Research Fellow - School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The group of Meteorology and Climate within the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, is looking for a scientific researcher interested in contributing to the group's current research focus on meteorological and climatological extreme events.

Current activities include research on observed and simulated dynamic processes relevant for the generation of extreme events, the analysis of statistical characteristics, diagnostics of global and regional model simulation and the assessment of related impacts.

The working environment includes an excellent network of cooperation within the School, the University of Birmingham, and with national and international scientific and operational institutions.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

The position holder will work for the project INPAIS (Integrated Threshold Development for Parametric Insurance Solutions for Guangdong Province China). The project will address scientific and business relevant questions of robust assessments of the frequency-severity distribution of severe, damage prone tropical cyclone systems in the North-West Pacific. Focus is laid on the applicability of these assessments for the further development of parametric insurance solutions. This is a project in collaboration with SwissRe Beijing Branch and the State Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE) hosted at Beijing Normal University.

 

First degree in area of specialism and normally, a higher degree relevant to research area or equivalent qualifications, preferable in Meteorology, Climatology or Atmospheric Sciences

High level analytical capability and extended experience in handling large data sets including experience in numerical model diagnostics; especially capability in Linux operating systems, shell scripting, experience in programming (e.g. FORTRAN, R, Python) and further software tools, e.g. MatLab, CDOs, etc.)

• Experience in tropical meteorology and tropical cyclones especially.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes
• Contribute to the planning and organising of the research programme and/or specific research project
• Co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort