Specialist Technician

The role

We wish to appoint a Research Technician to work as part of a team funded by ERC and NERC grants investigating how European forests are responding to rapid climate change and how this impacts forest restoration efforts. You will form an integral part of the Selva lab team led Dr Tommaso Jucker (https://www.selvalab.org), and will work closely with two postdoctoral researchers and three PhD students employed on the same projects. This full-time, 3-year position (with possibility of a 1-year extension) will involve a combination of extended field trips to forest locations across the UK and Europe to establish field experiments, maintain in situ microclimate and tree growth sensors, collect biological samples from soils and plants, subsequent laboratory processing of these samples, and data curation and archiving. This project is embedded within the FORTRESS network of forest plots established by our team in Bristol, with field sites in England, Scotland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Romania, Czech Republic and Norway. The role will benefit from collaborative links with scientists across Europe, and in particular with close ties to partners at Forest Research and Cardiff University. 

What will you be doing?

You will: 

• Support the research team in designing and conducting field work campaigns 
• Carry out vegetation surveys
• Maintain environmental sensors in the field to measure microclimate and tree growth 
• Collect and appropriately store biological samples in the field 
• Process biological samples in the lab 
• Curate and archive data for subsequent analyses 

You should apply if

The ideal candidate will have: 

• A BSc in ecology, environmental sciences or other related subject
• Experience conducting ecological field work 
• Enthusiasm for travel and extended field trips in remote locations 
• Working as part of a team 
• Experience identifying plants 
• A valid driver’s licence 

Additional information

For informal enquiries please contact Dr Tommaso Jucker, Associate Professor in Forest Ecology and Global Change (t.jucker@bristol.ac.uk)

Contract type: Open-ended (Fixed funding until 31/01/2029)

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on Thursday 27th November 2025

Interviews will be held across Thursday 11th and Friday 12th December 2025

Our strategy and mission

We recently launched our strategy to 2030 tying together our mission, vision and values.

The University of Bristol aims to be a place where everyone feels able to be themselves and do their best in an inclusive working environment where all colleagues can thrive and reach their full potential. We want to attract, develop, and retain individuals with different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives – particularly people of colour, LGBT+ and disabled people - because diversity of people and ideas remains integral to our excellence as a global civic institution.

Advert information