Research Assistant in River Ecology

Eight-month fixed-term contract at 0.8 FT or equivalent

About the Role

NTU researchers are globally recognised leaders in the discipline of freshwater ecology. To ensure the real-world relevance of our research, we work with a breadth of external partners. We are seeking to recruit a Researcher to join our team to contribute to a collaborative project with the Environment Agency and the charity WildFish.

This post is within the burgeoning discipline of temporary river ecology. The project aims to advance understanding of how aquatic invertebrate communities respond to human pressures in these dynamic ecosystems. Enabled by our collaborators, we will collate all available data describing these communities and the environments they inhabit, including their modification by human pressures. We will focus on ‘winterbourne’ chalk streams—ecosystems recognised for their biodiversity, including rare and specialist species.

Your primary role will be to analyse the collated data to characterise community responses to environmental variation. You’ll calculate indices representing community health and then model index responses to environmental drivers. Your findings will enable us to evaluate the capacity of each index to distinguish responses to natural environmental variation—specifically, seasonal river drying—and to human pressures.

Working closely with our collaborators will ensure project results are immediately used to improve river health assessments in winterbourne streams. We also expect to produce a scientific paper to share findings with our global research community, and you’ll have opportunities to attend stakeholder meetings, thus strengthening your professional network.

We welcome applications from candidates who have scientific understanding of river ecosystems, as well as experience of using advanced modelling approaches to analyse ecological datasets.

For more details, please see the role profile. We'll consider applications even if you don't meet every one of the requirements, so don't be put off if you don't match them perfectly. To ensure the diverse needs of our team are met we offer flexible working patterns. We're happy to discuss full-time or part-time options, as well as offering either on-campus or remote working.

This role is funded for 0.8 FT (full-time, i.e. 30 hours per week) for 8 months at grade F salary pay point 519, and the exact contract end date will therefore depend on whether the successful candidate works full-time or part-time, as well as their agreed pay point.

Closing date; 23:59pm Sunday 11th January 2026

Proposed interview date; Friday 23rd January 2026

About Us

The School of Science and Technology at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is an exciting multidisciplinary environment for learning, teaching and research, with some of the best facilities in the UK.

We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality teaching and diverse, real-world research. We specialise in biosciences, chemistry, computing and technology, as well as engineering, forensic science, mathematics, physics and sport science. Our Biosciences team includes global research leaders in the discipline of freshwater ecology.

Teaching in the Department of Biosciences is research-led, providing students with cutting-edge knowledge and access to high-specification facilities. It is one of the many reasons why our courses are accredited by professional bodies including the Royal Society of Biology and the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environment Management.

For any informal queries about the role or the team, please contact Prof. Rachel Stubbington (Professor of River Ecology) at rachel.stubbington@ntu.ac.uk