GIS and Data Management Internship

About the Internship

The Volta Lake in Ghana is one of the largest reservoirs in the world; the water system to which this reservoir belongs (including the well-known Akosombo Dam) is operated by the Volta River Authority (VRA).

Haskoning (the Consultant) has been contracted by VRA (the Client) to set up a data management system where all spatial data for the Volta River basin is collected. This data describes and maps:

• Civil structures: e.g. dams, dikes, spillways, weirs, including construction drawings and reports;
• Water system: watersheds, river and channel alignments, lakes;
• Other topography: elevation data, roads, buildings etc.;
• Hydraulic model data: model inputs and outputs for different scenarios; meteorological data
• Social and economic themes: census, administrative boundaries, agricultural activity.

The data management system will support daily operations and engineering and construction projects of the Client in the future.

What you do as graduate intern

We are looking for a motivated graduate student with an interest in the application of GIS and data management in hydrological and civil engineering projects.

The first part of the internship will take place in Nijmegen and will be focused on setting up the structure of the data management system, as well as Python scripts for an automated processing and presentation of spatial data.

When the outline of the system is ready, the second part of the internship will be carried out at the facilities of the Client in Accra, Ghana. There, the actual data collection work will be done in close collaboration with the employees of the Client.

The student will work on or support the following activities:

• Designing a database and data catalog structure, with guidance and help from our Geo-information experts;
• Setting up data collection and data entry workflows, as a preparation for the actual data collection work;
• Perform data collection in close collaboration with the Client data operators;
• Train Client data operators;
• Create a search tool in desktop GIS to make the collected data easily accessible;
• Exploring the possibilities of the use of AI for the extraction of (meta)data from reports and drawings;

What you bring as an Intern

We are looking for a MSc student, with a technical background. For example: Geo-Information Science or Hydraulic Engineering with a focus on GIS and automation.

• Has experience with (desktop) GIS (ArcGIS Pro, QGIS)
• Has experience in working with (spatial) databases
• Experience with Python scripting is a pre
• Has excellent communication skills
• Has good knowledge of spoken and written English
• Has an open mindset; willingness to work in a multi-cultural setting is essential
• Likes to learn, but also to share knowledge with others
• Is a self-starting and self-motivating personality
• Likes to work in a challenging environment and does not get frustrated when things do not work the first time
• Likes to be part of a team and prefers the office environment above working from home
• Is interested in joining social activities besides the work as well
• Experience in Africa (travel, work) is desirable
• You need to have a Dutch passport.

Conditions

• A monthly remuneration of €750,- (for a fulltime work week)
• A place to stay in Akuse that will be arranged and paid for by the Consultant
• All costs related to travelling will be paid by the Consultant (tickets, visa, insurance, vaccinations)

Where you will work

Haskoning is a worldwide independent engineering, project management and consultancy firm which integrates 140 years of engineering expertise with digital technologies and software solutions. Our 6,000 colleagues are working from offices in more than 25 countries across the world.

You will become part of the Advisory Group Water International the Netherlands. This team consists of around 180 colleagues and is based in the Netherlands across three offices (Rotterdam, Amersfoort and Nijmegen). As a team we excel in a wide variety of services and skills in the fields of Climate Resilience and Maritime developments. We provide our clients, both private and (semi)governmental, with a range of services throughout the various phases of a project: from inception, through master planning, feasibility, design all the way to construction supervision. We have a strong foothold in the Netherlands but we operate worldwide.

The first two months you will be mostly working with the Consultant in the Netherlands (Nijmegen). The following two months, you will be working in Akuse, Ghana, together with a team of experts from the Client. The last month, you will return to the Netherlands to wrap up the system that you’ve set up and populated with data.

During your internship you will be supervised by our Geo-information consultants and by one contact person from the Client.