Job Identification: 6210
Job Category: Academic
Locations: Crew Building, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, GB
Posting Date: 17/01/2023, 15:15
Apply Before: 14/02/2023, 19:00
Job Schedule: Full time
Health and Safety Requirements: No key hazards identified for this post
Criminal Record Check: No criminal record check required
Contract Type: Open Ended
Job Description
Lecturer in Ecological Science
Grade UE08: £43,414 – £51,805 per annum
College of Science & Engineering /School of GeoSciences/Global Change Research Institute
Full time, 35 hours per week
Open-ended
The School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh invites applications for a full-time lecturer position in Ecological Science (Ecology / Biodiversity / Conservation). The position has an open-ended contract with an expected start date in summer 2023. We are also inviting applications for a Lecturer in Environmental Science.
We seek candidates whose research and teaching interests complement and enhance our existing strengths. The successful candidate in Ecological Science (Ecology / Biodiversity / Conservation) will contribute to one or more key areas including (but not limited to): ecology of nature-based solutions; ecosystem management; conservation; biodiversity; temperate forest ecology; temperate landscape ecology; peatland ecology; freshwater ecology; agroecology.
The Opportunity:
We are seeking enthusiastic candidates dedicated to using their expertise to make a difference in ecological science. They will create a vibrant research programme, support and mentor undergraduate and graduate students, teach and make meaningful contributions to School citizenship and administration, and engage with decision-makers in the environment and/or ecosystems.
Your skills and attributes for success:
- PhD in Ecology / Environmental Biology / Ecosystem Science / Biodiversity Science / Conservation Science or related area
- Ability to deliver high quality research to address critical and timely issues in your field and collaborating across disciplines
- Ability to enthuse students in their learning, and design and deliver effective teaching and assessment
- Commitment to engage with decision-makers, other stakeholders and/or the public
- Demonstrable commitment to participating fully in academic life, including supporting students and collaborative working
As part of your application, please provide:
- CV (including names, affiliations and email contacts for three Referees)
- Covering letter
- Research statement (2 pages max.)
- Teaching statement (2 pages max.)
Informal Enquiries
Informal enquiries about the position may be addressed to the Deputy Head of the Global Change Research Institute, Professor Kate Heal (email k.heal@ed.ac.uk)
Click to view a copy of the full job description
As a valued member of our team you can expect:
An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent and reward success. You will benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which includes a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family friendly initiatives, flexible working and much more. Access our staff benefits page for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Interviews for both positions are expected to be held in mid-late March 2023.
If invited for interview you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages
What you will do:
The successful candidate will contribute high quality teaching, mainly to the BSc (Hons) Ecological and Environmental Sciences degree programmes, and pursue excellent research. The role will involve course design, delivery, assessment and organisation; practical-based teaching and courses involving data science; pastoral care, and supervision of undergraduate and graduate students. The appointee will also foster internal collaborations, and contribute to citizenship and creating an inclusive culture in the School. The successful candidate will be expected to engage with existing and emerging interdisciplinary initiatives at the University (e.g. the Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes, the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI), the Centre for Adapting to Changing Environments (ACE), the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, the University’s Forests and Peatlands Project) and with decision-makers and stakeholders relevant to their expertise.
The appointee will join the Global Change Research Institute in the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh. The institute is home to around 100 academic and research staff and 130 postgraduate researchers whose overarching mission is to understand past, present and future changes in the Earth system, and to inform mitigation strategies for future change. We host longstanding programmes in understanding how the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, land surface and oceans have interacted in the past, in monitoring their current behaviour, and in developing predictions of their future dynamics. Building on these scientific foundations, we further engage in interdisciplinary research focussed on mitigating the many challenges posed by the global climate emergency, environmental hazards, inequalities, conservation and sustainability. Our research extends throughout the world, over the seven continents, across all the oceans, from the poles to the equator, and from the deep Earth to the upper atmosphere. Our research programmes typically involve field work, remote sensing, in situ monitoring, laboratory experimentation and analysis, theory, modelling and stakeholder engagement. We research and teach across all GeoSciences disciplines including ecology, environmental science, geography, geology, geophysics and meteorology.
