TJ's Work in Ghana

A few people have asked me what I am doing for my post-doc with IWMI in Ghana. I don't have as much to say (yet) about my work in Ghana, other than I will be working on water storage issues (primarily for irrigation) in the Volta basin. Click the "Read More..." link to read my job description and check out the presentation I gave at IWMI headquarters in Sri Lanka as part of my interview process.

Post Doctoral Fellow - Agricultural Hydrologist

The Post Doctoral Fellow will participate in the on-going project focused on land and water use implications of changing land use and climate change. Detailed spatial characterization of land use and global climate is currently being used as the basis for spatially explicit estimates of changes in water use driven by land use change, through development of a suite of integrated geospatial layers for biological process modeling at high resolution global scale. The Post Doctoral Fellow will continue this work integrating (and generating) additional spatially explicit data sets and developing tools that will be used to explore the factors and mechanisms that affect water use through land use and climate change. This project contributes to IWMI’s emerging global research agenda, looking beyond basin and discipline boundaries at drivers of water use often not considered within the realm of water management.

Duties and responsibilities

• Providing expertise in hydrology and agricultural water management
• The Post Doctoral Fellow will work in inter-disciplinary teams in projects that will consider the impact of additional water storage on basin hydrology, the downstream and groundwater impacts of various agricultural interventions, and implications for agricultural water management under climate change scenarios.
• Project work will require extensive field work, measurements, analysis, and modeling, working in interdisciplinary teams, and with local partners, and
  
• Preparation of research reports, journal articles, seminar papers and other scientific manuscripts for the dissemination of research results.

Qualifications and Experience

• A Ph.D in Hydrology, Hydrogeology or Groundwater Hydrology, Water Resources Management or related discipline.
• Experience in agricultural water use and management.
• Experience in hydrological modeling, crop modeling and eco-hydrological analysis.
• Competence in quantitative applied research methods, and strong quantitative and analytical skills.
• Good communication and writing skills, with a good command of both oral and written English.
• Computer literacy, with spatial modeling, programming, database, and RS/ GIS skills.
• Demonstrated ability to prepare project documents and research publications. A record of relevant peer-reviewed publications is a major advantage.
• Ability to effectively establish priorities, plan, organize and monitor own work in an interdisciplinary and multiple task environment;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
• Previous working experience in developing countries is an advantage.

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Here is the presentation that I gave for my interview in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's probably not terribly meaningful to people looking at it on a computer screen without a discussion, but it may give some indication of the type of research I do.