Proposal Development for Coastal Protection and Blue Carbon Modeling

Volunteering

Overview

Support proposal writing for coastal conservation and blue carbon modeling.

You have:

• Master's degree or equivalent (e.g., bachelor's degree with 3+ years) in data science, R programming, data analysis, climate projection, carbon emissions modeling, forestry, mangroves, sustainability, remote sensing, coastal conservation or related fields.
• Demonstrated writing experience in data analysis, R programming, and scientific report writing.
• Good communication skills, very attentive, responsive, and proactive in fast-paced projects.
• Provide a statement of purpose (~ 200-300 words) highlighting experience in data analysis, R programming, data science, and writing scientific articles/reports.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

Morobe Development Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation based in Papua New Guinea and was established to promote sustainable community development initiatives and thereby address several exigent issues—ranging from environmental conservation to women's rights—that are hindering the progress of the region.

Mangrove forests play a crucial role globally, supporting the livelihoods of millions of people living along coastlines while contributing significantly to economies worldwide through ecosystem services valued between billions of dollars annually. These services include shoreline stabilisation, providing habitats for diverse benthic macrofauna, and supplying food, honey, and timber. Beyond their economic and social benefits, mangrove forests offer scalable and cost-effective natural climate solutions by sequestering carbon in biomass and soil/sediment. Globally, the potential of mangrove forests to mitigate climate change is significant, with the capacity to offset a substantial percentage of annual fossil fuel emissions through carbon sequestration.

A few of our ongoing projects focus on applications of various remote sensing technologies for monitoring forest biomass, tracking land use and land change patterns, evaluating climate change impacts, and conserving sea turtle habitats. We have previously placed and recruited online volunteers to perform similar tasks, but now we need more in-depth proposal writing to provide us with more reference information.

We are currently looking for online volunteers who are passionate about data science and mangroves/sustainability-related topics and are enthusiastic about enhancing their research writing skills (16-20 hours per week for 8 weeks) to support us in this proposal writing collaboration. The objective of this proposal is to secure funding and support for a project that applies data science to coastal conservation and blue carbon modelling in PNG. By detailing the necessity and benefits of the project, outlining a clear plan, and showcasing the expertise of the team, we aim to inform, mobilise, and empower individuals and organisations to back this important initiative.

The selected online volunteers with a background in data science will support grant writing and research by collaborating on the climate projections of the mangrove response in the next century. For this, R programming skills are needed and additionally contribute to the development of blue carbon models to estimate the amount of carbon sequestered by this ecosystem.

Morobe Development Foundation (MDF) Inc. is looking for Online Volunteers who have expertise in data analysis, R programming knowledge, climate projection, coastal conservation, and carbon emission modeling and a background in the field of data science, preferably also in forestry, mangroves, sustainability, remote sensing, or related areas.

Selected online volunteers would be expected to assist the MDF team with:

Online Volunteer 1: Data analysis-related and programming tasks for establishing and analyzing coastal conservation and blue carbon modeling. Online Volunteer 2: Development tools (expected tool: R programming tool- statistics analysis) that allow simulating the amount of carbon mangroves will sequester under different climate change scenarios (e.g. sea level rise). Online Volunteer 3: Journal article writing support- drafting preparation and literature review (length: 10-15 pages). Online Volunteer 4: Grant proposal support- drafting and literature review (length: 8-10 pages).

The current task involves writing a proposal on the topic: "Data science applications for coastal conservation in the context of mangroves and how much carbon emissions they are sequestering (blue carbon modeling)."

For this project, the objective of the proposal is to secure funding and support for applying data science to coastal conservation, with a focus on mangroves and their role in carbon sequestration (blue carbon modeling) in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Volunteers will collaborate to craft a compelling proposal that outlines the project’s significance, methodology, expected outcomes, and budget. By doing so, the proposal aims to demonstrate the necessity and benefits of the project, ultimately seeking to mobilize and empower stakeholders to support this important initiative.

The results of this project will be included in a peer-reviewed journal article, and based on the level of contributions, the online volunteers will be acknowledged (with a certificate) and/or invited to be co-authors.

Candidates are expected to have:

• Demonstrated writing experience and a master’s degree or equivalent (e.g., bachelor’s degree with 3+ years) in an area related to data science, R programming, data analysis, climate projection, carbon emissions modeling, forestry, mangroves, sustainability, remote sensing, coastal conservation or related fields.

  • Good communication and be very attentive, responsive, and proactive, as our projects are very fast-paced.

Candidates are also expected to provide a statement of purpose (~ 200-300 words) highlighting your experience with data analysis, R programming, data science, and writing scientific articles/reports on the aforementioned topics and why you would be a fitting candidate for this role.

You can find some of our recent publications here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=IH-147kAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unv.org