More details about the Global Change Research Institute are available from https://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences/research/institutes-centres/institutes/global-change
The BSc degree programmes in Ecological and Environmental Sciences have around 250 students across four years. Through classroom, practical, digital and field teaching, students on these programmes develop the skills and knowledge to: understand environmental issues; design robust strategies for sample collection; make ecological and environmental measurements; evaluate the significance of results; and manage conservation and environmental protection projects. They are taught mainly by staff within the Biosphere research group of the Global Change Research Institute. The group are advancing the frontiers of research on soils, freshwater, microbes and plants, their interactions and their role in the entire Earth system, while also contributing to improving human societal-environment relationships.
The School holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to gender equality in higher education. Our aim is to recognise and value diversity in our staff and students, and to support flexible and family-friendly working. We strongly welcome applications from under-represented groups within the School, including candidates who are LGBTQ+, disabled and from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
About the Team
The School of GeoSciences explores the factors and forces that shape our world. The School aims to understand the world through fundamental curiosity-driven research and to support prescient decision-making at individual to global scales. We undertake world-leading research; offer new ways of understanding natural and social drivers of change; provide inter-and trans-disciplinary solutions; and work in partnership to improve livelihoods and explore ways to manage the environment that are both sustainable and socially equitable. The School of GeoSciences was ranked first in the UK for Research Impact and joint top for research power in the latest assessment of research in UK universities (REF 2021).
With over 500 academics, researchers and research students, we are the largest and most successful interdisciplinary grouping of geoscientists and geographers in the UK. Research activity is coordinated within three main Research Institutes – Global Change, Earth and Planetary Science, and Geography and the Lived Environment – and within smaller research groupings that reach across and beyond the School.
A distinctive feature of the School is the combination of academic strength, intellectual breadth and societal relevance. Our interdisciplinary research and teaching builds on established core disciplines (ecology, environmental sciences, geography, earth sciences, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography) to provide a variety of approaches to understanding the world (including, for example, system-scale modelling, process studies and the development of urban and social theory). The School’s research covers fundamental ‘blue-skies’ questions, as well as addressing the major environmental and social challenges of our times including: climate and environmental change; energy, food and water security; health and wellbeing; natural resources; natural hazards; inequality and vulnerability; urban precarity; nature and cultural meaning; and development and sustainability;.
More details about the School are available from http://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences
The University is able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. If successful, an international applicant requiring sponsorship to work in the UK will need to satisfy the UK Home Office’s English Language requirements and apply for and secure a Skilled Worker Visa.
About Us
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
About the Team
The School of GeoSciences explores the factors and forces that shape our world. The School aims to understand the world through fundamental curiosity-driven research and to support prescient decision-making at individual to global scales. We undertake world-leading research; offer new ways of understanding natural and social drivers of change; provide inter-and trans-disciplinary solutions; and work in partnership to improve livelihoods and explore ways to manage the environment that are both sustainable and socially equitable.
With over 500 academics, researchers and research students, we are the largest and most successful interdisciplinary grouping of geoscientists and geographers in the UK. Research activity is coordinated within three main Research Institutes – Global Change, Earth and Planetary Science, and Geography and the Lived Environment – and within smaller research groupings that reach across and beyond the School.
A distinctive feature of the School is the combination of academic strength, intellectual breadth and societal relevance. Our interdisciplinary research and teaching builds on established core disciplines (ecology, environmental sciences, geography, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography) to provide a variety of approaches to understanding the world (including, for example, system-scale modelling, process studies and the development of urban and social theory). The School’s research covers fundamental ‘blue-skies’ questions, as well as having application to key societal challenges including inequality and vulnerability; urban precarity; nature and cultural meaning; development and sustainability; climate and environmental change; energy, food and water security; health and wellbeing; natural resources; and natural hazards.
The School holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to gender equality in higher education. Our aim is to recognise and value diversity in our staff and students, and to support flexible and family-friendly working.
More details about the School is available from http://www.ed.ac.uk/geosciences
