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23-22. Social and behavioral research on multi-hazard products developed by the USGS

By Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program

We seek to leverage social and behavioral science methods to develop and progress a variety of multi-hazards research and accompanying products across the USGS. This opportunity includes developing research to support equitable strategies and products to engage with communities, integrating careful consideration of community-led values that address multi-hazards and their associated risks.

USGS Pay and Benefits

How to Apply?

Please communicate with individual Research Advisors on the right to discuss project ideas and answer specific questions about the Research Opportunity.

Application Information

Ready to Apply?

This Research Opportunity will be filled depending on the availability of funds. All application materials must be submitted through USAJobs by 11:59 pm, US Eastern Standard Time, on the closing date, November 1, 2024.

Research Opportunity Description

USGS hazard science supports a Hazards Ready Nation by informing data-driven decisions made to safeguard communities against a wide range of natural hazards including floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, coastal change hazards, and wildfires. This opportunity is driven by the urgent need to understand, analyze, and communicate interactions of hazards (geological, biological, meteorological) for use in planning and situational awareness. 

USGS multi-hazard products for planning and situational awareness include:

The research opportunity also includes improving the collaboration between scientists and stakeholders with the goal of matching community needs and priorities with actionable scientific insights, research, products, and tools, using advances in technology which are critical to successful information discovery and delivery (USGS Risk Plan, Ludwig and others, 2018). Communities, planners, and disaster responders need information to understand the synergies and trade-offs in risk reduction (mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery) policies and actions across multiple hazards. While this opportunity includes multi-hazards, proposals that prioritize multi-hazards relating to the geohazards for the Geological Hazards Science Center (earthquakes, landslides, and geomagnetic weather) will be given priority.  

The prospective Mendenhall fellow will develop a 2-year research proposal in their area of interest and expertise that advances USGS priorities in the Natural Hazard Mission Area. Participant and engaged groups can include: socially vulnerable communities, emergency managers, engineers, tribal nations and communities, urban and rural planners, other government agencies, decision makers, and public health officials. 

Research opportunities for multi-hazard science and equitable approaches to stakeholder engagement may include: 

  1. Evaluation of how and in what ways existing USGS multi-hazard research products reflect input from, and priorities of, the communities they are meant to serve. Potential outcomes may include recommendations for improving future USGS-stakeholder interactions, as well as improving future USGS multi-hazard products. 
  2. Development of inclusive approaches to equitable stakeholder needs assessment for USGS multi-hazard research at a nation-wide, or regional scale. Potential outcomes may include publications and training materials. 
  3. Development of a multi-hazard planning or situational awareness product serving a diverse set of communities. The research to develop this product can include in-depth engagement with potential users of the product, user-needs and user experience testing with those communities as development takes place, and the development of a long-term evaluation plan for the product. 
  4. Research to inform science communication of compounding, sequential, and/or concurrent multi-hazards with a focus on how to communicate effectively with underserved communities most vulnerable to geohazards. 
  5. Expansion of existing USGS multi-hazard projects to diversify stakeholder engagement and develop hazard interactions (e.g., structural fires following earthquake). 
  6. Demonstration of an engaged case study that elicits a community’s knowledge, experience, and perceptions of hazards, vulnerabilities, and opportunities, correlating them with geospatial and technical analyses of community vulnerability to multi-hazards. 
  7. Development of human-centric and technological approaches to improving multi-hazard planning or situational awareness products.
  8. Investigation of what barriers exist to identifying, locating, and accessing USGS hazard information for communities who could use this knowledge for decision-making. Potential outcomes could include the design of an interface to collect information on the needs of potential users of USGS information. AI could be leveraged for this purpose. 
  9. Finally, regarding the Bureau’s new vision for 21st century USGS science, this opportunity will increase understanding of what types of multi-hazard “intelligences” are genuinely informative to diverse communities in a way that enables action. 

Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the Research Advisor(s) early in the application process to discuss project ideas. 

 

Proposed Duty Station(s)

Golden, Colorado

 

Areas of PhD

Social and behavioral sciences, communication/media studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, human geography, political science, psychology/social psychology, philosophy and ethics, or related fields (candidates holding a Ph.D. in other disciplines, but with extensive knowledge and skills relevant to the Research Opportunity may be considered). 

 

Qualifications

Applicants must meet one of the following qualifications: Research Social Scientist, Research Geographer, Research Sociologist, Research Statistician, or Operations Research Analyst.

(This type of research is performed by those who have backgrounds for the occupations stated above.  However, other titles may be applicable depending on the applicant's background, education, and research proposal. The final classification of the position will be made by the Human Resources specialist.)