Research Project Officer - Soil Carbon

CSIRO; Adelaide; On-site; AUD 76,000 - 96,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Job summary

CSIRO invites applications for a role in the Carbon Modelling & Mitigation Team within the Soils Group, working with state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation to characterise soil organic matter and inform policy and farm decisions.

You will contribute to nationally significant research, redesign workflows to meet growing project demands, and uphold high HSE standards while engaging with regional teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in soil science, agricultural science, environmental science, analytical chemistry or related discipline.
• Solid understanding of soil science principles and practical lab experience.
• Experience operating and maintaining lab analytical instrumentation relevant to soil/environmental analysis.
• Experience with laboratory data management, data wrangling and quality checking in Excel or similar tools; scripting desirable.
• Ability to work with researchers and dispersed project teams; strong communication skills.
• Willingness to undertake fieldwork and travel to regional/remote locations; valid driver’s licence.

Responsibilities

• Under limited supervision, design and perform straightforward experiments and routine analyses.
• Prepare soil samples (drying, sieving, grinding, weighing) for various analyses.
• Ensure data quality through calibration, standards, QA/QC and record keeping.
• Develop data recording and entry systems; conduct literature reviews and investigations.
• Develop, test and modify software applications as required; conduct non-routine analyses.
• Collaborate with a multi-disciplinary team to meet project demands; plan ahead.

Skills

Soil science knowledge

Laboratory experience

Data handling & QA/QC

Team collaboration

Willingness to travel/fieldwork

Driver's licence

Education

Bachelor’s degree in soil science / environmental science / analytical chemistry or related

Tools

Microsoft Excel

R

Python

Job description

Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation.

Role highlights

• Advance nationally significant soil carbon research
• Work with state-of-the-art soil analysis instrumentation
• Deliver insights that support on-farm decisions and policy

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity

Join the Carbon Modelling & Mitigation Team within CSIRO Agriculture and Food’s Soils Group and Advanced Farm Productivity Program. You will work with state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation to characterise and measure soil organic matter content and composition. Your work will combine these measurements with next-generation modelling to generate soil carbon insights that inform on-farm decision-making and support science-based climate and soil policy at a national scale.

In this newly created role, you will strengthen CSIRO’s capability to measure and characterise soil organic matter, contributing to nationally significant research projects primarily supported by external funding. You will also help enhance laboratory workflows and operational efficiency by redesigning processes to meet growing project demands while maintaining high health, safety and environmental (HSE) standards.

Your high-level duties will include:

• Under limited supervision, design and perform straightforward experiments and routine laboratory analyses, design new processes or apparatus by adapting existing techniques and components to meet special circumstances or undertake modifications to methods requiring some innovation.
• Soil sample preparation and processing, such as drying, sieving, grinding, homogenisation, weighing, and preparation of samples for subsequent physical, chemical, biological or spectroscopic analyses.
• Data quality, including instrument calibration, use of standards and reference materials, replicate analyses, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC), troubleshooting, and appropriate record keeping.
• Design data recording and entry systems.
• Conduct literature reviews, investigations and inspections in the field or laboratory including associated analysis possibly involving statistical or graphics software.
• Develop, test and modify new software applications as required.
• Perform some non-routine analyses or technology development activities using a range of techniques, often working on a number of parallel and competing tasks.
• Work with discretion to decide on the timing of operations within the work team’s plan and plan ahead to meet experimental and/or project demands.
• Independently test possible solutions to resolve identified problems.
• May have responsibility for maintaining laboratory or fieldwork consumables and scheduling and instructing staff in the use of shared equipment.
• Communicate openly, effectively and respectfully with all staff, clients and suppliers in the interests of good business practice, collaboration and enhancement of CSIRO’s reputation.
• Work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary, regionally dispersed research team to carry out tasks in support of CSIRO’s scientific objectives.

Role particulars

Location: Adelaide, SA

Salary: AU$76k - AU$96k per annum + 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Specified term of 3 years, Full-time

Reference: 104215

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential criteria

• Qualifications: A relevant bachelor’s degree, or higher qualification, in soil science, agricultural science, environmental science, analytical chemistry, or a related discipline.
• Soil science and laboratory experience: Demonstrated understanding of fundamental soil science principles and practical experience working in a soil or environmental laboratory.
• Analytical instrumentation and quality assurance: Demonstrated experience operating and maintaining laboratory analytical instrumentation relevant to soil or environmental analysis.
• Data management and analytical skills: Demonstrated experience in laboratory data management, data wrangling, and quality checking using advanced Microsoft Excel or similar tools. Experience with, or willingness to learn, scripting and data-analysis languages such as R or Python is desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with researchers, technical staff, and other project team members that are regionally dispersed.
• Fieldwork, safety, and operational requirements: Demonstrated ability and willingness to undertake soil sampling and other fieldwork, including travel to regional and remote locations when required, and to work safely in laboratory and field environments in accordance with relevant health, safety and environmental (HSE) procedures.
• A current driver’s licence is required.

Desirable criteria

• Experience with, or demonstrated interest in developing capability in, soil organic matter and soil carbon characterisation techniques, including soil fractionation, infrared spectroscopy (MIR/NIR), elemental analysis, solid-state ¹³C NMR, or related analytical approaches, would be highly regarded.

For full details about this role, and other criteria, please review the Position Description.

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?

While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.

Setting you up for success

We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact Laura Mason via [e-mail] and let us know how we can support you.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO.

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian Citizens, New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents, and Australian Temporary Residents with a valid working visa for the duration of the specified term. Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Child safety

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy.