Research Associate/Research Assistant

Research Associate

Salary- 29,352 - £33,739 per annum

Full time/Fixed term for 22 months- 1st March 2027 to 22nd December 2028

Research Assistant

Salary- £28,063 - £30,185 per annum

Full time/Fixed term for 20 months- 1st March 2027 to 31st October 2028

About the Roles

NTU researchers are global leaders in river ecology. To ensure the real-world relevance of our research, we work with a breadth of external partners. We are seeking to recruit a grade E Research Assistant and grade F Research Associate to join our team to contribute to the ‘Headstart’ project with collaborators at Freshwater Habitats Trust, Wessex Rivers Trust and the Environment Agency.

These posts are within the burgeoning discipline of river restoration. The project aims to advance understanding of how ‘winterbourne’ chalk streams—ecosystems recognized for their biodiversity, including rare and specialist species—respond to restoration actions. Enabled by our collaborators, we will collect new field data to extend our previous characterization of physical habitats, and aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities. These new data will create a uniquely valuable dataset bringing new insight into the effectiveness of restoration actions.

Research Assistant

Working alongside a grade-F Research Associate, your role will be to collect new field data, then to process invertebrate samples and identify the taxa present. You’ll also have opportunities to contribute to analysis and reporting, as we prepare to share findings with our research community. You’ll also have opportunities to join stakeholder meetings, strengthening your professional network.

Research Associate

Working alongside a grade-E Research Assistant, your role will be to organize and lead field trips, then to process the collected invertebrate samples and identify the taxa present. You’ll also lead the analysis of the resultant dataset, and work alongside the project leader to prepare to share findings with our research community. You’ll also have opportunities to join stakeholder meetings, strengthening your professional network.

Both roles

We welcome applications from candidates who have scientific understanding of river ecosystems and experience of using keys to identify aquatic and/or terrestrial invertebrates, as well as experience using R to analyse ecological data.

For more details, please see the supporting documents. 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. Recognizing the diverse needs of our team we are open to discussing flexible working patterns, whilst meeting project requirements.

Find out more about the Headstart project here: https://freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/projects/headstart/

Interview Date: Friday 15th January 2027

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. This mix of traditional and modern subjects encourages and inspires future innovators.

Research in the School underpins the teaching of our courses and is highly interdisciplinary by nature. Everything we do has a real-world impact on society, and provides significant contributions to scientific knowledge, advanced research training and opportunities for commercial exploitation.

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

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