Nepal Early Warning Systems - Modelling Expert

Nepal Early Warning Systems Modelling Expert  

Contractor: 60% FTE, July 15, 2024 - December 15, 2025   

Salary: $15,300 ($900 per month)  

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal

About Stimson

The Henry L. Stimson Center (Stimson), a nonpartisan global security think tank located in Washington, DC, seeks a Nepal Early Warning Systems Modelling Expert. Reporting to Project Lead Austin Lord (Stimson Center; Energy, Water, Sustainability Program Senior Fellow) this role ensures that our practices support our mission-driven work, align with Stimson’s vision, values, strategic goals, standards of conduct, and operational objectives, and demonstrate our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and employee well-being.

We seek a highly motivated, organized, entrepreneurial, and collaborative individual committed to Stimson’s mission and core values. This person understands that any organization is only as good as the people working there and the relationships they build and sustain. This job will require building authentic relationships with staff and affiliates that facilitate the successful candidate’s ability to challenge, develop, and support them.

About the Program and Position Summary

Nepal is one of the most disaster-prone countries in South Asia and is highly exposed to both extreme weather events and an evolving array of climate change-related hazards. In the Himalayas, precarious geomorphology and volatile meteorological conditions can combine to produce complex, cascading disasters which cause intense patterns of loss and damage. New analyses are needed to understand the shifting dimensions of risk to downstream communities and the ways in which critical infrastructures may be exposed and disrupted. As hazard regimes shift, new tools, modes of coordination, and interdisciplinary collaborations are needed to formulate scalable and sustainable EWS approaches.

Stimson’s Nepal Early Warning Systems project works with government and non-government partners to develop systems that can generate an effective prior warning and empower individuals at both the state and community levels to make the most informed and appropriate decisions in response to latent and emergent disaster risks such as debris flows. We aim to develop new systems that can augment and elaborate on existing systems while linking efforts across diverse sites and scales.

Our goal is to employ our research and toolkit to raise awareness, enable greater knowledge-sharing, and develop a concrete channel for risk assessment and implementation of effective disaster risk resilience mechanisms with EWS at the heart of the process. This contracted position for Modelling Expert will support Phase Two of this project, which will be carried out over an 18-month period (June 2024 to December 2025) - but extension of the initial contract beyond December 15, 2025 will be dependent on a performance review.

Responsibilities:  

• Lead the development of flow models that simulate potential cascading hazards and extreme flow events in select watersheds of interest  
• Serve as the Nepal-based technical lead for ForeC-Nepal online tool service coverage: analyzing emergent risks, responding to automatic notifications generated when indicators cross thresholds, and communicating actions/response to relevant team members and other actors as determined by supervisor.  
• Contribute to the continued development of the project methodology for evaluating potential risk of cascading hazards and modeling interactions between hazards  
• Support the development and ongoing updates of geohazard layers in Stimson’s project areas of interest  
• Assist with on-demand analysis of any extreme events, disaster, or elevated risk situations identified by project partners and Government of Nepal institutions including analysis of near-real-time satellite and earth observation data, using pre-developed workflows and methodologies  
• Conduct field-based research in select sites for data collection and the validation of models, working in coordination with other Stimson team members and/or staff from partnering institutions  
• Participate in weekly coordination meetings with the Stimson Team, interfacing with supervisor as needed  
• Compose biweekly progress reports on modeling and multi-hazard assessment activities   
• Participate in select coordination meetings with institutional project partners and consultations with key stakeholders or scientific advisors (virtual and in person)  
• Support for analysis of project findings as well as the drafting periodic performance reports and final project reports  
• Contribute to knowledge sharing sessions and workshops as needed

Qualifications – required:   

• PhD from a recognized university specializing in earth science, civil engineering, environmental science, or related field with training focused on mountain hazards   
• 3+ years of applied experience in geomorphology and/or hydrology modeling (ideally fluvial geomorphology)  
• Past experience modeling extreme flow events in the Himalayan context, with a focus on complex flows (cascading and compounding events  
• Technical experience identifying triggering factors and thresholds for slope failures, floods, or other debris flow events  
• Experience conducting fieldwork to collect hazard data and validate models  
• Ability to interpret hydrometeorological forecasts from a variety of different sources  
• Ability to clearly communicate findings to technical and non-technical audiences

Qualifications – preferred:

• Past work focused on early warning systems or anticipatory action – understanding of the four pillars of early warning systems (as defined by UNDRR) and with alerting protocols  
• Familiarity with techniques for modeling exposure of downstream communities and infrastructure  
• Substantial experience with modeling software and programming language i.e. HEC-RAS, r.avaflow, matlab, python etc.  
• Work experience with other organizations working in the DRR/EWS space  
• Working understanding of the factors that shape social vulnerability in the Nepal context 
• Ability to communicate and present findings to non-technical audiences in Nepali

We welcome applications from candidates who may not meet all preferred qualifications.

Application requirements:  

Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to via email at stimsonnepaljobs@gmail.com  no later than 7th July 2024.

Stimson is an equal-opportunity employer that celebrates, supports, and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion. We will consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation or gender identity, or any other legally protected basis, in accordance with applicable laws.

Company Description

The Henry L. Stimson Center (Stimson), is a nonpartisan global think tank located in Washington, DC which promotes international security and shared prosperity through applied research and independent analysis, global engagement, and policy innovation. For three decades, Stimson has been a leading voice on urgent global issues: engaging new voices, generating innovative ideas and analysis, and building solutions to promote international security, prosperity, and justice.

For more information about this specific project and Stimson’s Energy, Water and Sustainability Program see here: https://www.stimson.org/project/early-warning-systems-for-cascading-disasters-in-nepal/.