Research Associate

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is an international research organisation conducting policy-relevant environmental and sustainable development research around the world. SEI’s York Centre (SEI-Y) has a team of around 45 staff and is part of the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York. SEI York has a broad research profile covering five main research areas. We have a strong academic track record as well as an international reputation of producing highly credible evidence-based science policy research.

The UK has vast stores of carbon locked up in upland peatlands. However, these peatlands are increasingly under threat from growing wildfire risks, with fires burning into the peat causing peat erosion, water pollution and the loss of the entire ecosystem (vegetation, biodiversity) and thus the ecosystem services (carbon storage and drinking water provision). This project, funded by the University of York’s Policy Engine (TYPE) programme, will provide a collaborative review, drawing on expertise including so far unpublished assessments of recent reports/studies. The assessment will especially consider the robustness of the evidence and previous reviews, based on assessing strengths and flaws in study statistical design, data analysis and methodology. The project’s summary outputs will contribute to the ongoing debate on how best to manage UK upland peatlands in a changing climate and ensure protecting their carbon stores and provisioning of ecosystem services related to water quality and biodiversity.

This role is predominantly focused on collating and assessing literature on the topic of heather management on peatlands. As part of a systematic review, the successful candidate will perform additional literature searches, using set criteria, to complement existing analyses and documents that outline strengths and weaknesses in the evidence base.

The assessment will be supported by experts in their field but require an eye for detail and a critical mind.

Although this role can be done remotely, the person would ideally be based in York to facilitate direct engagement and in person meetings.

Key responsibilities include:

• Conducting individual and collaborative research: literature searches and assessments; use of appropriate research techniques and methods; writing up of research results and contributing to the writing of publications.
• Summarising the assessments in clearly organised spreadsheets and tables according to key criteria. and to contribute to the production of summary documents and reports.
• Developing and initiating collaborative working, both internally and externally. Duties to include: participation in networks; collaboration with colleagues as required; participation in and identification of external networks in order to share information; attendance at and contribution to relevant meetings.

Skills, Experience & Qualification needed

• The successful candidate should have a PhD in an environmental sciences discipline ideally relevant to the research area.
• They will have experience of conducting and analysing their own research and assessing that of others, with good environmental and statistical knowledge ideally in relation to carbon cycling and peatlands.
• They will have relevant skills in literature research and assessing evidence ideally as part of previous systematic reviews, with well-developed communication and writing skills.
• They will be competent in engaging in collaborative research with well-developed organisational skills. They will be self-motivated with an enthusiasm for their subject and an attention to detail.

Interview date: To be confirmed

For informal enquiries: please contact (Dr Andreas Heinemeyer) on (ah126@york.ac.uk)

Advert information