sources
  
• Perform data analysis for spatial and time-series data and prepare maps, tables, and statistics
  
• Perform automatic and semi-automatic extraction of snow and glacier cover data from satellite images
  
• Support validation of image classification results
  
• Conduct climate data processing and analysis
  
• Support fieldwork in the study area to collect ground data on snow and glacier research
  
• Help prepare documentation, including reports and methods of analysis

Gender and Equity Policy:

Qualified and eligible women candidates and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are highly encouraged to apply. ICIMOD implements a gender equity policy and is supportive of working women. It operates a day-care centre at the campus and is committed to the integration of gender issues at organizational and programmatic levels.