Seeking Climate CoLab Impact Assessment Fellows
MIT’s Climate CoLab (www.climatecolab.org) is an online platform where thousands of people from around the world work with experts and each other to create, analyze, and select detailed proposals for what to do about climate change. In 2017, Climate CoLab is running a suite of contests on topics such as energy supply, transportation, buildings, and more. See the contests here: https://www.climatecolab.org/contests.
With support from the Impact Assessment Fellows, community members can calculate and submit the carbon equivalent impacts or adaptation potential of proposals, and computerized simulation models embedded into the system allow them to project the environmental outcomes.
Climate CoLab is seeking qualified applicants for its volunteer Impact Assessment Fellow team. Impact Assessment Fellows support the Climate CoLab community members by analysing and certifying their proposals’ climate impacts.
Responsibilities
- Help build the climate model database;
- Interact with an international community of varying experience;
- Reserve approximately 5- 8 hours/week for fellowship activities during the contest period, with increased activity around major contest evaluation phases;
- Collaborate with proposal authors to quantify climate impact of their proposals; and
- Ensure consistency across Impact Assessment Fellows in quantifying impact.
Benefits
- Take a leadership role in developing collaborative methods of climate impact assessment;
- Network and collaborate with fellow climate experts;
- Stay abreast with climate proposals from across industry sectors; and
- Bring facts-based independent analysis to climate proposals.
Basic Qualifications
- Advanced degree in economics, engineering, policy, social sciences or a related field;
- Experience in creating, using, and documenting computer-based models;
- Experience with models for assessing climate impact of policy or technology is especially desirable;
- Demonstrated interest in mentoring others and working with teams remotely.
- Available to commit 5 - 10 hours per week between September and December 2017, and up to 12 hours per week during contest evaluation periods: September 10 - October 18, 2017, and November 5 - December 15, 2017.
Optional Qualifications
Please note in your application if you have experience with these or similar topics:
- Expertise in system dynamics, optimization, or other modeling techniques;
- Knowledge of climate impact of renewable energy sources, automotive efficiency, building efficiency, carbon sequestration, waste recovery, or other approaches to climate impact;
- Knowledge of social science issues such as adoption curves and behavioral economics;
- Knowledge of climate law; and/or
- Skilled in integrating multiple models into one.
About the Climate CoLab
Run out of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, the Climate CoLab aims to harness the world’s collective intelligence to address global climate change. Activity is organized through a suite of annual contests, each focused on a challenge related to climate change. To date, over 85,000 members have submitted, collaborated on, or voted for the over 2000 proposals now on the site.
Some contests on the platform allow members to use computerized simulation models (including EnROADS and EMF) to project the climate impact of their proposals. For proposals to regional and global contests, community members are able to combine proposals from many different sectors and sub-areas to form integrated solutions.
To apply, please complete the form below, or visit the full version of the form here.
Looking for the application for Climate CoLab contest Fellows? Please click here.
