One Data Scientist/Researcher in the 'do Pasto ao Prato' project (2 years)

Project description: do Pasto ao Prato (www.dopastoaoprato.com.br) is an open-data initiative which seeks to transform the sustainability of the meat industry in Brazil, by radically increasing transparency about the impacts hidden in supply chains. The livestock sector employs millions of households and makes up 8% of Brazil’s GDP but is dogged by cases of deforestation, forced labor, and food safety scandals. In November 2022 we launched an app (available for iOS and Android) which allows shoppers to verify the origin - and impact - of the meat products available in supermarkets, before they buy. As well as empowering consumers and incentivising sustainability, the app is also a citizen-science tool: users register the point-of-sale of meat, thereby contributing to a crowdsourcing effort to reveal the flow of meat from slaughterhouses in the Amazon and other regions to reach consumers across the country. do Pasto ao Prato was developed as part of the Trase initiative (www.trase.earth/), a data-driven transparency initiative that is revolutionizing our understanding of the trade and financing of commodities driving deforestation worldwide.

The role: You will process, analyze, and visualize data about the procurement and sustainability performance of businesses across the livestock supply chain, including farms, meat-packers, distributors, retailers, and banks. This work not only underpins all the sustainability information provided to users through the do Pasto ao Prato app, but will also include analysis of the data crowdsourced via the app - revealing the stores which commercialize meat products with disproportionate environmental and social impact. 

You will manipulate data sets on company assets (e.g. the locations of meat-packer facilities and stores, CNPJs) and supply chain logistics (e.g. animal movements, such as the "Guia de Trânsito Animal"), and financial investments in the livestock sector. You will help update, investigate, and develop new indicators on sustainability issues in the livestock sector, supporting the work of colleagues and partners where feasible, for example, by producing data visualizations which bring to life the stories hidden in the supply chain. Your work will feed into reports for the general public and businesses, disseminated through the media and project partners, as well as scientific (peer-review) articles.

You will be embedded in an multi-institutional, multi-lingual team, and have opportunities to engage with project partners and stakeholders (e.g. companies, universities, government ministries, and app users) including where feasible and appropriate through representation at external events and stakeholder dialogues, helping establish and strengthen do Pasto ao Prato as an independent, science-based provider of data and intelligence on the sustainability of the livestock sector in Brazil. 

We seek curious, kind, and motivated persons with a Masters degree or equivalent experience, who seek an impactful career in data science, research, advocacy, or business, and share our passion for open-data and sustainability. Our data munging and processing is historically based in R and Google Earth Engine, but with opportunities to build other software into data workflows. Knowledge of the Portuguese language is a strong asset for this position.