Climate Change jobs in United Kingdom

The role can be based in Alice Holt Research Station, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LHor in Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9SYor in Forestry Commission Office, Bristol, BS16 1EJwith blended working which gives you the option to work some of the week from home, and some of the week from the workplace. You will be asked to express a location preference during the application process.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas.

Job Summary

Want to work at the cutting edge of environmental science? Passionate about making a difference and playing your part in tackling the climate and nature crisis? Forest Research is all about giving top quality evidence and advice to policymakers and practitioners to make a positive impact on the ground. Internationally recognised, we need people who have the skills and passion to work on excellent science and provide practical solutions for nature.

We’re small enough that your voice is heard, yet large enough, as part of the Forestry Commission, that we have everything on hand to get the job done, as well as a variety of career pathways. Our staff are dedicated to their work and sharing it with others to bring positive change for our planet. And you will find us a flexible and inclusive employer, so you can have a work life balance that is tailor-made to your circumstances. So, whether it’s climate or carbon, pests or pathogens, behaviour or biodiversity that interests you, you can be assured of a warm welcome to the team. To find out more, visit www.forestresearch.gov.uk

The post is based in the Forest Mensuration, Growth and Yield Science Group. The team aims to improve the scientific understanding of how to assess and manage forests and wood products to enhance their contributions to mitigating climate change and supplying sustainable timber and biomass. Our work is focused on 5 main areas: tree and timber measurement; forest growth modelling; forest carbon balance modelling; evaluation of wood supply chains; development of practical decision support tools. We achieve our aims using a range of scientific methods including monitoring a network of permanent forest research plots, developing remote sensing methods and mathematical models, policy analysis, life cycle assessment and literature reviews. The team has a strong track record of producing respected evidence assessments, policy advice and practical guidance on the assessment and management of forests, published in technical reports including Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidance and Assessment Reports, and peer-reviewed scientific papers. The team comprises 24 staff who are spread across Great Britain either based at Alice Holt, Farnham, Northern Research Station Roslin or in the Bristol Forestry England office.

Job Description

The group seeks to appoint a fixed term position to support the delivery of three projects that have deliverables in period up to March 2026 this Financial Year. The projects all are funded by Central Government and have significant policy relevance:

• ReForeSt: Remote sensing for Forest management and Structural Diversity which is a 1-year strategic research project under Defra’s Forestry Research and Development Programme, this project aims to understand the carbon impact of restoring management to undermanaged woodlands in England. The post holder will lead the development of the carbon analysis supporting the emerging policy recommendations from this project.
• EVAST/ERAMMP: The post holder will provide data analysis and present findings to a multi-organisation consortia who are modelling the impacts of a changing climate on ecological suitability, and woodland creation and woodland management scenarios on land use economics and ecosystem service provision for Defra and the Welsh Government. The post holder will lead on modelling work, including exploring changes in woodland suitability under future climate projections, the impacts of woodland creation and management on land use economics and ecosystem service provision.
• Memorandum of Understanding for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero: which has an overarching objective to ensure the continued and accurate delivery of the forestry component of the GHGi and to enhance the ability of Forest Research to provide evidence to support policy decision making around ongoing and emerging topics on forestry and climate change mitigation.

Key Work Areas:

• Lead the forest carbon impact assessment of various forest management activities including scenarios for restoring management to neglected woodlands, including quality assurance of outputs, examination of model or scenario sensitivity and uncertainties.
• Perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) of different forest management options to identify trade-offs between whole system and forest-side carbon changes.
• Collaborate with project partners to align findings with carbon impact assessments to remote sensing and analyses of forest structural diversity to develop recommendations for policy.
• Contribute to project outputs including progress and final project reports and knowledge exchange activities.
• Support the Mensuration, Growth and Yield Team team in other forest carbon modelling tasks as required.

