About the job

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 (FR) 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 forestresearch.gov.uk.   The FR Centre for Forest Management applies a wide range of expertise to important issues concerning the resilience and value of Britain's trees, woods and forests.  It aims to provide a world class forest economics research base.    A key area of FR’s work involves providing evidence to underpin the development of incentive mechanisms that encourage landowners to plant new woodlands. An exciting project in this area, is developing a Woodland Water Code (WWC) to provide a quality assurance scheme to underpin incentives for landowners to provide woodland water services related to flood management, agricultural diffuse pollution attenuation and water temperature cooling (to reduce thermal stress of aquatic species). Along similar lines to the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) - a quality assurance scheme underpinning UK woodland creation for carbon sequestration benefits, the initiative aims to foster new Payments for Ecosystem Services schemes in the UK that help achieve water-related policy goals as well as the UK’s climate change mitigation targets. We are now seeking a market development researcher to lead on the piloting of the code and to co-ordinate stakeholder engagement activities. The post will be part of an interdisciplinary team at FR led by economics and hydrology specialists. This role is funded through the Nature for Climate Fund (NCF), managed by Defra. The NCF supports a range of diverse research projects from climate to biodiversity, aimed at improved woodland protection, increasing the area of woodland in active management and to support ambitious targets for woodland creation.   We would anticipate the successful candidate will take up the role at the beginning of March 2024.

Job description

The post-holder will support the development of a draft WWC, focusing on engagement with potential buyers and sellers and selecting a range of pilot sites to test the code.

This work will build on advances made in a recent international project led by FR (PESFOR-W), which highlighted the poor condition of many water bodies and the ability of tree planting to tackle a range of water pressures. This project reflects a government commitment under the England Trees Action Plan to support the development of a WWC.

 

Person specification

The main role of the post will be to develop a market for the WWC. This will involve the following key work areas:

• Lead on stakeholder engagement and workshop delivery to support the development of a market for buying and selling woodland water services, including discussing methods, rules and anticipated levels of supply and demand with landowners, potential investors, regulators and independent validators
• Liaise with project developers/ landowners to identify a range of suitable pilot sites to test the draft WWC
• Oversee and report on Pilot Testing of the WWC
• Contribute to knowledge exchange activities including creation of WWC web pages
• Support the design of methods and rules for the application of the WWC and the governing market rules based on feedback from stakeholders
• Track other relating stakeholder engagement activities related to developing Nature Markets, including the British Standards Institute’s Nature Investment Standards Programme
• Periodically update and consulate with the WWC Steering Group and Technical Group.
• Contributing to wider work by FR on development of ecosystem markets, green finance and forestry

Essential Criteria:

• Relevant degree with substantial economics, environmental or business studies component
• Strong organisational skills
• Good interpersonal and communication skills including written outputs and facilitating workshops.
• Evidence of good team and partnership working.
• Competent IT user with experience of MS Office packages.
• Willingness to travel, including occasional overnight stays as required for stakeholder engagement

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of working in environmental economics research, including valuing woodland and/ or water services
• Experience of developing Payments for Ecosystem Services, or associated monitoring, validation, accreditation or quality assurance schemes
• Experience in working as part of an interdisciplinary team

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,870, Forestry Commission - Forest Research contributes £9,684 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

Sift :  Sift will take place 8/9th January 2024
Interview:  Interviews are planned to take place 18th/19th January 2024  

If a large volume of applications is received, then we will sift on Experience/Technical Expertise and the Lead Behaviour, Communicating & Influencing.  However, candidates will be expected to answer questions on all behaviours at the interview stage.  

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.

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

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.

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.