Research Assistant / Associate Islands of Britain and Ireland Climate Dataset

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The Role
We are seeking a Researcher to work on the development of an hourly (or higher resolution) gridded rainfall dataset for the UK and Ireland and for its assessment against existing datasets. The Climate+ Co-Centre is a new initiative to address water challenges on the Islands of Ireland and Great Britain. Led by Trinity College, Dublin; Queens University Belfast, University of Reading; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Newcastle University, it is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Climate+ Co-Centre brings together over 60 leading researchers from 14 academic partner institutions in the UK over a six-year period. It will undertake research to provide evidence and urgently needed solutions for the interlinked crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and water quality degradation on the islands of Ireland and Great Britain, and globally. More information about the Climate+ Co-Centre can be found here.

The researcher will build upon recent work at Newcastle University to evaluate, develop and improve observational datasets of climate variations across the British & Irish Isles, including quantification of uncertainties. A specific task will be the development of an hourly (or 15-min) rainfall dataset for the UK and Ireland which blends quality-controlled radar, gauge and satellite datasets (based on methods developed in Yu et al. 2020 and Lewis et al. 2018, 2021). There will be a need to quality-control radar data, and assess the appropriateness of including satellite data within this dataset, as well as collecting and quality-controlling relevant gauge observations. A second task will be the assessment of the blended dataset against existing sub-daily and daily precipitation datasets, including UK and Ireland specific products and global reanalysis and satellite datasets such as IMERG or ERA5. The researcher will be responsible for developing this dataset and implementing it within a climate atlas to be developed in a larger team within the Climate+ project.

We are looking for candidates who can work well with other members of the team at Newcastle, which includes 3 other post-doctoral researchers and four academics, as well as our academic collaborators across the islands of the UK and Ireland.

For informal queries regarding the project or the role, please contact Professor Hayley Fowler (hayley.fowler@newcastle.ac.uk).

The position is fixed-term for a period of 18 months with a view for the successful appointee to commence employment by September 2025. The position is offered on a full-time basis (37 hours per week), based on site in Newcastle. We would be happy to discuss arrangements for flexible and/or blended working.

External shortlisting will take place from week commencing 9 June.

External interviews will be held from week commencing 7 July.

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