Senior researcher position: TRACE - TRAcing uncertainties from instrument Calibration and Environmental effects

Project and Content of the Position

One of the missions of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (IRM-KMI) is to make high-quality observations of meteorological data. Whether to feed data to models for weather prediction or climate evolution, the quality of these observations is key. This quality—and more importantly its reliability—is guaranteed by the calibration of instruments. But this calibration in laboratory conditions needs to be supplemented by field tests and/or modelling so the meteorological measurement can be supplemented by its actual uncertainty.

Propagating multiple sources of uncertainty using efficient methods is one of the strengths of the Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering (iMMC) that is part of UCLouvain.. The expertise developed in robust design optimization applied to various energy-related contexts has enabled to explore ranges of systems including probability distribution functions of input variables.

The researcher will be hired under the FED-tWIN Programme of sustainable research cooperation between federal scientific institutes (FSI) and universities. And this under the profile accepted as Prf-2022-016.

Description of the Royal Meteorological Institute (IRM-KMI) and UCLouvain.

The Royal Meteorological Institute (IRM-KMI) is a federal scientific institute providing meteorological services. It is the national data, research and knowledge centre for weather, climate and geophysics. The RMI works in a context of international cooperation.The scientific research of the RMI is aimed at supporting, innovating and ensuring the continuity of its public tasks. These include the preparation of general weather forecasts and warnings for hazardous weather conditions, climate monitoring, collection, control and archiving of meteorological and geophysical data, management of the infrastructure required for this purpose and model development.

In line with the vision of UCLouvain’s iMMC , the mission of the TFL division is to study physical phenomena, define models, and design solutions towards sustainable development in energy and transport. This mission is executed by a team of 6 professors, 2 research associates and around 40 researchers (phd candidates and post-docs). They perform modelling, and numerical and experimental investigations in the areas of energy systems and fluid mechanics. While they make progress in these areas, they also develop various methodologies: numerical methods and high-performance computing (HPC), machine learning and data-driven engineering, and robust optimisation. They also seek links with other disciplines: artificial intelligence, optimal control, and mechatronics. The experimental work is supported by the CREDEM platform composed of 10 highly-skilled technical staff members.

Job description

Subject area / research field

TRACE - TRAcing uncertainties from instrument Calibration and Environmental effects

Data is the driving factor in modern science. Models derived from data help scientists grasp the complexity of a measurement chain, predict new possible outcomes and also challenge the measurement of scientific data used for modeling purposes. The data should fit the purpose intended but is impeded by the lack of perfect measurement tools, methods and inherent incomplete knowledge of measured physical processes. Associated uncertainty to any measure should be provided as a routine scientific production. This uncertainty coming from the data can then propagate through the models generating output characterized by ranges and distributions instead of a single number without much idea of the sensibility.

Although the uncertainty can be misunderstood as ignorance by the public or policy makers, it is of uttermost importance to estimate and provide the associated uncertainty of any measurement. Thus, the word “uncertainty” should be understood as a “certainty” that a value is inside a range. The uncertainty is inherent to any scientific production.

In Earth sciences, the calibration of measuring instruments is done in a laboratory with a controlled environment but the measurement is executed in the field. This change of environment from laboratory to measurement site can be neglected in many applications but not in meteorology, where the added uncertainty can be several orders of magnitude higher than the one obtained in the lab because of the influence of the environment. Estimating of those environment induced errors is important to ensure the consistency and coherence of meteorological measurements carried out in different places.

IRM-KMI is involved in several citizen science projects. A local Weather Observations Website (WOW) is managed by IRM-KMI. WOW is, according to its definition, a platform for the sharing of current weather observations, regardless of where they come from, what detail of information or the frequency of reports. It allows anyone having an amateur station to share their measurements on a unique website. The usefulness of citizen science is still an open question. Nevertheless, it has already been demonstrated that for some purposes these crowd sourced temperature measurements can be used as an estimation of reference temperature measurements (using calibrated instruments and controlled environment) in case of special meteorological events or also for additional measurement in quality control. The main advantage of these measurements is the spatial coverage which is usually at least one order of magnitude higher than official measurements, resolving fine-scale phenomena.. The main drawback is that most of the measurements have a bias and this bias is usually in the same direction for all the measurements. Correction could be applied with the risk of correcting local micrometeorological situations.

The person hired will be working in the context described above with the  following initial objectives.

