Postdoctoral Position Risk Assessment of Networks and Complex Systems at CIGIDEN – National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management (Santiago, Chile). The National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management (CIGIDEN www.cigiden.cl) is a multidisciplinary research center funded by CONICYT with research teams located in Santiago, Valparaíso, and Antofagasta.
CIGIDEN brings together researchers from various fields (e.g., Sociology, Urban Planning, Geography, Psychology, Engineering, and Geosciences) and is supported by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (www.uc.cl), Universidad Católica del Norte (www.ucn.cl), Universidad Santa María (www.usm.cl), and the Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello (www.unab.cl).
CIGIDEN aims to integrate, develop, and transfer knowledge that will enable Chile to better confront natural disasters, by improving the actions during all phases of the disaster cycle: preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. With this in mind, the objective of the Center is to substantially increase the capacity of the Chilean society to not only respond systematically and effectively to the occurrence of these extreme events, but also to mitigate their impact while simultaneously building more resilient individuals and communities.
To encourage the research work, CIGIDEN is offering a 1 to 3-year postdoctoral research position in the global area of Vulnerability and Risk Assessment of Physical and Social Systems, focusing on Risk Assessment of Networks and Complex Systems Exposed to (Cascading) Natural Hazards. The researchers are expected to have expertise in one or more methodological approaches, and to complement CIGIDEN’s existing strengths in various engineering complex systems including critical infrastructure, lifelines, and other network systems.
The successful applicant is expected to integrate in his/her research, knowledge in Engineering, Statistics, and Applied Mathematics. The position is oriented to understand the consequences of cascading natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, liquefaction, and landslides.
Key Objectives and tasks: Topics to be developed by the applicant may include one or more of the following:
- uncertainty modeling and propagation,
- synthetic scenario generation,
- modeling, vulnerability, and risk assessment of network systems,
- complex system analysis,
- network science,
- agent based modeling (ABM) simulation,
- big data analysis (geographical natural disaster data),
- fragility evaluation of critical networks,
- resilience and life-cycle analysis, and
- human response in physical systems under extreme loading conditions.
Candidates are expected to work along the objectives of the social and physical vulnerability research line of CIGIDEN, but otherwise there is flexibility to define specific research topics to achieve such objectives.
Required qualifications for the position
The candidate must hold a PhD degree obtained during the last four years in an area related to the description above, with previous demonstrated experience in publishing in international indexed journals. The candidate should also be fluent in English.
Minimum expected achievements by the end of year 1
To allocate a 2nd year postdoctoral funding from CIGIDEN, the researcher should have submitted at least one ISI-indexed paper to a scientific journal, and a research proposal to the CONICYT Postdoctoral program (expected to be open in April/May 2016).
Application process
- The call is open until December 30th, and the starting date should ideally be January 2016.
- Late applications may be considered until the position is filled, and special conditions may apply for the starting date.
- The duration of the position is for a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 36 months.
- Contract conditions, including salary, will be market conditions for researchers in Chile and provided upon personal request.
To apply, please submit to Dr. Juan C. de la Llera (jcllera@ing.puc.cl) and Cc. to Felipe Rivera (felipe.rivera@cigiden.cl) the following documentation:
(i) a letter of intent/motivation,
(ii) a research proposal,
(iii) an extended CV,
(iv) a full digital archive of published ISI papers, and
(v) two letters of recommendation.
The candidate will be appointed at the Center, located within the School of Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, San Joaquin Campus, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, in the city of Santiago. Help will also be provided for obtaining a working visa. The Center will also cover air ticket and allocation costs in Santiago.
For additional information, please visit http://www.cigiden.cl or contact Felipe Rivera (felipe.rivera@cigiden.cl, +56 2 23541805).