Fair2adapt Researcher

Join the FAIR2Adapt project at SEI Oxford to address complex climate change adaptation challenges, advancing data-driven strategies through impactful research and collaboration.***

Closes 11 Dec 2024**Location**
- SEI Oxford, UK**Deadline**
- 11 December 2024**Salary range**
- GBP 30,000 to 36,000**Contract details**
- Two-years with six-month probation period
Full time- Join an impactful international research institute At SEI Oxford, we are committed to creating a sustainable and prosperous future for all. SEI Oxford conducts innovative research and develops cutting-edge tools, networks and platforms that generate insights and guide policies and practices toward sustainability. Our expertise helps inform effective adaptation to climate change, influencing both policy and practice. Our research focuses on transboundary climate risk, decision-making for climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and climate services. SEI Oxford also manages weADAPT, a collaborative knowledge-exchange platform and network for climate change adaptation research and practice.SEI Oxford is a not-for-profit organization registered in the UK and is fully owned by the SEI Foundation. Our dynamic workplace in central Oxford comprises around 12 employees, working alongside 343 colleagues across seven global centres. Our headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden.

**About the project**:
The **FAIR to Adapt to Climate Change Enhancing Climate Adaptation through Improved Data Sharing** project, or FAIR2Adapt, tackles the complex challenges of climate change adaptation (CCA) by addressing the fragmentation and inaccessibility of climate data and resources. Currently, numerous platforms and tools provide CCA information, but their lack of interoperability and standardized metadata creates knowledge silos and inefficiencies in tailoring strategies to specific contexts.

FAIR2Adapt aims to overcome these barriers by creating a collaborative framework that promotes the integration and sharing of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and open data across various CCA domains, building on the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

**Key innovations**:
A key innovation of FAIR2Adapt is the implementation of FAIR Digital Objects (FDOs), which enable seamless exchange and reuse of diverse data types across various platforms and tools. By harnessing the capabilities of the EOSC, the initiative enhances machine-assisted discovery, selection, access, and use of relevant climate adaptation data, knowledge and services. This innovation empowers European regional and local authorities to strengthen resilience against the impacts of climate change.

**The role**:
Taking stock of current adaptation data and knowledge needs in a range of case studies, you will support the mapping of ongoing adaptation decision-making processes and associated knowledge resources relevant to the EU Mission. This work will be based on a combination of literature review and engagement with adaptation actors and will focus on areas that can potentially benefit from FAIR approaches and EOSC.

You will generate a broad perspective on community needs and user requirements, helping to prevent the development of non-reusable solutions and encouraging best practices for effective FAIRified CCA data and knowledge. As part of this task, you will identify shared challenges across communities, review critical bottlenecks in the provision of data for adaptation decision-making, and uncover opportunities to enhance protocols and tools (e.g. approaches to open vs. closed data, taxonomies and semantic ontologies, metadata, and end-user interfacing).

Results from these stock-taking activities will be fed back to other work packages (WPs) for further analysis, processing and implementation. This may include tasks such as data-knowledge integration, language barrier identification, and knowledge publishing via customizable dashboards.

**Who you are**:
**Key duties and responsibilities**:

- Support the successful implementation of the project, including initiating and executing new ideas.
- Collaborate on team and project strategies while contributing to a collegial workplace atmosphere.
- Provide operational support to the project manager(s) and research team by:

- Coordinating meetings and appointments, preparing materials and harmonizing meeting notes.
- Supporting logistics and execution of small and large events.
- Travelling as necessary to provide this support (in line with SEI guidelines).
- Offer knowledge management support for weADAPT.org themes and microsites connected to these research topics.

**Formal qualifications and knowledge**:

- Knowledge of FAIRification protocols, taxonomies, ontologies, knowledge graphs, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and the EOSC Interoperability Framework.
- Master’s, Ph.D. or equivalent experience in environmental science, climate, data/computer science, or a related field.
- Proven experience connecting qualit