Applications are now open for the Carbon to Sea Initiative’s new Research Fellowship Program. This opportunity is designed to support the important work of sourcing, analyzing, and interpreting research data emerging from the Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) field. Through this program, we aim to create a public, living picture of the sector’s progress, as well as inform Carbon to Sea’s own R&D roadmap and future investments. 

As one of five Research Fellows, you will be responsible for a critical area of study for OAE, while collaborating across disciplines with your cohort and our team. For our pilot cohort, we aim to select candidates across key areas, including: efficacy & CDR potential, environmental impacts, scalability and cost-effectiveness and social science.

This first cohort of fellows will help set the tone for the program, creating important milestones and processes to be replicated in future years.

Carbon to Sea is seeking candidates with a Masters of Science or PhD with previous experience conducting literature reviews, research summaries, or other similar analysis. The fellowship is a part-time, fully remote position that will run approximately from November 2024 to January 2025. The deadline for applications is October 11.

Fellowship Focus Areas

For our pilot cohort, we will aim to select qualified candidates with expertise and focus on the following key areas: 

  1. Efficacy & CDR potential: Monitor and synthesize new developments in the overall potential of OAE, including modeling, quantification and risks of reversal as well as the means to quantify efficacy via monitoring, reporting, and verification approaches.   
  2. Environmental impacts: Analyze the environmental impacts and potential benefits of OAE, including biological effects of alkalinity dispersal and upstream impacts of alkalinity sourcing.
  3. Scalability and cost-effectiveness: Analyze and synthesize new research on the practical, technical and supply chain nodes for OAE as well as the latest benchmarks and trends on cost effectiveness.
  4. Social science: Analyze and synthesize research on our social science understanding of OAE’s viability, including public perceptions of OAE, social impact of field research, community impacts, codes of conducts, community-governance and other social drivers of mCDR.
  5. Science communications: This fellow will work across the areas above to interpret and develop executive style research data summaries for a variety of external audiences –  especially policy makers and community members of field test sites – through development of scientific issue briefs, articles and data visualizations.

Primary Responsibilities & Deliverables

  • Source and analyze recently-published reporting, research and insights from academic, public and private sources. 
  • Interview authors to gain background insights that shed important context on research design and implications for future research.
  • Articulate implications to our R&D research roadmap in a report summary.
  • Summarize impressions and implications via presentation to internal team, partners and other stakeholder groups.
  • Log research into running index of literature. 
  • Act as an internal expert on the research topic for the Carbon to Sea team.
  • Meet biweekly with other fellows to exchange insights and identify research synergies.
  • Meet biweekly with the Carbon to Sea Director of Research & Technology and other team members, to evaluate progress on sourcing new publications, conducting analysis and implications for our roadmap.

Practical Details

  • Duration: ~ November - January, 2025; Approximately 3 months; Part-time capacity
  • Compensation: $10,000 USD
  • Research Fellows will report to the Carbon to Sea Director of Research & Technology while interfacing with other senior leaders within the program
  • Includes expenses-paid, optional attendance to our annual convening
  • Fellows can be located anywhere in the world

Application process

The ideal candidate has a Masters of Science or a PhD in a relevant field with previous experience conducting literature reviews, research summaries or other similar analysis. Qualified candidates will be selected for a video interview. 

To apply, complete this application form by October 11, 2024. If you have any questions, email fellows@carbontosea.org.