Research Specialist - Water Resources Management

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR Research Center, is seeking a research professional specialized in irrigation & hydrology to join its office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as a Research Specialist – Water Resources Management. The Research Specialist position is part of IWMI’s regional research portfolio, contributing to interdisciplinary work on water resources management, irrigation hydrology, and climate resilience across Central Asia. The role operates within a collaborative; multi-disciplinary team environment focused on delivering applied research and operational solutions to address complex water and climate challenges. The Research Specialist is responsible for planning, designing, overseeing, and monitoring research activities, including protocol development, data collection, analysis, and interpretation to achieve research goals and objectives water resource management. The position provides technical inputs on generating and translating hydrological, irrigation, and hydro-climatic evidence into actionable knowledge. The role engages with stakeholders, assigns and mentors support staff, organizes capacity development sessions, and produces knowledge products to enhance collaboration, outreach, and stakeholder expertise. The Research Specialist ensures timely recording and analysis of data, maintains optimal data pipelines, and develops comprehensive reports and  provides inputs to publications to disseminate findings and support evidence-based decision-making. DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:Main Purpose of Job: • Plan, design, implement, oversee, and monitor research activities, including basin diagnostics, irrigation reliability analysis, water productivity monitoring, climate-risk assessment, and drought-resilience planning, based on a defined research plan in irrigation and hydrology workstreams to accomplish defined project objectives. • Organize and synthesize hydrological, irrigation, and water-energy data into cooperation-relevant indicators to inform transboundary water planning and regional decision-making. • Select, develop and organize research tools, methodologies, indicator matrices, technical and operational guidelines and based on project requirements to ensure effective and accurate implementation of improved monitoring and analytical tools into irrigation and basin management procedures.   • Provide technical inputs into the identification, screening, and prioritization of climate-resilient irrigation and water resources investments to ensure technical feasibility, assess climate-resilience value, evaluate operational readiness, and identify follow-on preparation needs. • Provide technical input into the design of surface-water and groundwater assessments, including aspects of aquifer use, recharge risk, water-use efficiency, irrigation security, and drought-buffering functions, to regional cooperation processes. • Prepare baseline matrices of existing irrigation, water management, and climate information tools used by partner agencies, and identify practical upgrade pathways to enhance their operational use and effectiveness.

Main engagement, collaboration and communication responsibilities: • Engage with colleagues from other teams, external agencies and authorities to exchange conceptual ideas and effectively gather feedback and research-related requirements for the research's advancement or to align the execution of research. • Align and synchronize project activities with stakeholders, including technical subcontractors and partners to ensure consistency and mutual reinforcement of efforts. • Develop training materials, organize tailored capacity development and experiential / active learning sessions to build expertise in area of work. • Collaborate with relevant internal and external stakeholders to design and produce knowledge products, informational resources, and communication materials to amplify the impact and outreach of project and organizational work. • Ensure timely delivery of assigned outputs within agreed scope and budget, and in formats that meet requirements for donor review, government consultation, and external dissemination. • Identify and communicate key information to policymakers and non-scientific audiences to promote knowledge transfer and evidence-based decision-making on irrigation, hydrology and climate risk issues.

Main responsibilities in the delivery of timely and quality services: • Prepare, compile and submit high-quality technical inputs, updates and reports of research outputs in a timely manner. • Lead the synthesis and analysis of data to support the development of publications and presentations. • Develop reports, and presentations, including summarizing research findings, preparing manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, and creating posters and papers for dissemination. Ok • Deliver bilingual outputs in English and Russian by reviewing technical terminology, ensuring consistency of hydrology and irrigation concepts, and preparing presentations and communication materials to maintain accuracy and clarity for diverse audiences.