1 Year with possibility of extension for 2^nd Year

Closing Date: Monday 17 December 2018, noon

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is seeking six senior researchers to lead new initiatives laying the ground work for the science-led policies of the future.

Working on a part-time secondment basis each fellow will be provided with support staff and funding to organise their work. The appointments will be on the basis of 2-3 days per week for 1 year with possible extension for a second year. Senior Fellows will be based at their home organisations. Some flexibility of travel and working at different locations may be required as part of the work.

Five of those posts will be to lead one of the following systems: Marine, Air Quality, Rural Land Use, Food, Resources & Waste (the Systems Leads); and the sixth post will be to lead the overall programme of work across the systems (the Design Authority).

This is an excellent opportunity if you are an experienced and respected individual researcher in a relevant field of social or natural science, who is dynamic, ambitious and dedicated to ensuring that food or environmental research is at the centre of the policy development process. Working with Professor Ian Boyd, Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser, and his team and policy teams across the department, it will place you in a position of influence during a time of rapid evolution in the key food and environmental policies in Defra. A key output will be to develop a systems framework which supports policy decision-making and enables evaluation of the collective impacts of policy options across key environmental systems.

For more details and information, including how to submit your application, please refer to the downloadable candidate pack.