Job Description

Department: Library

Job Type: Limited Term

Full-time/Part-time: Full Time (
=1249 hrs/year)

Campus: Waterloo

Reports to: Manager, Research Partnerships

Employee Group: Other

Application Deadline: May 15, 2023

Requisition ID: 4466

Wilfrid Laurier University is a leading multi-campus university that excels at educating with purpose. Through its exceptional employees, students, researchers, leaders, and educators, Laurier has built a reputation as a world-class institution known for its rich student experience, academic excellence, and global impact. With a and , Laurier\'s thriving community has a place for everyone.

Laurier has more than 19,000 students and 2,100 faculty and staff across campuses in Waterloo and Brantford, as well locations in Kitchener and Milton. The university is committed to providing an inclusive workplace, a and employing a workforce that is reflective of local and national demographics. Our locations are situated on the traditional territories of the Neutral, Anishnawbe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. We recognize the unique heritages of Indigenous peoples and support their intentions to preserve and express their distinctive Indigenous cultures, histories, and knowledge through academic programming and co-curricular activities. Laurier\'s Centre for Indigegogy is one example of how Laurier honours Indigenous knowledge.

Position Summary

Global Water Futures (GWF) is a multi-institutional research program that is funded in part by a $77.8-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF). The overarching goal of the program is to deliver risk management solutions - informed by leading-edge water science and supported by innovative decision-making tools - to manage water futures in Canada and other cold regions where global warming is changing landscapes, ecosystems, and the water environment. As a core GWF partner, Laurier researchers lead several multi-year research projects situated throughout the Northwest Territories; the institution employs several Research Associates to support the research goals and commitments.

Reporting to the Data Librarian, the Research Associate, Data Management will be part of a highly productive team of university researchers, technicians, and partners involved in GWF. The incumbent will participate in the stewardship of the project\'s research data by implementing curation activities including timely data and metadata collection, description, and publication from a variety of research programs, in accordance with the FAIR Data Principles, GWF Data Policy, Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, and the Principles of OCAP\xc2\xa9. Data management responsibilities will also include metadata and bibliometric analysis, outreach, training, as well as support for research data management (RDM) best practices. A key role of the position will be to collaborate with a diverse and distributed team of researchers, community members, and partner organizations to secure the data legacy of GWF.

The incumbent will collaborate with Laurier research teams, project officers, and research administrators, as well as their data management counterparts across the GWF network. They will interface with GWF knowledge mobilization officers to increase the availability and accessibility of research outputs from Laurier\'s GWF programs. The incumbent is expected to participate in the GWF community at Laurier and across Canada, the Canadian RDM community, as well as with stakeholders in Canada\'s north, including Indigenous communities, government, and industry partners.

The incumbent will work with diverse datasets, including real-time hydrometeorological data from large-scale observatories, large datasets from drone and satellite remote sensing, as well as data from chemical, social, cultural, economic and ecological observations, historical archives from multiple sources, very large output fields from high resolution atmospheric and earth system models, and crowd-sourced data. A significant amount of these research data are subject to data sharing agreements with Indigenous, government, and industry partners, requiring an understanding not only of data formats, metadata schemas, and handling best practices but also research ethics, Indigenous data sovereignty, and federal research data policy.

Accountabilities

Researcher and Project Engagement

• Engage with research teams to develop and operationalize research data collection policies, procedures, and data management plans that enable efficient data curation, metadata production and analysis, as well as data preservation and access for researchers and community partners
• Develop RDM resources and training materials (e.g., documentation, reference material, guides, templates, etc.) that can be used by Laurier research teams
• Collaborate with Laurier and GWF partners on annual reports, presentations, manuscripts for peer review, proposals, and budgets relating to GWF projects

Data Curation and Publication

• Define, implement, and maintain project and data-level metadata schemas according to Laurier, GWF, and discipline-specific standards
• Prepare datasets and other research outputs (e.g., files, data, metadata, technical and supporting documentation) for archives and repositories as required
• Recommend best-fit repositories for research teams based on field of work, data type, open access obligations, and publishing requirements

Data Discovery and Data Legacy

• Collaborate with researchers, HQP, research administrators and other stakeholders to identify data mobilization priorities
• Collaborate with research teams and other stakeholders to develop processes that secure research outputs for access and use
• Contribute expertise to the development of a strategic plan to steward the data legacy of Laurier\'s GWF data outputs, including metadata collation, discovery, and access

Qualifications

Required

• Post-secondary degree in a GWF-related field (e.g., water science, environmental science), or information management or library science
• Experience in research data curation (e.g., data organization and description, metadata management and enrichment, and developing supporting documentation)
• Familiarity with the Canadian research data management policy landscape, including The Tri-Agency RDM policy, Open Access policy, and the FNIGC Principles of OCAP\xc2\xa9

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Demonstrated ability to manage projects
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Ability to work in distributed and diverse work environments

Preferred

• Knowledge of field data collection and monitoring procedures, quality assurance and quality control concepts, statistical / analytical tools, and data processing
• Experience in water science or environmental sciences is an asset
• Familiarity with bibliometrics, information science, or informatics for the analysis of research data outputs
• Knowledge of common data types, formats, and tools in environmental and biological sciences (e.g., hydrometeorological sensor data, aerial imagery, GIS)
• Familiarity with statistical analysis software (e.g., R, SPSS, Stata)
• Competencies with Microsoft PowerBI or Tableau
• Understanding of relational database design and scripting languages
• Familiarity with common metadata schemas (e.g, DDI, ISO 19115) and Canadian repositories (e.g., Borealis, FRDR)

Hours of Work: This is a full-time, limited term position until August 31, 2024 with the possibility for extension pending approval of additional funds. The normal hours of work are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday. Flexibility in hours will be required, including evening and/or weekend work due to periods of high volume. When possible, the manager will adjust the work schedule so that no more than 35 hours are worked in a week.

Compensation:

Wilfrid Laurier University endeavors to fill positions with qualified candidates who have a combination of education, experience, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position while demonstrating Laurier\'s Employee Success Factors.

Equity, diversity and creating a culture of inclusion are part of Laurier\'s core values and central to the Laurier Strategy. Laurier is committed to increasing the diversity of faculty and staff and welcomes applications from candidates who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities, and from persons of any minority sexual and gender identities. Indigenous candidates who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. Candidates from other equity deserving groups who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact Equity & Accessibility. We have strived to make our application process accessible, however if you require any assistance applying for a position or would like this job posting in an alternative format, please contact Human Resources. Contact information can be found at

Should you be interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit for additional information and the online application system. All applications must be submitted online. Please note, a resume and cover letter will be required in electronic form.

Wilfrid Laurier University