Part-Time Research Technician - Citizen Science - Ref. CPIS-PSR-2023-10

Job description and tasks

We seek a part-time research technician with expertise in citizen science, socio-demography and psychology to work on a line of research related to participant recruitment and retention in the Mosquito Alert citizen science system. The research technician will implement studies on the characteristics and motivations of Mosquito Alert participants, including ensuring compliance with ethics and data protection requirements and best practices, collecting and analysing data, and preparing articles and reports for publication. The technician will also help to design guidelines and methods for improving participation in existing citizen science systems.

Project and institution that finance the contract

PREUR00522 - HEu - IDAlert – John Palmer - Id Oficial 101057554

PREUR00723 - EC - HEu - CL6 - E4Warning –John Palmer - Id Oficial 101086640

IDAlert is aimed at addressing the impacts of climate change on the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. As our planet heats up due to climate change, outbreaks of zoonotic diseases – diseases that spread from animals to humans – are increasing and expanding to new parts of the world, in particular Europe. Warmer temperatures, more variable rainfall, and the loss of biodiversity influence the survival and spread of zoonotic pathogens, and the reproduction and geographic location of their vectors, such as mosquitoes or ticks. Past and recent health crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown there is a need for stronger and more inclusive preparedness and responsiveness to epidemic-prone pathogens at the EU and global level. IDAlert aims to tackle this challenge by developing a range of decision-support tools and systems to enable decision-makers to act on time with improved responses.

E4Warning takes a holistic approach to improve our understanding of the interplay between humans, mosquitoes, reservoir species and the environment for a better disease intelligence capable of anticipating and identifying mosquito-borne diseases epidemic risk and outbreaks. To address the complexity of Mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs), the E4Warning consortium is made up of an interdisciplinary and innovative team from 12 organisations from Spain, Germany, Greece, Belgium, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, with experience in entomology, movement ecology, epidemiology, Earth Observation science, sensor engineering, sociodemography and spatial statistic modelling.

Research line of the contract

Improving Mosquito Alert, a citizen science system that empowers ordinary people to participate in fighting mosquito-borne disease.

Salary/duration/benefits/facilities

Type of contract: Indefinite, in accordance with the terms of article 23 bis of Law 14/2011, of 1 June, on Science, Technology and Innovation.

This selected candidate will be contracted to work 25 hours per week under a Research Support Personnel (PSR) contract Group 1 with a total annual gross salary of  36.163,52 euros (35h full time). This position is initially for 1 year, with the possibility of extension based on project needs.

The labour contract includes all the benefits of the Spanish public health and social security system, as well as additional financial support for the participation in project-relevant conferences and scientific meetings.