CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellowship in Farming System Design - [Archived Advertisement]

The Opportunity

• Do you have a PhD (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD) in a relevant discipline area, such as agricultural science, farming systems or digital agronomy?
• Explore concepts for new technologies and methods for future farming systems
• Develop frameworks that will be tested and deployed on real-world robotics platform! 

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system. 

The CSIRO Data61 and Agriculture and Food business units recently established a new 3-year project to develop complex agriculture systems using novel digital and autonomous systems. As a member of this multidisciplinary team, you will work with CSIRO scientists, engineers and collaborate with national and international university partners to explore how concepts from polycultures and multispecies cropping systems may be exploited to benefit conventional mixed farming systems in Australia. The work will specifically focus on the development of novel, complex farming systems. 

The Postdoctoral Fellow will work closely with leading farming systems and digital agriculture scientists in CSIRO Agriculture and Food to develop systems which manage and monitor the farming systems for maximum productivity and ecological sustainability and engage with Data61 scientists in developing autonomous technology and machine learning. The farming system research will seek to optimise across multiple dimensions of productivity, profitability, environmental sustainability and resilience.  The developed frameworks will be tested and deployed on real-world robotics platform in a range of settings such as field research station and on-farm. They will present the findings in appropriate top-tier journals or conferences.

Your duties will include:

• Evaluating an existing Australian broadacre farming system, with crop models, to determine what aspects of the system need to be monitored to enable the automated management of the farming system. 
• Developing novel, polyculture, or dual-row farming systems, using advanced crop modelling techniques that can increase Australian agricultural productivity and sustainability. 
• Designing novel farming systems to integrate with novel and emerging automated management practices. 
• Publishing results in relevant international scientific venues (high-level journals and conferences).

Location:  Canberra, ACT
Salary:  AU$89k - AU$98k plus up to 15.4% superannuation
Tenure:  Specified term of 3 years
Reference:  77761

To be considered you will need:

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD) in a relevant discipline area, such as agricultural science, agronomy, digital agronomy or similar. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (full time equivalent) of postdoctoral research experience.
• Demonstrated understanding of the drivers of productivity and profitability in agricultural systems.
• Demonstrated understanding of farming systems, and familiarity with the use of advanced crop modelling (e.g. APSIM, DSSAT, AquaCrop) and proximal sensing monitoring techniques (e.g. CropCircle).
• Awareness of multi species cropping systems, and the advantages they may bring to agriculture.

For full details about this role please view the Position Description

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian Citizens, New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents and international candidates. 

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Flexible Working Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and Inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please apply on-line and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications Close

18 July 2022, 11:00pm AEST