Postdoctoral researchers in health adaptation to climate change [ERC CoG EARLY-ADAPT + FORMAS ADATES]

he Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) is a cutting-edge institute addressing global public health challenges through research, translation into policy and education. ISGlobal has a broad portfolio in communicable and non-communicable diseases including environmental and climate determinants, and applies a multidisciplinary scientific approach ranging from the molecular to the population level. Research is organized in three main areas, Malaria and other Infectious Diseases, Child and Maternal Health, and Urban Health, Climate & Non-Communicable Diseases. ISGlobal is accredited with the Severo Ochoa distinction, a seal of excellence of the Spanish Science Ministry.

Venue:
Barcelona

What we are looking for:
We are seeking 2-3 talented and highly motivated postdoctoral researchers in the domain of human health adaptation to climate change. The successful candidates will join the research team of Dr. Joan Ballester at ISGlobal within the framework of various research projects, mainly the ERC Consolidator grant EARLY-ADAPT and the FORMAS project ADATES (see “Project information” below). The chosen candidates will be at the forefront of environmental research by analysing a novel database of human health in Europe, which incorporates a range of environmental, socioeconomic and demographic variables and novel digital data streams at different spatiotemporal scales.


More specifically, the fellows will:
- perform large-scale epidemiological studies analysing the role of environmental factors (mainly climate and air pollution) on several human health outcomes, e.g. mortality, morbidity, occupational accidents;
- analyse the socioeconomic and demographic drivers of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change by performing cross-sectional and longitudinal studies; and
- contribute in the transformation of weather forecasts and health data into predictable health early warning systems as innovative tools to improve the early adaptation response to climate change.


Competences and duties:
Candidates need to have a completed (or close to completion) PhD with expertise in environmental epidemiology, climate, atmospheric sciences, mathematics, biostatistics, big data analysis or related areas.

Candidates are also expected to meet as many of the following criteria as possible:

- have a good track record of first-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals, preferably in high-impact journals;
- have experience in the modelling of the environmental, socioeconomic and/or demographic drivers of human health;
- have experience in common programming languages, with particular focus on R;
- have experience with the management and analysis of large datasets, and particularly, climate and health data;
- be fluent in spoken and written English;
- be willing to apply to individual fellowships to become and independent researcher and define new own research lines;
- be willing to work in an inter-disciplinary team within a highly collaborative research institute.

Conditions
- Dedication: Full time.
- Starting date: As soon as possible.
- Duration: 2-3 years.