Researchers leading the Agricultural Water Futures in Canada: Stressors and Solutions, a newly funded Global Water Futures (GWF) project, are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher (PDR) to provide social science research support.
The postdoctoral researcher will provide support to the social sciences Work Package (WP3) on strengthening capacity for adaptation in agricultural water decision making. This WP has three interrelated objectives that focus on strengthening the capacity for agricultural water decision- making in Canada. The successful applicant will work under the supervision of the project leaders for these three objectives (Rob de Loë, Pete Deadman, Roy Brouwer).
Principal Investigators: M. Macrae, Dept. of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo; R. Gordon, Wilfrid Laurier University; W. Helgason, University of Saskatchewan; J. Elliott, University of Saskatchewan; R. de LoÑ, University of Waterloo
Co-Investigators: H. Baulch, T. Fonstad, Y. Li, J. Pomeroy, University of Saskatchewan; R. Petrone, R. Brouwer, P. Deadman, J. Wandel, D. Robinson, University of Waterloo
Collaborators: A. Howard, T. McAllister, W. Smith, A. VanderZaag, and H. Wilson, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada; J. Empson-Laporte, G. Ferguson, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; A. Jansen, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture; M. Timmerman, Manitoba Ministry of Agriculture
Project Summary
The fate of Canadian agriculture depends strongly on water availability, patterns of water use, and water quality. Key drivers include hydro-climatic and geomorphic factors, crop choices, land management practices and governance systems.
The proposed research evaluates water availability, use and quality in a Pan-Canadian context with the goal of improving current and future agricultural water sustainability. This is accomplished through a combination of field-based research, data- mining, and hydro-climatic and socio-economic modelling efforts. Working with our partners, and focused on the needs of our end users, we will develop improved predictive tools, policy instruments and governance strategies for the sustainable management of water resources in the agricultural regions of Canada.
In Years 1-3 [2017-2020], we will quantify interrelationships among climate, soil properties, land management practices, economic conditions and governance systems relating to water quantity and quality in three Canadian regions (Prairies, Great Lakes Region, Atlantic Canada), and we will work with the GWF Core Team to develop appropriate systems models that will be tested at our field sites. In collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC), we will develop improved Water Footprint (WF) assessments for the beef and dairy industries. Working together with our federal, provincial and regional users, we will provide greater insight into the efficacy of farm-level Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs), and strengthen the foundation for agricultural water decision-making now and in the future.
During Years 4-7, we will enhance our understanding of the grey water (pollution) portion of the WF and expand assessments into other agri-food products and other regions of Canada. This will include continued field trials assessing grey water under a series of BMPs. Throughout the 7 years, we will collaboratively develop model simulations of agricultural water decision making, and water quantity, use and quality, under a range of land management practices, socio-economic scenarios and future climate scenarios for Canada.
Work Package #1: Current and future water-use in Canadian agriculture
- Objective 1.1 Changing agro-climatic conditions: Quantify how agro-climatic indices and patterns of growing season precipitation will change under future climatic conditions.
- Objective 1.2 Changing patterns of agricultural water use under future climates. Quantify crop water use and water use productivity under future climates.
- Objective 1.3 Crop-climate-hydrology interactions. Identify linkages between changing agricultural practices, regional hydrology and changing weather
Work Package #2: Current and future water quality in Canadian agriculture
- Objective 2.1 Climate-landscape Interactions. Development of a process-based understanding of the individual and combined controls of climate and geomorphic conditions on nutrient mobilization
- Objective 2.2 Management Practices and Water Quality: Evaluation of impacts of land management practices on water quality and the efficacy of prevalent BMPs in the improvement of water quality; determination of how this varies across regions with different climates or landscape features.
- Objective 2.3 Water Quality Modelling: Contribution to development of nutrient transport models designed for cold regions.
- Objective 2.4 Changing patterns of agricultural water quality under future climates. Integration of work done in Objectives 1.1, 2.1 and 2.3 to predict how runoff patterns and pathways may change in the future.
Work Package #3: Strengthening capacity for adaptation in agricultural water decision making
- Objective 3.1 Model the complex dynamics of coupled human and natural systems influencing phosphorus transport in agricultural watersheds: An agent-based simulation of human decision making will be coupled to outputs from a hydrological model linking agricultural land use and practices to nutrient loading under current conditions and future climate change scenarios
- Objective 3.2 Modelling farmers’ adaptive behavior and decision-making under risk and uncertainty due to climate change: Farm household behavior and decision-making under climate change-related uncertainty are analysed and modelled using choice experiments
- Objective 3.3 Institutional diagnosis of the agricultural water decision making macro environment: A social-ecological systems-based diagnosis of scale-dependent factors influencing agricultural water decision making in Canada.
The successful candidate will play a leadership role in undertaking research in support of the three WP objectives. Additionally, the PDR will (i) coordinate with graduate students and other researchers engaged in the WP; (ii) facilitate knowledge mobilization by actively engaging project partners in knowledge co-production; and (iii) coordinate with researchers involved in the other project work packages in the Agricultural Water Futures in Canada: Stressors and Solutions project.
Qualifications and Skills
Applicants must have a recent (past three years) PhD in a relevant social science field, or be in a position to complete all requirements for the PhD degree soon after they take up this full-time position. Potentially relevant social science fields include (but are not limited to) political science, policy studies, agricultural or environmental economics, sociology, human/environmental geography, environmental law, public administration, international development studies, environmental studies, and planning.
Given the nature of the project and our focus on knowledge co-production, an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary orientation is especially desirable. The project is specifically concerned with agricultural water management and governance in Canada. Existing water expertise is desirable. However, we are open to applications from candidates who have relevant expertise in other domains that intersect with water. Expertise in agriculture is also highly desirable.
Two of the objectives under the WP are concerned with modelling. Therefore, a demonstrated ability to understand, and ideally develop and apply quantitative models and simulation tools is essential. The third objective takes a broader perspective on identifying and analyzing drivers of change that influence agricultural water decision-making. Understanding and/or expertise in institutional analysis, systems mapping, or social-ecological systems-based diagnostics is needed to support this work. A grounded understanding of how decisions are actually made in one or more real world settings is also valuable. This experience could come from previous employment (e.g., working for a corporation, a government agency, or an NGO), research, and/or volunteer work.
The position will involve some travel, e.g., to engage partners and conduct fieldwork in study sites in Manitoba and Ontario, and to participate in project meetings, conferences, and workshops.
English proficiency is required; the successful applicant will demonstrate excellent English writing and oral communication skills.
Application Instructions
Interested applicants may submit their applications as soon as possible. Consideration of applications will begin on August 14, 2017.
Submit applications â in one consolidated Adobe Acrobat file â by email, to Rob de Loë. In your application material, include a cover letter outlining your fit with this position, a complete curriculum vitae, the names and contact information for three people who can be approached for references, and a sample publication (in English) for which you are the sole or first author; select a publication that you think best showcases your research and writing skills, and your fit with this position.
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. However, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. The University of Waterloo encourages applications from all qualified individuals, members of visible minorities, native peoples, and persons with disabilities.
Direct any questions about this opportunity by email, to Rob de Loë until July 20, 2017. After July 20, 2017, direct inquiries to Peter Deadman or Roy Brouwer.