Associate Scientist

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with the support of the Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has established IRRI-South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is a regional facility that supports research collaboration, training, and service provision to institutions, scientists, farmers, and other stakeholders from India and other South Asian and African nations. ISARC leads various projects in India in partnership with NARES and private. The incumbent will support the research, training and coordination activities of various projects including Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and Direct-seeded Rice Consortium (DSRC) and direct seeded rice related projects in India.

The incumbent will lead in developing plan, design, and conduct on-station and on-farm trials, and collect data, analysis and writing reports/manuscript. Moreover, s/he also need to contribute to various project proposal development and agronomy related activities at ISARC including maintenance of DSR Technology Park and agricultural machinery. Incumbent will provide technical support to project scientists/team in developing the work plan and manage the execution of exposure visits, trainings, fairs, and other extension tools for knowledge dissemination with NARES partners and also help in preparing reports thereof. S/he will organize hands'-on-training, workshops, stakeholder meetings and other platforms for knowledge sharing on key sustainable intensification technologies/ interventions and seed systems.

**This position will be based at the IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and may only be filled in by permanent citizens of India.**

**Roles and Responsibilities**:

- Independently develop, manage, and oversee implementation of strategies in accordance with agreed objectives, outputs, and time lines as reflected in approved impact pathway documents on DSRC/CSISA.
- To manage activities to conduct participatory science and technology evaluations and research across various sites.
- Manage and guide the implementation of research support activities to ensure timely data collection, management, analysis and dissemination of result and information.
- Finalize draft reports for submission to supervisor and stakeholders and technical literature to disseminate results.
- Publish and actively contribute to articles in peer-reviewed journals that highlight findings from research and experiment activities showcasing the Institute’s scientific leadership
- Develop training modules/manuals and conduct the training/ exposure visits based on the modules/manuals.
- Contribute to project’s overall communication strategy by sharing the relevant information on training and extension material, videos, success stories for media release and any other reports as may be desired from time to time.
- Lead on promoting the dissemination of project findings through workshops, popular communication channels, and other means in coordination with the broader project leadership team
- Oversee and manage awareness generation activities including field demonstrations and campaigning for rapid dissemination of information on delivery of SI technologies for improved cereal-based cropping systems
- Lead on strengthening partnership with NARES partners, NGOs, other private sector partners, service providers, farmers’ group, and project management team
- Manage DSR consortium activities at IRRI Varanasi farm and other project sites including preparation, of necessary protocols, data collection, analysis, and interpretation
- Monitor and oversee facilitating capacity development initiatives for extension workers, agro-service professionals, and scientists of different project partners for succession dissemination of SI technologies
- Participate in Institute wide activities and represent IRRI at various meetings or events.
- Plan and organize practical demonstrations, traveling seminars, interaction and feedback sessions, field days on different agricultural technologies in collaboration with different stakeholders
- Advise implementing partners in organizing training, demonstrations, machinery operation & troubleshooting and assist service providers and progressive farmers through hands-on training for extension of technologies
- Consolidate/synthesize and finalize reports for submission to project leaders and other stakeholders
- Synthesize research and survey data, and publish in reputed international journals
- Capturing lessons learned and success stories and sharing for ongoing impact.
- Support for active showcasing of work by Institute's scientific leadership through different platforms of communication.
- Perform any other relevant duties as assigned by supervisor from time to time

**Qualifications**:
Master’s degree in Agronomy or Soil Science with minimum of 5 years of work experience in dissemination and delivery of agricultural technologies with