Staff Scientist

POSITION SUMMARY

Mandate: Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) is a world-leading organization in supporting ocean discovery and innovation. ONC operates infrastructure that monitors the west and east coasts of Canada and the Arctic to continuously deliver data in real-time for scientific research, societal benefits and technological innovation. ONC infrastructure supports ocean research within and across disciplines ranging from geophysics, oceanography, marine acoustics, marine ecology, geochemistry to microbiology to high-energy physics, facilitated by the co-location, at every observatory site, of sensors serving multiple fields of research. ONC is a Major Science Initiative funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and is governed as a not-for-profit society that operates world-class innovative cabled observatories on behalf of the University of Victoria.

The observatories supply continuous power and Internet connectivity to a broad suite of scientific instruments located in coastal and deep-ocean environments. The strategically located instruments and data management enable evidence-based decision-making on ocean management, public safety and environmental protection and address key scientific and policy issues. Along with national and local governments, ONC also works in collaboration with educators, students, communities, and Indigenous peoples on ocean monitoring initiatives along all three of Canada’s coasts.

ONC’s digital networks host thousands of sensors distributed in, on and above the seabed along with mobile and landbased assets (e.g., ferries, autonomous floats, moorings, and coastal radars) that provide essential data. ONC’s powerful online data management system, Oceans 3.0, is the most visible aspect of ONC and how ONC’s diverse user communities can access, analyze, visualize, and present observatory data.

The ONC Science Services department consists of a team of staff scientists who bring expertise across many scientific disciplines and connect the community of researchers with the ONC infrastructure capabilities.

Objectives:

Reporting to the Director Science, the Staff Scientist interacts with and provides support to a diverse research community within specific science and research areas, with the goal of increasing the number of scientific publications, the number and breadth of users accessing the facility, broadening the awareness and utility of the observatories in the science community, and encouraging its use by an ever-widening community of interdisciplinary users and research topics.

The Staff Scientist assists in the planning, execution, and completion of research by the users of the facility, including planning and execution of annual maintenance expeditions and other field-based activities as they relate to instrument preparation, data integrity, and sample collection. Together with the other members of the Science Services Division, they support workshops, conference presence and other engagement activities as required. The Staff Scientists actively engage with students, researchers and ONC staff and contribute to building knowledge and capacity in ocean-based sciences.

This position may be required to travel nationally and internationally. This position may be required to participate in at sea expeditions from time to time.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Science Support and Engagement

Support external users of ONC data:

• Maintain up-to-date expertise and open lines of communication with scientists within their field of expertise to identify potential science opportunities.
• Collaborate with the science and research community and non-scientific data users to understand their requirements.
• Initiate and lead efforts within their fields of expertise to support scientists in utilizing ONC’s observatories and associated data for their research.
• Serve as point-of-contact for scientists requesting support from Science Services and other divisions.
• Support scientific users through all stages of the research cycle, from experimental design to scientific publication.
• Assist with pilot studies in collaboration with scientific users to test and demonstrate the potential of the observatory as a research tool.

Publish ONC data

• Initiate and lead efforts within their field of expertise, to publish ONC related data sets.
• Manage and contribute to enhanced support projects identified for accelerated publication of observatory research results.

Outreach (expand user base of ONC data)

• Plan, organize and participate in research-theme meetings (e.g. workshops, conferences and symposia) with existing and potential research groups to assess their specific goals and data needs and facilitate new science programs among the broader user community.
• Serve as the liaison for highly qualified personnel (HQP), including undergraduate and graduate students, interns, and post-doctoral fellows. This may include supervising co-op students.
• Represent ONC at national and international conferences, symposia, workshops, committees, and lectures at universities and research institutions.

Development and Implementation

• Contribute to the establishment of ONC’s long-term strategic science objectives.
• Contribute to the annual program plan to meet ONC’s strategic science objectives.
• Monitor and evaluate progress towards program plan objectives.
• Participate in and lead ONC internal working groups to improve observatory operations and services.
• Work with the Senior Staff Scientists and the Project Management Office web-based tools to report and track progress of science and research proposals to the user community.
• Propose, encourage, and collaborate with Principal Investigators to write proposals to funding agencies to use the ONC data and/or infrastructure. Support the researchers through the process where necessary.
• Champion proposals through the ONC approval process.
• Review and assess instrument performance and data products associated with sensor systems on ONC installations.
• Develop and refine requirements for e-science and web-based analysis tools, review development and assess functionality of ONC interface and web services to better serve facility users.
• When supported user communities overlap, seek mentorship, and align work with the efforts of the relevant Senior Staff Scientists.
• Develop, in conjunction with Senior Staff Scientists, external Principal Investigators, and Observatory Operations, strategies to obtain the highest quality data streams from the cabled seafloor observatory.

Field Operations

• Support expedition cruise planning (pre and post) and prioritize operation and maintenance activities to best serve the science user community.
• Assist in expedition activities related to the servicing of all infrastructure and instrument systems such as recovery, cleaning, testing, and redeployment.
• Plan, coordinate, and execute scientific sampling, data validation, and site surveys to optimize research results.
• Participate in cruises to collect and store data validation samples as required and manage the shipment of thirdparty samples.
• Prepare post-cruise reports and complete shore-based sample analysis.

Quality Assurance

• Monitor and assess data quality and provide scientific assessments to the ONC Data Analytics and Quality (DAQ) team in identifying data issues, remedies, and refining standardized data QA/QC procedures.
• Support the development of scientifically robust data products with other teams within ONC to enhance multidisciplinary use of the observatory data.
• Support Data Specialists with best data practices to better serve the needs of science users and operational stakeholders.
• Collaborate with the research community within their field of expertise to assess the signals and environmental processes represented in observatory observations in their discipline area.

Department

• Participate in ONC Observatory Council meetings to offer status updates on research projects, maintenance priorities, initiative updates, and new opportunities.
• Collaborate with Senior Staff Scientists to coordinate ONC support services for users within specific observing programs and science disciplines.
• Review and maintain web-site content (Science Hub) as it relates to specific areas of science and user engagement activities.
• Track and compile facility-use summaries, status reports, data publication, and research product metrics

This position requires a level of education, training, and experience equivalent to a PhD with a minimum of 2 years of post-graduate experience in a relevant science discipline. An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience may be considered.

Required knowledge and experience:

• Established reputation in the science community.
• Demonstrated background, knowledge and qualifications in a major marine science discipline.
• Oceanographic expedition experience, including collecting, processing, and analyzing samples at sea.
• Experience using advanced programming environments (e.g. MATLAB, R, or Python ).
• Experience in data visualization and the presentation of data analysis.
• Experience in producing accurate scientific communications, including peer-reviewed publications, conference abstracts and presentations, and summaries for broader audiences.
• Experience with web content management and web-based interactive collaboration environments.
• Facilitation and coordination of interdisciplinary scientific projects and teams.
• Proven ability to take research projects from conception to completion, with an understanding of instrument specification and configuration, data quality and analysis, and scientific interpretation.

Skills and attributes:

• Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive and respectful working and learning environment.
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Superior communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Ability to collaborate, build and maintain positive relationships with diverse stakeholders and work effectively in a team environment.
• Experience in organizing, managing and summarizing scientific workshops.
• Proven track record of achieving project goals on time and producing deliverables of a high quality.

Other:

• Travel (domestic and international) is required.
• Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.
• Must be able to participate in at-sea expeditions as required.
• This position will require obtaining a Canadian Government security clearance.