Offer Description
IRTA is currently seeking an enthusiastic and motivated PhD candidate to join the Efficient Use of Water in Agriculture Program. We invite applications from ambitious candidates with relevant research experience and passion to conduct research and innovation activities on the project titled: “Normalized physiological indicators and technological approaches for optimizing water management in fruit tree orchards”.
The project will be focused on understanding the physiological and agronomical responses of fruit trees to droughts, and how to manage irrigation considering: (i) the changes in environmental conditions and tree water demand, (ii) the adoption of new cultivation conditions aligned with different scenarios of water availability, and (iii) the need of determining new physiological indicators (in-situ and remote) that are robust, reliable and can be easily included in autonomous digital systems for irrigation management.
The results of this project will provide fruit growers with physiological indicators, also validated from an agronomic perspective, that can monitor tree water status, consider the different variables that may affect the indicator’s response, and allow automatic and remote irrigation scheduling based on threshold values, to optimize water use efficiency for sustainable fruit production under climate change conditions.
The incumbent will perform a wide range of duties including the experimental planning, set-up and execution (data acquisition, processing, and analysis) of laboratory and field experiments related to tree water relations, ecophysiology, irrigation and orchard management.
Among others, the responsibilities of the incumbent will include:
– In situ field measurements of plant physiological and agronomical responses.
– Monitoring plant, soil and atmosphere water status throughout the season under different edaphoclimatic conditions on the field.
– Plant and soil sample collection and sensor installation.
– Sample processing in the lab.
– Data compilation and management, including big datasets.
– Data analysis, including statistical analysis and modeling.
– Scientific literature search, review and metadata analysis.
– Writing scientific papers and reports (state hypothesis, detail how you tested your hypothesis, express and critically discuss the data collected and the implication of your findings).
– Participating and preparing scientific and extension material for communication and dissemination activities (conferences, seminars, workshops, …).
Where to apply
Website: https://www.irta.cat/en/work-at-irta/
Requirements
Research FieldEnvironmental science » Water scienceEducation LevelMaster Degree or equivalent
Skills/Qualifications
– Candidates must hold one of the following degrees:
a) A Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy, Biology, Environmental Science, or similar.
b) A Master’s in Agricultural Engineering, Horticulture, Plant Physiology, or similar.
c) To be in a position to access a doctoral programme according to the requirements of Catalan universities, i.e. accrediting between 60 and 120 ECTS credits at the official university master’s degree level or equivalent.
– Not to have a previous PhD degree.
– Car driving license.
– Candidates who have been chosen for an interview with the Selection Committee, should bring or send –for the interview – a certified copy of the degree and/or master, as well as the academic record showing the marks of all subjects studied.
Specific Requirements
Desirable requirements:
– Previous experience in research projects dealing with tree water relations, irrigation, precision horticulture, plant science, environmental science or climate change.
– Field experience performing professional-level work with scientific or commercial research protocols.
– Experience in ecophysiology, plant, soil and environment sampling methods.
– Knowledge of data management, text editing and presentation softwares (e.g. Microsoft Office skills).
– Knowledge of statistics and R software language.
– Good communication skills, verbal and written.
– Previous scientific publications will be valued positively.LanguagesENGLISHLevelGoodResearch FieldEnvironmental science » Water scienceYears of Research Experience1 – 4
Additional Information
Benefits
- Supervisor/s: Dr Victor Blanco Montoya
Job location: Fruitcentre (Lleida)
Full-time position (h/week): 37.5
Terms of appointment: 4 years
- Salary: The financial remuneration for the PhD Candidate contract will be €1,336.3/gross per month (18,708.20/gross per annum) and for the first and second years. For this third year, it will be €1,431.83/gross per month (€20,045.62/gross per annum) and for the fourth year it will be €1,789.79/gross per month (€25,057.06/gross per annum)which will be subject to the corresponding withholdings, pursuant to prevailing regulations, and to the collective employment agreement of IRTA. IRTA will also pay the fees of the doctoral school when receiving the enrolment. (1)
Employee Benefits: 22 vacation days, 3 days of family & work conciliation, 45h of personal days, Friday afternoon off, Compressed Summer schedule from 15/06 to 15/09, Conciliation schedule.
Selection process
Selection Committee:
. Interview with preselected candidates.
. To send an e-mail for those who have not been selected by the Selection Committee.
. Committee Selection Agreement with the selected candidate, giving reasons for the rest to be excluded.
. Notification by e-mail to the candidates who have been interviewed but not selected.
(10-15 following working days)
To send to HR all the needed official documentation in order to make the work contract and co-ordination for establishing the start of the employment (12-16 following working days).
Website for additional job details: https://www.irta.cat/en/
