BACKGROUND:
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation based on a multilateral agreement amongst countries and international organisations with the purpose of making scientific biodiversity data freely available via the Internet. GBIF infrastructure supports the sharing, discovery, and use of information and data about species and their occurrence in nature. These data are organised into datasets shared by members of the GBIF network and made available for scientific and other uses. The GBIF network mediates access to over 270 million data records originating in thousands of different datasets across an expanding domain of knowledge related to species data that include geospatial information, literature, genomics and other fields.

The GBIF data publication infrastructure is intended to be flexible and extensible. It relies upon the use of internationally recognised data standards and protocols to facilitate the discovery, access and scientific use of biodiversity data. This includes an expanding set of standard vocabularies, glossaries and thesauri. These knowledge organisation systems require both technical and social processes to facilitate their creation, management, governance and use within the global GBIF network.

GBIF is seeking a committed and proactive Knowledge Systems Engineer to develop a framework for creating and managing controlled vocabularies, thesauri and other knowledge organization systems. Interested candidates should review the document, "Recommendations for the Use of Knowledge Organisation Systems by GBIF" at http://links.gbif.org/gbif_kos_whitepaper_v1.pdf for a fuller understanding of our requirements.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• In close liaison with GBIF Secretariat scientific and technical staff, undertake a review of the current data publishing and discovery framework and how it might be enhanced through KOS best practices.
• Develop a strategy for embedding KOS in the GBIF informatics framework, including choice of systems, tools and standards that enable interoperability/integration, in particular with reference to OOR (Open Ontology Repository) high-level requirements.
• Evaluate the GBIF Vocabularies Server in relation to the full-featured NCBO BioPortal system as a platform for development of vocabularies across the life-cycle and that enables domain experts to contribute and remain involved throughout the continual evolution of a vocabulary/ ontology.
• Evaluate the NCBO BioPortal for GBIF needs and deploy it, or an alternative, as appropriate.
• Evaluate and provide guidelines on adopting OBO Foundry governing principles for vocabulary management in the GBIF and wider community.
• Develop a multilingual representation of selected biodiversity vocabularies based on the SKOS OWL DL subset.
• Evaluate needs and develop requirements for use of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) in KOS, including PIDs for vocabularies and vocabulary terms, and supporting a robust versioning mechanism.
• Provide guidelines on development and use of metadata for documenting vocabularies/ontologies with particular reference to cross system discovery and sharing.
• Specify a system for capturing/documenting use cases and competency questions.
• Develop a semantically enriched directory of Biodiversity KOS resources.
• Lead on the development of documentation, applicability statements, manuals, and training materials for any KOS tool/resource adopted by GBIF.
• Develop materials introducing the rudiments of semantic processing as contribution to GBIF training/outreach activities.

REQUIREMENTS:
The successful candidate must have a strong applied background in Knowledge Organisation Systems and, ideally, their application within the Biodiversity or Life Sciences areas. Experience in the life cycle management of vocabularies and ontologies according to current conventions is highly desirable.

S/he should have knowledge of RDF, OWL, SKOS, the OBO Foundry, Open Ontology Repository principles, the TDWG ontologies and the broad Life Sciences ontology landscape, as well as an understanding of other well-known, generic vocabularies such as Dublin Core, FOAF, etc. Knowledge of principles of the semantic web and Linked Open Data are desirable. Practical experience with existing KOS systems such as the OBO Foundry, BioPortal, Collaborative Protege, Pool Party or other systems would be highly beneficial. A key asset is the capacity to identify, communicate and facilitate the practical and pragmatic application of KOS principles that facilitate the uptake and use of GBIF-mediated data and infrastructure.

The candidate must be self-motivated and have excellent communication skills that include organising and leading small meetings or workshops and drafting best practices and user guides. Domain knowledge in biodiversity informatics, and with the GBIF infrastructure in particular, is highly desirable.

PREFERENCES:
This post is an exciting career-enhancing opportunity to work in a multicultural environment for an international organisation at the cutting edge of scientific developments in biodiversity informatics. The post is for two years with a possibility it may be extended. Residence in Denmark is preferred. If you match the above requirements and are able to start as soon as possible, we look forward to hearing from you.

LOCALE:
Copenhagen, Denmark

COMPENSATION:
GBIF offers a competitive salary (~85K EUR )

HOW TO APPLY:
Applications should be sent in English by e-mail to KSE[at]gbif.org by 15 June 2011.

DEADLINE:
15 June 2011