Vacancy: Research Assistant or Officer – RESOW UK

See full job advertisement here.

Swansea University – School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Research Assistant – £30,046 to £33,797 per annum together with USS pension benefits

Research Officer – £35,326 per annum,, together with USS pension benefits

Hours of work: 35 hours per week
Contract: This is a fixed term position to 9th August 2024
Location: This position will be based at the Singleton Campus

Please note, only x 1 position is available.

This position comes about through the successful award of a prestigious UKRI Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR) grant for the project ‘RESOW UK’. The project aims to deliver integrated ecological, social, and economic research into seagrass restoration around the UK.
Swansea University (SU) is partnering Southampton National Oceanographic Centre (NOC), the University of Sterling, and Project Seagrass under the overall lead of NOC. This post will contribute specifically to understanding the role of social factors and governance structures in seagrass management and how they can be used and potentially improved to support seagrass restoration.
You will be working within a multidisciplinary team with a vibrant an interactive culture

The main purpose of the post is to conduct primary research to identify constraints and opportunities to seagrass restoration in the UK. You will work closely with stakeholders from multiple sectors to identify specific bottle necks to restoration at project and policy levels using both top-down and bottom up approaches. The role will include extensive fieldwork across multiple UK seagrass restoration sites. You will interrogating how different governance frameworks and institutional contexts, including regulatory and planning settings, can impact upon the potential for restoration to deliver (top down) and identifying the factors that shape societal acceptance of restoration (bottom up).

Person Specification

The successful candidate will have a degree (RA) or PhD (RO) in Marine Social Sciences or equivalent with extensive experience in mixed methods and/or interdisciplinary approaches. You will be an expert in marine social sciences, with experience in marine and coastal ecosystem services, and ocean governance. Demonstrable stakeholder engagement experience across scales is essential.

Evidence of active engagement, personal role, and contribution to writing and publishing research papers, particularly for refereed journals is essential as is evidence of the capacity for active engagement in designing research and an ability to demonstrate significant independence of focus and direction in research.

Previous experience on seagrass systems in the UK or coastal restoration projects is desirable.

further information please contact Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth l.cullen-unsworth@swansea.ac.uk

We have an under-representation of women in the area of research and would particularly welcome applications from women for this position. We also have an under representation of individuals from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and would encourage applications from these groups. Appointments will always be made on merit.