Job Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate in ‘Environmental Monitoring and Communication’

Directorate: School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society (EGIS)

Contract Type:Full-time (35 hours per week), Fixed Term for 18 months

Grade and Salary: 7 (£36,023 - £45,585) 

Organisation Name: Lyell Centre GRI

Purpose of the Role

This position will enable active engagement between project academics, project partners and local-to-international stakeholders to identify and pioneer new solutions supporting mangrove rehabilitation in Suriname and Guyana. 

Detailed Description

We are seeking a highly motivated Post Doctoral Research Associate with relevant experience and passion for impact-driven environmental and sustainability research specialising in ‘Environmental monitoring and Communication’ with a strong background in field-based natural data and the communication of complex scientific results to different audiences of the public, including local communities and policy, educational media sectors. This multi-faceted strategy combines cross-sector dialogue, identifying best practise local behaviour, stimulating technical innovations, and implementing environmental and forest management solutions based on new natural science data from the field to de-risk mangrove degradation. 

The successful candidate will take leadership in the collection, quality assurance, visualisation and interpretation of natural science data and its translation to civic science, educational programs, and policy recommendations that leads to more effective management and consensus between local communities and stakeholders. The position is based at the Lyell Centre at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and fully integrated with a multidisciplinary team of experts from the UK (Durham University, Edinburgh University, Heriot-Watt University) and the University of Suriname (UoS).

The successful candidate will work closely with social, technical and environmental experts at the University of Suriname, drone and remote sensing researchers at Durham University and social scientists at Edinburgh University to feed natural sciences into cross-project activities. The candidate will keep a close communication with the monitoring team in Suriname and provide additional training where required.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

The position will take responsibilities across a range of interconnected clusters of activity that jointly feed into an integrated portfolio of natural data interpretation and societal solutions. Examples of these activities are outlined below:

To coordinate and lead communication across all project partners and work packages and the wider society with the aim to establish a new quality of interaction and networking between community-government-business-technology sectors. This may include the design, development and maintenance of exchange of project information, including a project logo and a project web page, ArcMap Story boards, and social media profiles (X, instragram, facebook etc), press-releases, project leaflets, success stories, learning articles, data briefs for policy-makers, researchers and others. To lead the collection, quality assurance, visualisation and interpretation of environmental monitoring data while maintaining close communication with the technical support team in Suriname. Provide additional training for Suriname team on environmental monitoring analysis and interpretation, and natural science data archiving, as required. To coordinate between project partners and set up, maintain and curate a central project data base that hosts physical and environmental data, compliant with international and UK regulations. This task is complemented by a social science archiving component coordinated by Edinburgh University. Aligned with the previous task, to work closely with all project PDRA’s, especially PDRA “Gamification’ hosted at Edinburgh University, to maximise outputs from the natural and social sciences data. To coordinate a regular lectureship series as outward facing communication activity. To build and maintain strong links with all non-academic partners in Suriname, Guyana and relevant universities, projects, organisations, and civil society groups elsewhere, to bridge project progress and stakeholder response, and stimulate new networking activities, national and international. To contribute to outreach activities led by the social sciences work packages at Durham and Suriname, including community workshops, roundtable discussions and an ‘end of project’ symposium. To participate in the writing of project academic papers, with leadership on environmental monitoring results. To participate in the preparation of monthly, quarterly, and annual project grant monitoring, evaluation and reports, progress indicators, milestones and Theory of Change, including reflections on project accomplishments, impacts, lessons learned, recommendations for next steps, sustainability and project legacy impacts. 

Please note that this job description is not exhaustive, and the role holder may be required to undertake other relevant duties commensurate with the grading of the post. Activities may be subject to amendment over time as the role develops and/or priorities and requirements evolve. A flexible working schedule may be required to meet all key duties and responsibilities, including periods of international travel for field work.

About our Team 

‘Enhancing coastal protection, biodiversity and ecosystem services through better knowledge and engagement in mangrove rehabilitation in Suriname and Guyana’ (ENHANCES).

Coastal protection through mangrove conservation involves both understanding where species of mangrove are located and their site-specific failure thresholds; and stakeholders consensus on benefits and strategies of coastal-protection implementation.

This project, funded by the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC), as part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, and led by Durham University with academic partners at Heriot-Watt University/Lyell and Edinburgh University, will work with strategic partners in Suriname and Guyana to (i) operationalise our novel in-situ and remote-sensing technologies to map and quantify the health, status and distribution of mangrove species at the local and regional scales, whilst (ii) monitoring changes and thresholds to generate new understanding, and (iii) use this to generate consensus on local coastal protection strategies and methods using a gamification platform co-developed with local stakeholders for knowledge-sharing and equitable debate.

The overarching project aim isto generate new critical environmental and remote data that support the development of capacity, knowledge and consensus for decision making and action amongst multiple stakeholders for mitigating coastal erosion and flood risk using mangroves in Suriname and Guyana.

Education, Qualifications & Experience:

These are the criteria on which the short-listing and recruitment selection will be based. 

Essential

Education & Qualifications

Educated to PhD level or higher in a relevant subject (environmental and sustainability sciences; communication/media/engagement) or equivalent.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Practical experience in the design, leadership and delivery of engagement strategies that connect local communities with stakeholders and academics at the local, national and international level are essential. Documented deep understanding of interactions between climate-environment.  Willingness for international fieldwork. Strong track record in environmental monitoring and interpretation connecting natural and social sciences, aimed to deliver solution-based impacts on mangrove restoration. Deep understanding and strong skills in the collation, quality assurance, interpretation and curating of data generated by the project, with a focus on natural sciences. Confident communicator and experience in environmental training of junior staff. Computer literate and technically competent in the set up and maintain an online media presence (incl. websites and social media platforms). Appropriate academic publication record, or equivalent portfolio. Evidence of good team player and interpersonal skills. Demonstrate initiative and problem solving skills.

Desirable:

Focus on delivering policy and societally relevant outcomes from natural sciences and co-created solutions. Practical experience in the local cultural, social and environmental context of Suriname and Guyana is highly favourable. Experience and interest in working internationally, in regions with different and often contrasting social, cultural and economic conditions. Examples of working at the interface between local communities, regional stakeholders and national/international organisations are favourable for this project position. Experience on UK guidelines on environmental data curation and submission. Experience in public presentations of scientific results (e.g. conference talks). Practical knowledge of Dutch is highly favourable.