Postdoctoral Fellowship

Te Tari Pūhanga Metarahi, Rawa Taiao | Department of Civil and Natural Resource Engineering
• Full-time at 37.5 hours per week (1.0 FTE)
• Fixed-term (3 years) position

Āu Mahi | What You Will Do
We are offering an exciting opportunity for a postdoctoral fellow in the areas of tsunami and wildfire evacuation. More specifically, you will be involved in the Smart Ideas project "Agent models of tsunami evacuation behaviour to improve planning and preparedness". In this project, you will assist PhD students with the development of a multimodal tsunami evacuation model and Virtual Reality (VR) visualisation of modelling results. You will also be involved in the Endeavour Fund project "Extreme wildfire: Our new reality - Are we ready?". In this project, you will collect and analyse data on wildfire preparedness, which will involve the use of questionnaires, interviews, and/or focus group sessions.
The postdoctoral fellowship will also allow you to explore your own research ideas in the tsunami and wildfire evacuation areas. The primary focus of this position is on research. However, you will also contribute to courses in Fire and Transportation Engineering, as well as assist in the preparation of research grant proposals.

Mōu | Who You Are
You will have a PhD in Engineering (e.g. Fire Engineering, Traffic Engineering, Systems Engineering, etc), Computer Science, or a related discipline, as well as an advanced research background in Virtual Reality visualisation, pedestrian dynamics, computer simulation of evacuation/people movement, and/or traffic simulation. You will demonstrate excellent coding skills, e.g., MATLAB/Python/C++/R.
As well as the above, you will have experience that demonstrates excellent research planning and leadership capabilities. A publication track record as well as experience with preparation and delivery of quality oral presentations to a wide range of audiences is essential. You will also have demonstrated experience with preparing and delivering quality oral presentations to a wide audience.

Mahi Ngātahi | Who You Will Work With
The role of the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering (CNRE) is to remain at the forefront of research and technology and preserve our strong international reputation for high quality teaching.
We aim to constantly develop our alumni and industry partnerships, to provide students with the highest level of training, and to expand the scope of our research expertise by attracting and retaining highly-skilled academic and support staff.
For more about the Department, please visit: https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/engineering/schools/cnre/
Please take a virtual tour of our Engineering facilities.

Ngā Painga o UC | Why UC

Tangata Tū, Tangata Ora - Engaged, Empowered, Making a Difference.

Based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury stands for whanaungatanga - we value people and their differences, manaakitanga - we extend care and empower others, and tiakitanga - we will enhance and nurture our resources.
We are committed to accessible higher education, service to the community and the encouragement of talent without barriers of distance, wealth, class, gender or ethnicity. The University explicitly aims to produce graduates and support staff who are engaged with their communities, empowered to act for good and determined to make a difference in the world.
We offer a range of fantastic benefits including flexible work practices, study opportunities and generous superannuation and leave provisions. For more information, please visit us: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/joinus
For more information about Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury, please visit www.canterbury.ac.nz
The closing date for this position is: Sunday 30th January 2022 (midnight, NZ time)
Applications will be reviewed and processed as they are received, it is possible that an appointment will be made prior to the advised close date.

Pēhea te tono mai | How You Apply
Applications for this position must be submitted on our careers website and should include a cover letter (describing background, suitability for the position, your recent and future research projects) and curriculum vitae which includes a list of relevant research publications. Please note, we do not accept applications by email, however we are happy to answer your queries in relation to the application process, please forward these to [email protected]

Important Information
While we welcome international applicants, please be aware that in response to COVID-19 the New Zealand Government have imposed travel restrictions and are currently only allowing New Zealand and Australian citizens and permanent residents to enter the country.
It is uncertain when these border restrictions will change, and this may alter the nature of the standard interview process for candidates, particularly at the on-site interview stage. To see how this might affect your application and for more information and updates on the border restrictions visit the Immigration New Zealand website or the New Zealand Government's official Covid-19 website.