Overview

“WorldFish is a leading international research organization working to transform aquatic food systems to reduce hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. It collaborates with international, regional, and national partners to co-develop and deliver scientific innovations, evidence for policy, and knowledge to enable equitable and inclusive impact for millions who depend on fish for their livelihoods. As a member of CGIAR, WorldFish contributes to building a food- and nutrition-secure future and restoring natural resources. Headquartered in Penang, Malaysia, with country offices across Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, WorldFish strives to create resilient and inclusive food systems for shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.worldfishcenter.org” 

About the Position  

Several foresight modelling tools, notably the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT), have been developed to produce future projections of agricultural commodity production, consumptions, trade, and prices. In the fish sector, an IMPACT fish model was developed and used to generate fish supply and demand projections. To generate fish supply and demand projections at the national and sub-national and at a more disaggregated level, WorldFish has developed an AsiaFish model to carry out fish sector foresight assessments for Asian countries. In recent years, WorldFish further developed the model to produce foresight scenarios for future fisheries and aquaculture development in Indonesia, Cambodia, Zambia, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Nigeria. To advance fish foresight modeling to position fish into global and regional food systems while paying attention to national and subnational foresight modeling needs, more investment is needed to refine and improve current foresight modeling. This investment will strengthen national capacity and improve the information support system for policy, planning, and investment decisions at the national and regional levels. 

WorldFish is seeking an intern to assist the organization in conducting economic modeling and foresight research on aquatic food systems and their implications on sustainable and resilient aquatic food systems and the opportunities for increased food, nutrition security, gender equity, and sustainable livelihoods. 

Scope of Work 

The scope of the work will involve conduct of literature reviews and support fish foresight modeling development, ongoing research output completion to better understand future trends and drivers of change and their implications on aquatic food system transformation and impacts on livelihoods, and food and nutrition security, with special emphasis on the developing countries in Africa and Asia. During the internship period, the research intern will work with WorldFish’s foresight modeling focal point and foresight team to make contributions to the following evidence-based analyses and outputs: 

  • Research output completion (manuscripts for journal publication, working papers, and briefs) on economic modeling and foresight analysis to inform decision-making and priority setting to support aquatic food system transformation toward healthier and sustainable diets. 
  • Review of economic modeling methods and approaches used in aquatic food systems (fisheries and aquaculture) research. 
  • Development of aquatic food system/fish sector models to explore future fish supply and demand scenarios and its implications on aquatic food system transformation pathways in Africa and Asia. 

The successful intern will be responsible to: 

  • Contribute to research outputs (manuscripts, working papers and briefs). 
  • Conduct literature reviews. 
  • Assist semi-independently economic modeling and foresight analysis (using GAMS, STATA and or R programming and Visual Basic for Applications in Excel). 
  • Support stakeholder workshops and generate workshop reports. 
  • Conduct econometrics and foresight analysis. 

Requirements

This internship opportunity is open for individuals with the following skills and qualifications: 

  • A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in economics, statistics, or any social and natural science field with strong quantitative skills. Postgraduate candidates are highly encouraged to apply. 
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. 
  • Understanding of fisheries and aquaculture, foresight research, food systems, sustainable development, and climate change. 
  • Strong communication and organizational skills, professional approach to working with diverse stakeholders, and ability to work effectively independently and deliver on time. 
  • Demonstrate competency in modelling skills and computer software [statistical software (STATA, R), the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), Phyton, Visual Basic for Applications in Excel, and data mining]. 

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