Open Science Research Specialist

Open Science Research Specialist

About Western

With an international reputation for success, Western ranks as one of Canada's top research-intensive universities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western also provides an exceptional employment experience, offering competitive salaries, a wide range of employment opportunities and one of Canada's most beautiful campuses.

About Us

The Western Institute for Neuroscience will mobilize and unify the neuroscience research community at Western and in the City of London by creating programs and activities that bring together experts from different disciplines, identify and build on shared vision to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations, and support academic training and leadership to accelerate research impact (e.g., support of novel and high-risk collaborative ventures, attract and retain high-quality personnel).

Responsibilities

The Open Science Research Specialist will serve as an expert on Open Science activities, which will accelerate and increase the potential for neuroscience research impact.  The role will be responsible for developing and promoting Open Access, Open Data and Open Science initiatives and their implementation within the Western Institute for Neuroscience to make scientific research and its dissemination accessible to all stakeholders. The role will apply their expertise and knowledge to develop and maintain computational techniques for the analysis of behavioural, brain imaging, and neuronal data so all neuroscience researchers at Western can benefit from Open Science.

The role will work with the WIN Research Officer to enhance the overall research success and productivity and serve as a liaison between and among Western Research, WORLDiscoveries, Western Libraries, Western University's Research Ethics Boards, Faculties, Institutes, Centres, and other units on campus. The role will play a lead part in developing educational events and training researchers, staff, students and postdoctoral fellows in Open Science principles and good practices. 

Qualifications

Education:
-   Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Biomedicine, Engineering or Health Sciences
-   Training in EDID for research (e.g. cultural sensitivity/competency training/certification, OCAP training)
-   PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Neuroscience or a related area is preferred

Experience:
-   5 years' experience in Open Access, Open Data or Open Source in context of digital research methods in neuroscience
-   Experience in research dissemination, new scholarly communications models, and data management in neuroscience
-   Experience with scientific software development (e.g., MATLAB, Python, Julia) and database design and administration
-   Experience implementing and supporting virtualization and/or containerization technologies (e.g., VXRails, Docker, Linux, Singularity Containers)

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
-   Knowledge of publication platforms and data repositories and familiarity with various data and metadata formats and their related standards
-   Expertise with support services in the area of Open Access, Open Data, Open Source
-   Strong working knowledge of automation with shell scripting
-   Strong working knowledge of a scientific programming language (e.g. Python)
-   Strong troubleshooting, analytical, written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to complete detailed analytics and reports as required
-   Proven ability to take initiative and in-depth knowledge of how to champion a project from conception through implementation and evaluation
-   Ability and willingness to stay abreast of technological developments
-   Familiarity with intellectual property management, including copyrights and patents
-   Ability to collaborate across internal and external boundaries to meet common objectives, improve outcomes and support work beyond one's own unit
-   Oral and written communication skills with an emphasis on proposal development, completing analytics and reports and delivering presentations
-   Ability to understand customer needs and expectations and provide excellent customer service to directly and indirectly satisfy expectations
-   A desire to grow and advance skills, which is demonstrated by attending conferences, workshops and other professional developmental opportunities to enhance performance
-   Professional manner, tact, diplomacy and discretion in dealing with associates and colleagues including senior management

Western Values Diversity

The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Western is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, members of racialized groups/visible minorities, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation, and persons of any gender identity or gender expression.

Accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.  If you require accommodations for interviews or other meetings, please contact Human Resources at hrhelp@uwo.ca or phone 519-661-2194.

Please Note:

We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those chosen for an interview will be contacted.


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