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Role highlights

- Advance nationally significant soil carbon research
- Work with state-of-the-art soil analysis instrumentation
- Deliver insights that support on-farm decisions and policy

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through cutting-edge science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

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The opportunity

Join the Carbon Modelling & Mitigation Team within CSIRO Agriculture and Food’s Soils Group and Advanced Farm Productivity Program. You will work with state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation to characterise and measure soil organic matter content and composition. Your work will combine these measurements with next-generation modelling to generate soil carbon insights that inform on-farm decision-making and support science-based climate and soil policy at a national scale.

In this newly created role, you will strengthen CSIRO’s capability to measure and characterise soil organic matter, contributing to nationally significant research projects primarily supported by external funding. You will also help enhance laboratory workflows and operational efficiency by redesigning processes to meet growing project demands while maintaining high health, safety and environmental (HSE) standards.





Your high-level duties will include:

- Under limited supervision, design and perform straightforward experiments and routine laboratory analyses, design new processes or apparatus by adapting existing techniques and components to meet special circumstances or undertake modifications to methods requiring some innovation.
- Soil sample preparation and processing, such as drying, sieving, grinding, homogenisation, weighing, and preparation of samples for subsequent physical, chemical, biological or spectroscopic analyses.
- Data quality, including instrument calibration, use of standards and reference materials, replicate analyses, quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC), troubleshooting, and appropriate record keeping.
- Design data recording and entry systems.
- Conduct literature reviews, investigations and inspections in the field or laboratory including associated analysis possibly involving statistical or graphics software.
- Develop, test and modify new software applications as required.
- Perform some non-routine analyses or technology development activities using a range of techniques, often working on a number of parallel and competing tasks.
- Work with discretion to decide on the timing of operations within the work team’s plan and plan ahead to meet experimental and/or project demands.




- Independently test possible solutions to resolve identified problems.
- May have responsibility for maintaining laboratory or fieldwork consumables and scheduling and instructing staff in the use of shared equipment.
- Communicate openly, effectively and respectfully with all staff, clients and suppliers in the interests of good business practice, collaboration and enhancement of CSIRO’s reputation.
- Work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary, regionally dispersed research team to carry out tasks in support of CSIRO’s scientific objectives.

Role particulars

Location: Adelaide, SA

Salary: AU$76k - AU$96k per annum + 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Specified term of 3 years, Full-time

Reference: 104215

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential criteria

- Qualifications: A relevant bachelor’s degree, or higher qualification, in soil science, agricultural science, environmental science, analytical chemistry, or a related discipline.
- Soil science and laboratory experience: Demonstrated understanding of fundamental soil science principles and practical experience working in a soil or environmental laboratory.
- Analytical instrumentation and quality assurance: Demonstrated experience operating and maintaining laboratory analytical instrumentation relevant to soil or environmental analysis.
- Data management and analytical skills: Demonstrated experience in laboratory data management, data wrangling, and quality checking using advanced Microsoft Excel or similar tools. Experience with, or willingness to learn, scripting and data-analysis languages such as R or Python is desirable.
- Demo

📌 Research Project Officer (Adelaide)
🏢 CSIRO
📍 Adelaide