Data scientist at Center for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change

SustainScapes – Center for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change at Department of Biology, funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, advertises a 3-years full-time position as data scientist to develop and maintain data integration and processing workflows per 1 February 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

SustainScapes

is a research centre focused on providing the scientific basis for rethinking landscapes for restoring biodiversity in a world with increasing resource needs and a changing climate. SustainScapes aims to provide transformative real-world sustainable solutions that will alleviate biodiversity loss whilst simultaneously satisfying societal needs for agricultural and forestry products across Denmark and beyond.

Responsibilities and tasks

As data scientist at SustainScapes you will work in a dynamic and international environment at the interface between biodiversity and agroecological research. You will be involved in many aspects of the center's research, working in research teams comprising people from both the Department of Biology and the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University. On a daily basis you will be a part of a data science team working on both collaborative and individual projects. The team is centred around data management within a diverse and dynamic research environment and there is need for understanding the complexity of organizing tasks among different projects and shifting priorities.

Your main responsibilities and tasks will be focused on developing and maintaining processes for data integration, and analysis, while ensuring optimal data management and handling according to FAIR principles. The tasks will particularly be focused on the following areas of action:

(1) Retrieving, processing, and organising data from various data sources

(2) Building a data-base allowing efficient extraction and analysis of the center's research data

(3) Developing procedures and workflows for efficient data analysis and assuring reproducibility of these analyses

(4) Contributing to supervision and teaching in basic statistics, geospatial data analysis, and computational biology

At SustainScapes we emphasize a good relationship between colleagues and students. It is therefore important that you have a positive and open personality and are ready to give your colleagues a helping hand when needed

Qualifications

We are looking for a well-structured candidate with good collaborative and communicative skills. Ideally you have a PhD in natural sciences with a strong research background and previous work experience in geospatial data analysis – or else extensive experience in research support within these fields. We expect that you are independent, have the ability to share and transfer knowledge, and can contribute with high-level research support in handling and analysis of large geospatial data. In addition, the position requires that you can navigate and prioritize in an interdisciplinary and intense research environment among many colleagues and students. It is a prerequisite that you are good at communicating in English.

Specifically, we look for the following qualifications:

• MSc in data science, agroecology, geoscience, biology, ecology, environmental science (or related fields)
• Knowledge of data management plans and metadata systems following the FAIR principles
• Proven capabilities in handling and analysing big amounts of various types of data (geospatial, tabular, image/video/sound)
• Experience with complex and large data bases, e.g., "data cubes" or similar data structures
• In-depth knowledge of programming languages (e.g. Python, R, SQL)
• Knowledge of acquiring, downloading, handling, and synthesising data from various data sources, such as research instruments and sensors or online data sources
• Good collaboration skills across different groups of employees
• High level of English proficiency and cultural sensitivity
• Service orientation regarding project management support

The Department of Biology

The Department of Biology (

) provides a framework for research and teaching in all major biological subdisciplines. The department is especially known for its research contribution in biodiversity, global change and conservation biology, aquatic biology and ecology, arctic environment and ecosystems, genetics and evolution, microbiology and zoophysiology. The department currently encompasses approximately 150 academic and technical staff and 30 PhD students. Nearly 500 students follow the BSc and MSc programs offered by the institute.

The department offers a vibrant and informal research environment with a long-standing tradition of collaboration with international university partners. Much of the internal communication is in English and we welcome international applicants.

Place of employment

The place of employment is Aarhus University , Department of Biology, Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity (ECOINF), Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. The hired person will be part of SustainScapes – Center for Sustainable Landscapes under Global Change, a newly established research centre focused on establishing research-based sustainable solutions for maintenance of biodiversity and production across landscapes.

Contact information

Any questions about the position can be directed to Urs Treier, Research Scientist and Lab Manager, /

For more information about Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity:

We expect to hold interviews medio December 2023, with employment as of 1 February 2024 or soon thereafter.

Application deadline

5 December 2023

View or Apply

To help us track our recruitment effort, please indicate in your email – cover/motivation letter where ) you saw this job posting.