Scientific Collaborator Science Integration

Overview

The NCCR CLIM+ will establish the first fully interdisciplinary, Switzerland-wide climate research community that tackles pressing issues related to climate extremes such as heatwaves, floods, heavy rainfalls, droughts, wildfires, and further compound events. It will also interact with stakeholders ranging from public health to finance, agriculture, and water management.

By pooling competence from 20 leading Swiss research institutions across multiple natural and social science disciplines, NCCR CLIM+ will combine fundamental knowledge with transformational knowledge.

Under the lead of ETH Zurich and the University of Bern, the newly founded Center for Climate Extremes and Resilience in Swiss Society (CERESS) will connect with numerous further universities and climate centers across Switzerland. CERESS will support nationwide research, co‑design living labs, and produce actionable solutions, thus forming a new transdisciplinary nexus between science, society, practice, and politics.

The NCCR CLIM+ Scientific Collaborator for Science Integration is supporting and promoting interdisciplinary work across different work packages, disciplines, and research teams. The main task is to foster science integration and coordination within the NCCR CLIM+ consortium while also supporting the establishment of interdisciplinarity within the newly created CERESS Center. The scientific collaborator facilitates three types of boundary work developed within the NCCR CLIM+ to bridge between different academic disciplines and scientific fields:

• Boundary concepts: identifying suitable boundary concepts such as ‘extreme events’, ‘risks’, or ‘resilience’ that operate differently across disciplines or fields. The output of this process will be a joint glossary.
• Boundary object: developing a joint conceptual framework (“boundary object”) addressing the multidimensional nature of societal transformations toward resilience in the context of climate extremes.
• Boundary settings: establishing conducive boundary settings – integrative formats such as NCCR CLIM+ meetings, training schools, workshops, retreats, and the NCCR CLIM+ Young Scholars Forum, a protected niche for early‑career collaborators.

The candidate will be employed at the University of Bern with a main workplace at the Management Center of the NCCR CLIM+ at the University of Bern. The candidate will benefit from a second workplace at Eawag in Dübendorf to integrate in the Inter‑and Transdisciplinary Research Group (led by Dr. Sabine Hoffmann) and benefit from the research group’s expertise and experience in leading science integration in large research consortia.

Site visits at the different partner institutions and participation in various work packages/team meetings and workshops complement the profile.

• Fixed‑term with potential prolongation of 2 × 4 years, upon SBFI NCCR contract.

Candidates should hold a PhD in social sciences, human geography, interdisciplinary environmental sciences, science and technology studies, sustainability transformations, or a related field. They should demonstrate a strong interest in questions related to climate extremes, mitigation, and adaptation with experience in working in larger interdisciplinary consortia and developing and applying interdisciplinary concepts, methods and tools. The position requires panoptic perspectives and close interactions with all PIs, Post Docs, and PhDs involved in the consortia.

Candidates should be intrinsically motivated to contribute to interdisciplinary community building in the broad field of climate extremes and eager to engage with different theories and epistemologies. We expect good integrative skills, and high social and emotional intelligence. Command of English plus at least one of the national languages is a must, and familiarity with the Swiss academic landscape is an advantage.

• Strong research infrastructure and international network
• International reputation
• Interdisciplinary collaboration
• Central location in the heart of Bern