UWA Oceans Institute

• An opportunity to be involved in cutting edge research, working across disciplines on this world first project.
• 4 year fixed term appointment
• Level 6 position: $77,122 – $81,629 per annum

The University of Western Australia (UWA) is ranked amongst the top Australian universities and a member of the prestigious Group of Eight research-intensive universities ranked among the top 100 universities in the world.

About the work area

The Wave Energy Research Centre (WERC) is a newly established research centre within the University of Western Australia (UWA), funded by the State Government.

WERC will be located at UWA’s campus at Albany in southern Western Australia. The centre will include at least four full time research staff integrated within the UWA Albany campus, undertaking research activities in oceanography, hydrodynamics and geotechnical engineering working closely with a group of 20+ academics from the UWA Ocean Institute in Perth.

The main objective of WERC is to conduct research to advance the wave energy industry and to support and enable the development, deployment and operation of wave energy converters by Carnegie Clean Energy in Torbay, west of Albany, as part of the Albany Wave Energy Project (AWEP). The AWEP project will initially involve the deployment of a 1 MW wave energy converter and will establish common user infrastructure to allow other wave energy companies to test their technologies.

WERC will be associated with the Ocean Graduate School, administered within the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Science at the University of Western Australia. It will also have strong connections with the multidisciplinary UWA Ocean Institute and will aim to foster world-leading research in the area of offshore renewable renewables so as to establish UWA as a global international hub for both academia and industry.

The role

As the appointee you will work independently to provide a high level of technical support to oversee field operations associated with the Wave Energy Research Centre.

You will play a key role in the planning and operations of marine and geotechnical-based field activities, including participation in marine-based field work (boating and diving activities.)

To be considered for this position you will need to demonstrate:

• Relevant tertiary qualification or demonstrated equivalent competency
• Experience in the engineering and programming of various electronics and instrumentation
• Experience conducting and coordinating coastal/marine field-based research or industry projects
• Programming skills in one or more of the following: Python, LabVIEW, VB, C#, C/C++, Java or other high level OOP environment is highly desirable
• Experience using a range of ocean field instruments, including the preparation, deployment/retrieval, downloading and post-processing of data
• Relevant knowledge and experience in IT, networking and computing
• Experience collecting and processing bathymetric, geophysical and geotechnical data (or a willingness to gain this expertise)
• Ability to be ‘hands-on’ as required to diagnose, repair, or fabricate equipment
• Relevant experience and the qualifications (or a willingness to acquire them) necessary to skipper small research vessels (e.g., Coxswains Grade 1 or 2). Diving qualifications (or a willingness to acquire them) is desirable
• Highly developed organisational skills, along with demonstrated ability to set priorities and to meet deadlines
• Ability to work autonomously and interact with the end users (e.g. research staff, students)

Closing date: 22 November 2017