About the job

Job summary

Want to work at the cutting edge of environmental science research?  Passionate about making a difference and playing your part in tackling the climate and nature crises? Forest Research (FR) is a leading UK scientific research organisation that provides impactful scientific data, evidence and advice to policymakers and practitioners. Internationally recognised, we want to work with people who have the skills and passion to deliver impactful science which informs practical solutions across the sector.

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 natural environment.  With locations across the UK, you will find us a flexible and inclusive employer who promotes agile working to help you manage your work life balance. If you want to be a part of a growing organisation that makes a difference, find out more at Homepage - Forest Research

The FR Centre for Forest Protection applies a wide range of expertise to important issues concerning the health, functioning and value of Britain's trees, woods and forests. It leads FR's research into biosecurity threats, ecosystem robustness and resilience, and forest genetics.

A team at FR are currently 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. Along similar lines to the Woodland Carbon Code, the initiative aims to foster new Payments for Ecosystem Services schemes in the UK that help achieve water-related policy goals as well as climate change mitigation targets.

We are now seeking an environmental scientist to undertake a scoping exercise to identify potential monitoring sites to provide essential data on the long-term benefits of woodland for the water environment to underpin the WWC. The post will be part of an interdisciplinary team at FR.

Job description

The post-holder will assess the suitability of sites for longer-term monitoring to provide confidence in verifying water gains through output-based metrics and modelling under the WWC. The sites will target locations most impacted by water pressures and where there is a reasonable likelihood of achieving a sufficient level of woodland creation over time to make a difference and thus be measurable. The plan is to create a network of ‘catchment laboratories’ to serve as a set of demonstration sites to enhance knowledge transfer and understanding, including building confidence of investors in funding woodland water services.

The post-holder will work closely with Forest Services Nature Recovery Advisers, the Nature Returns landscape scale partnership projects, wider area teams and external partners to identify a priority list of candidate sites.  Consideration will be given to both catchment level and nested plot or reach scale study sites (e.g., to measure the effectiveness of riparian woodland buffers), including scope to build on and integrate with existing monitoring sites.

The main role of the post will be to identify target areas, review woodland creation plans and assess site suitability against study requirements.

Key Work Areas:

• Liaise with Forest Services Nature Recovery Advisers, project partners and other key stakeholders to identify target areas for water pressures and assess extent of existing, planned, and future woodland creation within local catchments
• Assess candidate catchments in terms of study requirements, including the availability of baseline data, scope to build on existing studies and suitability for piloting of draft methodology for the WWC
• Apply existing models to predict impacts of potential woodland creation on local water pressures and consider the ability of a monitoring programme to measure changes and validate model predictions
• Produce a report outlining a shortlist of the top 5-10 potential catchments centred on England but including all four UK countries
• Agree catchment ranking with partners and assess partnership support for establishing one or more catchment laboratories. Develop study design(s) and submit funding proposal(s)
• Where possible and if not already in place, commence water monitoring of priority catchments to inform site selection and capture baseline data while awaiting funding decisions

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Post graduate degree in environmental science (soil and water) or equivalent experience
• Sound understanding of forest soil and water interactions
• Experienced in water monitoring and process-based modelling
• Competent user of spatial and statistical software, including ArcGIS and R packages
• A good standard of verbal and written communication, including writing reports and scientific papers
• Competent IT user with experience of MS Office packages, especially MS Excel
• Evidence of good team and partnership working
• Able to travel, including occasional overnight stays when needed for stakeholder engagement

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience in undertaking catchment studies, including measuring and valuing water services
• Knowledge of land use and management, particularly woodland design, and management practices
• Experience in working as part of an interdisciplinary team

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,485, Forestry Commission - Forest Research contributes £10,120 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 Dates:               2nd/3rd April 2024. 
Interview Dates:      11th/12th April 2024.

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

Candidates invited to interview will be required to give a 5 minute presentation ( + 5 minutes Q & A) on the following:

How to measure woodland water benefits at the catchment scale, addressing the following questions:

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of catchment-based studies?
2. What innovative techniques could be used to improve water monitoring?

This is a Fixed Term Appointment until 31 March 2025 with the possibility of extension or permanency but no guarantee.

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.