Objective 1: Calibration and uncertainties at instrument level: ensure the quality of the calibration of measuring instruments as performed in a controlled environment (done in a laboratory) and establish the traceability of all these instruments and sensors to the International System of Units.

Objective 2: Measurement uncertainty: identify and characterise uncertainty and stability arising from the (artificially ventilated) protective shelter in which an instrument is mounted.

Objective 3: Uncertainty propagation: once all uncertainties have been identified and modelled, the next phase consists in propagating them through  meteorological or climate models.

Other

The candidate will be a member of the IRM-KMI and of the iMMC institute at Université catholique de Louvain.

S/he will be expected to participate in the operational and administrative aspects of these departments.

This includes to embed her/his research activities within the broader research and outreach strategies of the institutions. This may also be as a member of (various) faculty/department boards and might involve teaching duties (e.g. mentoring of Msc thesis, supervision of exercise sessions).

With a 50% appointment in each institution, the FED-tWIN would however have limited administrative responsibilities at the department or faculty level.

Profile

As a formal minimum requirement, the applicant must hold a PhD in Applied Science or Engineering Science awarded on the basis of an original dissertation.

If you obtained your master's degree outside the Benelux, you must also have a equivalence recognition from a foreign diploma or certificate in Flanders (NARIC) or Wallonia (CFWB) for the master’s degree.

The doctorate was obtained up to 12 years prior to the predetermined candidate filing deadline. This 12-year period is extended by one year for any absence due to pregnancy, parental or adoption leave, as well as any prolonged absence due to illness of the candidate and/or prolonged absence due to illness of a first-degree relative.

A creative research interest in meteorology and climatology is required. The candidate should be familiar with the nature of transdisciplinary research and should be able to acquire domain knowledge from experts.

The candidate has at least three years of experience as post-doc researcher.

The candidate has a strong scientific track record in the field of research.

He/she has a track record in research grant fund raising and in project management.

He/she has developed a network facilitating international collaborations.

The candidate has experience in supervising students in research projects at MSc or PhD level.

Experience in teaching at graduate or undergraduate level is an asset.

The candidate has programming and scripting skills and must be able to communicate fluently in English and preferably either in French or Dutch.

Strong experience in Open Science is necessary. The candidate should reuse existing datasets whenever possible, and give access to the research data generated throughout the research project through an open data platform. The candidate has to keep in mind the development of a Data Management Plan (compliant with the FAIR research data management principles) http://www.belspo.be/belspo/openscience/opendata_DMPintro_en.stm, ensure the coordination between the work packages and stimulate cooperation with colleagues in both organizations where necessary.

The CV of the candidate should illustrate that they can apply the aforementioned theoretical or applied background in other application domains and new research domains. To comply with the service-oriented mission of IRM-KMI, the candidate must be able to show that he/she is able to translate the research results into applications.”

Specific skills: The ability to analyse, model and interpret data, problem-solving skills, a methodical and logical approach, the ability to plan work and meet deadlines, accuracy and attention to detail, interpersonal skills, team working skills

The candidate also has to conform to the “Code of Ethics for Scientific Research in Belgium” that establishes the major principles of ethically justified scientific practice. http://www.belspo.be/belspo/organisation/publ/pub_ostc/Eth_code/ethcode_en.pdf

Offer

We offer a full time senior researcher position that will take place as two 50% contracts at the IRM-KMI and UCLouvain.

The appointment will take place at the SW2 level (senior researcher full time contract for indefinite period) for the IRM-KMI 50% part while for the UCLouvain 50% part, the salary will be granted according to the legal rules applied for the contractual scientific staff of the university (undetermined duration for postdoctoral researcher).

Additional information

For further information regarding this call, you can contact:

• Dr. Stijn Nevens: stijn.nevens@meteo.be
• Pr. Francesco Contino: : francesco.contino@uclouvain.be

Application

Where to apply: 

• Dr. Stijn Nevens: stijn.nevens@meteo.be
• Pr. Francesco Contino: : francesco.contino@uclouvain.be

Application Deadline: 1/10/2023 00:00 – Europe/Brussels

Company: Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) & The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (IRM-KMI)

Website(s):https://www.uclouvain.be  https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/immc & https://www.meteo.be/

Your application must include the following as a minimum:

• A concise CV;
• The academic dossier with all relevant elements;
• List of your five most important publications;
• A brief statement of reasons for the application, including an explanation of the expansion of future research;
• A one-page pitch for a project proposal to be submitted once appointed;
• Degrees and diplomas.

Work location: UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, IRM-KMI, Brussels