Research Asst/Tech 2 SAU

Staff - Non Union

Job Category

Non Union Technicians and Research Assistants

Job Profile

Non Union Salaried - Research Assistant /Technician 2

Job Title

Research Asst/Tech 2 SAU

Department

Research 2 | Pauly | Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries | Faculty of Science

Compensation Range

$4,333.86 - $5,155.61 CAD Monthly

Posting End Date

April 17, 2025

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

Dec 31, 2025

This position is expected to be filled by promotion/reassignment and is included here to inform you of its vacancy at the University.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Description Summary

Job Summary:



The Sea Around Us is a research initiative, which, since its inception in 1994, has made available an online searchable Atlas of reconstructed marine capture fisheries catches from 1950 to the present of all maritime countries of the world via its website at www.seaaroundus.org. This global catch database permits the testing of fisheries-related global hypotheses applied to marine conservation concerns and has served as the underlying database for many articles published by the Sea Around Us members and their collaborations in peer-reviewed journals.



Recently, the Sea Around Us obtained support from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and the Bloomberg Foundation (via Rare) for July 2018 to June 2020 to: (1) complete the reconstructions of fishing effort for all maritime countries of the world; and (2) update the catch reconstructions based on the most current fisheries statistics published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).



In addition; the Sea Around Us envisions (1) the continuation of the assessment of the world s fish stocks based on the reconstructed catches and the estimation of maximum sustainable yields (CMSY/BSM) method developed by Rainer Froese and colleagues through a project supported by Oceana; and (2) starting work on the estimation of the biomass potentially protected by large marine protected areas (LMPAs) supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.



We are searching for candidates to join an integrated team of research assistants, who will assist in the implementation of the tasks for the projects mentioned above. The successful candidates are also expected to contribute to the overall outputs of the Sea Around Us research unit, including as co-authors of potential scientific contributions and reports.

Organizational Status

Organizational Status:



The successful candidates will report to Dr. Maria L. D. Palomares, the Sea Around Us Project Manager and to Dr. Daniel Pauly, the Principal Investigator. From August to December 2018, the successful candidates will work with the additional supervision of the fishing effort initiative lead, Ms. Krista Greer. Work flow and tasks from January-June 2019 will be directed by Dr. Palomares, and will focus on either the CMSY, catch reconstruction or Marine Protected Areas projects. Aside from working closely with Sea Around Us research assistants, the successful candidates will interact with graduate students and post-doctoral fellows supervised by Dr. Pauly, as well as correspond and interact with external collaborators or visiting scientists.

Work Performed

Work Performed:



- Conduct in-depth literature searches on historical fisheries data (i.e., catch landings, discards, foreign fleets, fishing effort, species caught, etc.) using a wide range of references such as national statistics and policy documentation, reports, scientific publication, case studies, published and unpublished literature, news articles, etc. Sources for such information include library books and periodicals, governmental and inter-governmental organizations, websites of non-governmental organizations, etc.;

- Generate a library of relevant documentation that can easily be revisited by Sea Around Us researchers;

- Assist in the analysis, interpretation, quality evaluation, assembly and compilation of required research data from scientific or socio-economic literature;

- Maintain meticulous records of methodology and decisions made for all steps during project execution;

- Prepare data for inputs in the Sea Around US database in an appropriate format.

- Track task completion progress over time by compiling data for progress reports for the supervisor as well as compiling data to summarize project outcomes;

- Participate in team meetings and may be tasked with recording minutes of these meetings;

- Follow protocols and methods developed by the Sea Around Us leaders and use guidelines outlined in established literature;

- Extract data from the Sea Around Us database for internal use or for the use of collaborators and scientific partners;

- Help with the orientation of new Co-op students or volunteers; may assist in their training process;

- Assist with the editing and preparation of project reports;

- Assist the Project Manager or Principal Investigator with additional tasks related to the execution of Sea Around Us activities.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Consequence of Error/Judgment:



The successful candidate will pay strict attention to details and look out for common sources of error. Consequences of error/judgement jeopardize the overall database reliability due to product and output inaccuracy. Failure to reflect reliability, accuracy, and timeliness of expected outputs will lead to loss of scientific and community support, eventually leading to the loss in trust of project outputs, and thus affecting the ability of the project to attract funding.

Supervision Received

Supervision Received:



Overall Sea Around Us research team day-to-day supervision, project workflow and scheduled deliverables is given by Dr. Maria L. D. Palomares. Scientific overview and thrust is provided by Dr. Daniel Pauly. Fishing effort team workflow is led by Ms. Krista Greer.

Supervision Given

Supervision Given:



May be asked to assist in the orientation and training process of newly hired Co-op students or volunteers.

Minimum Qualifications

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

High School graduation.Preferred BSc. in Zoology, Biology, in marine science or related fields;Minimum of 2 years related experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience.- Knowledge of the sources of global fishing datasets;
- Organizational and time management skills;
- Experience with spreadsheets and/or database software;
- Advanced working knowledge of MS Office suite, with emphasis on MS Access and Excel; knowledge of SQL and/or of the R software is an asset;
- Experience working with large datasets;
- Great ability to work as a team member;
- Willingness to assist others as needed; and
- Working knowledge of French or another language other than English would be an asset.