Key Work Areas:

• Lead the forest carbon impact assessment of various forest management activities including scenarios for restoring management to neglected woodlands, including quality assurance of outputs, examination of model or scenario sensitivity and uncertainties.
• Perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) of different forest management options to identify trade-offs between whole system and forest-side carbon changes.
• Collaborate with project partners to align findings with carbon impact assessments to remote sensing and analyses of forest structural diversity to develop recommendations for policy.
• Contribute to project outputs including progress and final project reports and knowledge exchange activities.
• Support the Mensuration, Growth and Yield Team team in other forest carbon modelling tasks as required.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Postgraduate degree in a relevant subject or equivalent experience in modelling carbon in forests
• Experience of life cycle assessment research and calculations
• Experience of producing scientific, technical and/or policy papers/reports
• Experience delivering under strict timescales and budgets
• Highly organised with keen attention to detail

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience with Quality Assurance systems, version control and issues tracking
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Experience of working in a team

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together

Alongside your salary of £39,135, Forestry Commission - Forest Research contributes £11,337 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Your career

• Excellent professional development opportunities which are tailored to your role, with paid professional membership subscriptions, mentoring, and Civil Service Learning available to all
• access to world class laboratory facilities, as well as state of the art buildings within forest or science park settings

Your work/life balance

• flexible working options such as: up to two days flexi leave per month, blended working, part-time working, paid special leave, career breaks, and unpaid leave. Parents and carers will be supported to enable you to manage work and family responsibilities
• A generous annual leave allowance of 25 days on entry increasing by 1 day each year to a maximum of 30 days (pro-rata for part-timers). Plus 2.5 days of additional leave and 8 days’ paid bank/public holidays

Your wellbeing

• A culture which promotes a diverse and inclusive work environment
• A range of wellbeing benefits including Employee Assistance Programme 24/7
• We want you to feel part of something bigger and we encourage a community feel in our workplaces, with everything from cookery competitions to Pilates and fell running, plus topical talks at Wellbeing Wednesdays and Feelgood Fridays
• Paid volunteering leave of 3 days per year so you can give back to your community and charitable causes by sharing your skills and time

Your Benefits

• a highly competitive Civil Service Pension of 28.97% your salary
• an employee benefits scheme offering discounts on groceries, gym memberships, holidays, days out, online retailers and high street shops
• Cycle to Work scheme and Interest free loans
• Free parking is offered on-site, alongside electric car charging ports
• With maternity, adoption, and/or shared parental leave there’s the flexibility to have up to 26 weeks full pay, followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid leave. Paternity leave of up to two weeks is available with full pay.

Any move to Forest Research from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Please apply at Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK, you will be asked to supply:

• A CV - setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role
• A Personal Statement – (limited to 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

We will use this information to assess your application against the essential criteria in the person specification.

Shortlist

The panel will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the Essential Criteria set out in the Person Specification. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

Applicants invited to attend for interview will be required to prepare a short presentation, details to be confirmed.

Sift

Interviews

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Forest Research which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Visa Sponsorship

FR Holds a Licence To Sponsor Skilled Workers Under The Home Office Points-based Immigration System. Candidates Wishing To Apply Should Note That The Likelihood Of Obtaining Sponsorship Would Depend On An Assessment Of This Role Against Defined Criteria, Which Include:

• Whether the Job role has been identified as being a Critical Role in FR, which has been identified in the Workforce Plan, and / or
• Whether the Job role is a known Capability gap, which has been identified in the Workforce Plan for the relevant Centre, and
• Evidence of significant recruitment challenges in filling the Job role previously

Skilled Worker sponsorship may be available, subject to an application and assessment process and the Home Office points-based system.

For further details, please refer to the Sponsorship for Skilled Workers – guidance for applicants and managers on our website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact :

• Name : hr.services@forestresearch.gov.uk
• Email : hr.services@forestresearch.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hr.services@forestresearch.gov.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FR HR Services by email: hr.services@forestresearch.gov.ukyou are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.