Job Title: Ecological Evidence & Citizen Science Officer
Closing Date: Sunday 30th July 2023
Interview Date: Tuesday 8th August 2023
Salary Range: Up to £22,000 pa, dependent upon experience
Term: Fixed-term maternity cover tied to duration of maternity leave
Location: Kent or Remote. We have an agile working policy where staff can work from home, office or other agreed remote location, but location of employment will be the individual’s nearest Kent hub.
Globally and nationally wildlife is in steep decline. We appear to be reaching critical tipping points around the loss of biodiversity as well as around climate change, both being interlinked. Human society cannot prosper without wildlife and healthy ecosystems.
Kent’s wildlife needs to be restored to much higher levels. We can no longer allow common things to become rare. We can only do this by restoring large-scale habitat from degraded land. Doing this will contribute to solving global problems. But we won’t be able to do this unless we publicly aspire to a higher level of impact and show that we can deliver this.
The growing Monitoring & Evidence team at Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) is leading on the critical research underpinning our new strategic direction and thinking to respond to threats from climate change and increase resilience for climate adaptation. You will be supporting this vital work through working alongside the other Evidence Leads to develop and deliver robust vegetation monitoring protocols to be rolled out across our Estate and new Wilder Grazing sites, supported by a training programme aimed at staff and volunteers.
Your knowledge of ecological monitoring and experience of working with volunteers to survey multiple sites will allow us to embark on a new and exciting monitoring programme across our Estate, one which considers climate change predictions and focuses on those parameters of most importance to understanding how the suite of habitats across our reserves respond over time to a changing climate. You will also work closely with the Land Management team to effectively coordinate and deliver a Wilder Grazing monitoring strategy, one which is critically important to understanding the impact of our grazing livestock and documenting change over time to support our mission of delivering a Wilder Kent.
Ecological Evidence and Citizen Science Officer
In this role, you will work as part of the wider Monitoring & Evidence team nested within the Conservation & Engagement Directorate at Kent Wildlife Trust. The team is vital for the development of the monitoring protocols that underpin all that we do across the wider Group and provides other teams with the expert knowledge concerning species and habitat surveys.
This role is a maternity cover position, and so in this respect you will take the lead on developing and delivering vegetation monitoring protocols for rolling out on our new Wilder Grazing sites, the results of which will be key in informing our approach to conversation grazing. As part of this you will be expected to deliver ecological surveys across a suite of different sites, with experience in ecological monitoring and a strong knowledge of UK plant and invertebrate identification, being essential for this role.
Another key aspect of this role will be to develop and delivering our new vegetation monitoring protocols across key sites within our Estate. The importance of which will be to set new monitoring protocols into the future that best judge the success of our interventions, whilst taking into account the changing climate. Again, experience of ecological monitoring, survey work, accurate data collection/analysis and plant identification will be essential for this task.
Finally, to support all the above, you will work across Kent Wildlife Trust Group (KWTG) to roll out an ecological skills training programme for staff and volunteers, using your skills in volunteer management to develop and deliver both our existing, and planned citizen science research programmes.
Kent Wildlife Trust is the leading wildlife charity for Kent and Medway, supported by its members and staffed by committed professionals. Join our team and help us create a Wilder Kent! In return we will inspire you, listen to you, value you, treat you equally and fairly, look after your health and wellbeing and encourage flexibility from day one, enabling you to draw on these benefits to be a better, happier and more productive you.
Apply now:
Visit our website at www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk for further details and to apply.
Or for an informal chat about this role, email jobs@wilderkent.org.uk to arrange a call.
The Kent Wildlife Trust Group is Wild About Inclusion. To us, this means inspiring, empowering and engaging people from all backgrounds, cultures, identities and abilities, to change the natural world for the better.
It also means cultivating inclusive workspaces that are free from discrimination, where differences are celebrated, everyone can be themselves and flourish, just like nature!
