Call for Application Postdoctoral Position Risk and Resilience Analysis Cluster CIGIDEN

The National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management (CIGIDEN www.cigiden.cl) is a multidisciplinary research center funded by CONICYT with research teams located in Santiago, Valparaíso, and Antofagasta. CIGIDEN brings together researchers from various fields (e.g., Sociology, Urban Studies, Urban Planning, Geography, Psychology, Engineering, and Geosciences) and is supported by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (www.uc.cl), the Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello (www.unab.cl), the Universidad Católica del Norte (www.ucn.cl) and the Universidad Santa María (www.usm.cl).

The position

To encourage the research work, CIGIDEN is offering a 1 to 3-year postdoctoral research position in the research cluster of Risk and Resilience Analysis, focusing on the Socio-Economic Assessment of Natural Disaster Consequences and their effects in Resilience. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with Dr. Alondra Chamorro and Dr. Nicolás Bronfman, Principal Investigators of Research Line 5 “Socio-Economic Assessment of Disasters and Mitigation Strategies for Resilient Critical Infrastructure Systems” at CIGIDEN.

Candidates are expected to work along the objectives of the Risk and Resilience Analysis cluster, which covers different topics dealing with risk and resilience of complex networks, present and future disaster risks in urban settings, socioeconomic assessment of disaster consequences, integration of socio-economic assessment into mitigation strategies and resilience and the integration of research into a risk and resilience analysis platform.

Candidates will become part of the team working in different projects within the research cluster, contributing to the interaction and productivity in collaboration with the other research clusters of CIGIDEN, Natural Systems and Processes, and Social Practices. Also, candidates will be encouraged to participate in the different outreach activities and programs of CIGIDEN with the objective of transferring the scientific knowledge to different communities in the country, such as professionals and practitioners, and K-12 education.

The researcher is expected to have expertise in methodological approaches related to socio- economic data assessment and analysis to quantify the effects of extreme natural events, so to foster and complement CIGIDEN’s existing strengths in the assessment of risk and resilience of critical infrastructure systems. In particular, the applicant is expected to have research knowledge in Economics, Data Sciences or Engineering complemented with expertise in Social Sciences, Statistics or Applied Mathematics. Expertise and experience in management of large quantities of data, programming (especially in Python) and relational databases are desired. The position is oriented to understand the socio-economic consequences of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, floods, volcanic eruptions) and their effects in resilience, by accounting for impacts in the economy, environment, specific communities, general population, and built environment, and their interactions and interrelations.

Research topics may include two or more of the following: (i) studying possible relations and consequences of natural disasters within socio-economic data; (ii)  thinking of the impact of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis methodologies on investment patterns and resilience to natural disasters; (iii) rethinking the public and private loss from natural disaster assessment methodologies; (iv) assessing the welfare consequences of historical disaster episodes; (v) developing methodologies to assess the cost of risk-mitigation strategies and investment projects over their life-cycle; and (vi) carrying out longitudinal and/or panel studies of the socio-economic consequences of disasters and community resilience.

Required qualifications

The candidate must hold a PhD degree obtained during the last four years in an area related to the description above, with previous demonstrated experience in publishing in international indexed journals. The candidate should also be fluent in English. Conference publications and presentations, and programing skills will also be considered in the evaluation of the applicants.

Minimum expected achievements

To allocate a 2^nd year postdoctoral funding from CIGIDEN, the researcher will be evaluated by the end of year 1 where the submission of at least one WOS-indexed paper to a scientific journal during the first year, and the application of a research proposal to the CONICYT Postdoctoral program 1 (expected to be open around May/June 2020) will be minimum requirements to be considered.

Funding for a 3^rd year will be subject to a second evaluation by the end of year 2 in cases where CONICYT Postdoctoral position was not granted. Proof of outstanding performance and fulfillment of committed tasks are required, along which publication of at least one WOS-indexed paper, submission of a second WOS-indexed paper to a scientific journal and a new application of a research proposal to the CONICYT Postdoctoral program are compulsory.

Application

The call is open between May 10^th and June 14^th, and the starting date should ideally be August 2019. Late applications may be considered until the position is filled, and special conditions may apply for the starting date. The duration of the position is for a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 36 months.

Successful applicants will be appointed by CIGIDEN at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and will reside in Santiago, Chile, where they will receive a gross stipend of 1.800.000 CLP (~2.800 USD) per month, as well as travel expenses for those living overseas. To apply, please send your letter of intent/motivation, a research proposal, an extended CV with a full digital archive of published ISI papers, and two letters of recommendation to Alondra Chamorro (achamorro@ing.puc.cl) and Nicolás Bronfman (nbronfman@unab.cl), Juan Carlos de la Llera (jcllera@ing.puc.cl) with the entitled subject “CIGIDEN R&R Cluster Postdoctoral Application”.