Basic Function:

This Research Technologist position will support the NUTRI-CHECK NETwork to  analyse, define, and disseminate best practice soil and nutrient management for crop nutrition. This work  will enable the arable industry to address its crop nutrition challenges, and achieve its aims of high productivity and economic resilience, with reduced environmental impacts. It will do this by enabling the farming industry to rapidly acquire the information, attitudes, and confidence needed to make extensive and faster advances in its nutritional practices at farm scale and more broadly. The NUTRI-CHECK NETwork has established a self-sustaining, multi-actor, thematic network which will improve the precision of crop nutrition across Europe by identifying and evaluating nutrition decision tools, promoting farm-by-farm nutrient checking, and facilitating knowledge exchange amongst all relevant stakeholders. Teagasc are leading the evaluation of nutrition decision tools for arable cropping systems by connecting with arable farmer stakeholders in Ireland and across 8 other different countries in Europe.

The primary role of the Research Technologist will be to collate data and feedbacks from the farmer stakeholders collected from arable farmers and industry stakeholders within the NUTRI CHECK NETwork countries and to help organize, analyze and interpret these data (in conjunction with the project researchers).  The scientific information and evidence collected will underpin new advice for farmer, farm advisors and policy makers. The Research Technologist will also help to identify and disseminate tools and technologies with a proven track record for benchmarking and improving crop nutrition on farms. The Technologist will gain experience of the different approaches to crop nutrition across taken by farms and also the needs of farmers and other stakeholders to overcome the various crop nutrition, economic and environmental challenges in their regions. The Technologist will also support work to help improve best practice adoption by farm advisors and farmers in future. This post will include communication with a range of different stakeholders, including scientists, farm advisors and farming community and policy makers. The Research Technologist will contribute to analysis of survey questionnaires data from stakeholders and to the final project outputs such as the generation of science based nutrient management protocols and advice and information transfer tools for stakeholders. They will contribute to a number of scientific reports and publications, which will help to underpin sustainable nutrient management approaches for arable cropping systems and world leading agronomic and environmental sustainability advice for farmers and farm advisors. 

Background:

This project requires the appointment of a Research Technologist, Grade 1 position for approximately 7 months. The position will be based in the Crops, Environment, Soils and Land-use Department, Johnstown Castle, Wexford, Ireland.  Teagasc Johnstown Castle is Ireland’s leading research institute on the rural environment and conducts both fundamental and applied research on a wide range of subjects, e.g. nutrient efficiency, water quality, gaseous emissions, soil quality, agro-ecology, land use and organic farming. Johnstown Castle has modern and well equipped science laboratories, data analysis and modelling resources, and operates 3 scientific research farms. These enterprises facilitate a range of research projects at plot, field and farm level. The main users of our research are farmers, Government Departments, the Environmental Protection Agency, policy makers, NGO's and development agencies and rural communities.  A significant proportion of the research is conducted in close collaboration with researchers in other institutions in Ireland, UK, the EU and other countries.

• Supporting the NUTRI CHECK NET research project team to complete the project tasks and reporting.
• Meeting and liaising with project partners (farm advisors) and collating and analysing responses.
• Managing (excel spreadsheets) and analysing the project data to identify best crop nutrition tools and technologies.
• To generate best practices for precision crop nutrition and nutrient benchmarking on arable farms
• Helping to disseminate project information made available to farmer and industry stakeholders.
• Helping with day-to-day project management tasks, including meeting the timelines for tasks, project deliverables and project progress reporting.
• Communicating and providing information to project partners and project stakeholders.
• Assist preparing scientific reports and popular press publications for a variety of audiences, as appropriate.
• To assist Teagasc in meeting the commitments of the Quality Customer Service Charter and Action Plan.
• To actively participate in the annual business planning and Performance Management Development System (PMDS) processes.
• Fully co-operate with the provisions made for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of themselves, fellow staff and non-Teagasc staff and co-operate with management in enabling Teagasc to comply with legal obligations. This includes full compliance with the responsibilities outlined in the Safety Statement.
• Any other duties as may be assigned from time to time.

* This job specification is intended as a guide to the general range of duties and is intended to be neither definitive nor restrictive.  It will be reviewed from time to time with the post holder.

 Note:  The ‘essential’ qualifications, knowledge, skills and behavioural competencies outlined above are ‘must-have’ which will be used in the selection process.

Note:  Alternative location(s) may be considered solely at the discretion of Teagasc management.