MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's Antarctic office looking for 2023 campaign scientists

The call for applications is renewed every year, Ortúzar explained

Argentina's National Antarctic Directorate (DNA) is looking for engineers and students of computer and electronic engineering to fill a dozen technical positions during the winter at the permanent bases Orcadas, Belgrano II, San Martín, Marambio, and Carlini in 2023.

Candidates must be aged between 22 and 50 and hold Argentine citizenship, in addition to meeting the professional requirements.

DNA Director Patricia Ortúzar explained that “this call seeks to recruit a dozen technicians and engineers who are willing to live the experience of spending a whole year in Antarctica; it is of national character, so we usually receive applications from all over the country, but, after all the selection stages, there are not many more than those needed to fill the positions.”

Ortúzar also pointed out that the selection process begins with the evaluation of academic and professional background. “From there, those who can take the written technical exam will be selected.”

“Those who pass must undergo a psychological interview and those who pass it must be able to meet the psychophysical requirements; from those who are selected, those who will travel will be chosen and, before doing so, they must learn a lot about work protocols in Antarctica.”

The call for applications is renewed every year. “It is not psychologically advisable for anyone to spend two winters in a row in Antarctica,” Ortúzar also pointed out. “We have some cases of personnel who were very committed to the Antarctic work and after a few years they applied for a second wintering and, in some cases, there is someone who during their career did three, but it is not advisable to do more than that,” she went on.

The chosen applicants will be responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of the electronic equipment in the multidisciplinary laboratories of the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA) administered by the DNA. They will also have to keep the seismology, geodesy, and high atmosphere magnetic monitoring equipment working and transmitting data, among other duties.

“That is why it is highly valued that they have knowledge or experience in telecommunications, especially satellite,” Ortúzar underlined.

Applicants may have a university degree in Computer Science or Electronics, be students in these careers, or have a Secondary School Diploma from an institution that was oriented towards those subjects, plus a work experience of at least one year and a half in related tasks.

Candidates are also required to have a fair grasp of the English language to interpret messages from the different operating systems and applications or equipment firmware.

Applications are welcome at ssantillana@dna.gov.ar, with a copy to wss@mrecic.gov.ar and diegogi@dna.gov.ar. The deadline is April 29, 2022.